Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Stock Market Evaluation of IPO-Firm Takeovers

We conduct an event study to assess the stock market evaluation of public takeover announcements. Unlike the majority of previous research, we specifically focus on acquisitions targeted at newly public IPO-firms and show that the stock market positively evaluates these M&As as R&D. However, bidders' abnormal announcement returns are significantly lower for takeovers directed at targets with critical intangible assets and innovative capabilities inalienably bound to their initial owners than for those that have internally accumulated respective resources and capabilities. We explain these findings with the acquirer's post-acquisition dependence on continued access to the IPO-firm founders' target-specific human capital. Our results contribute to literature in that they show that the stock market perceives these potential impediments to successful exploitation of acquired strategic resources and thus identify a potential cause for heretofore mostly inconsistent evidence on bidder abnormal returns in corporate takeovers found in previous research.
Evaluation of cardiovascular effects of intravenous robenacoxib in dogs.

The objective of the study was to assess the cardiovascular effects of intravenous (IV) dosing with robenacoxib (Onsior® ) in conscious adult healthy beagle dogs. The study employed a randomized, open, placebo-controlled, four-phase Latin square design. A total of eight dogs received a single dose of 2 mg/kg and 4 mg/kg IV robenacoxib (test groups), 2 mg/kg subcutaneous (SC) robenacoxib (reference dose and route), and IV isotonic saline (control). There were no significant differences between groups for clinical observations, buccal mucosal bleeding time or blood hematology, coagulation, and clinical chemistry variables in all eight dogs. In a subset of four dogs, no significant differences between groups were detected using telemetric assessment for arterial blood pressure, heart rate, electrocardiogram, or body temperature over 8 hr postdose. In conclusion, no significant cardiovascular effects were detected after a single IV dose of 2 or 4 mg/kg robenacoxib in conscious healthy dogs.
Chronic renal failure: a neglected comorbidity of COPD.

BACKGROUND To the best of our knowledge, the association between COPD and chronic renal failure (CRF) has never been assessed. Lean mass is frequently reduced in COPD, and the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) might be depressed in spite of normal serum creatinine (concealed CRF). We investigated the prevalence and correlates of both concealed and overt CRF in elderly patients with COPD. METHODS We evaluated 356 consecutive elderly outpatients with COPD enrolled in the Extrapulmonary Consequences of COPD in the Elderly Study and 290 age-matched outpatients free from COPD. The GFR was estimated using the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease Study Group equation. Patients were categorized as having normal renal function (GFR > or = 60 mL/min/1.73 m(2)), concealed CRF (normal serum creatinine and reduced GFR), or overt CRF (increased serum creatinine and reduced GFR). Independent correlates of CRF were investigated by logistic regression analysis. RESULTS The prevalence of concealed and overt CRF in patients with COPD was 20.8% and 22.2%, respectively. Corresponding figures in controls were 10.0% and 13.4%, respectively. COPD and age were significantly associated with both concealed CRF (COPD: odds ratio [OR] = 2.19, 95% CI = 1.17-4.12; age: OR = 1.06, 95% CI = 1.04-1.09) and overt CRF (COPD: OR = 1.94, 95% CI = 1.01-4.66; age: OR = 1.06, 95% CI = 1.04-1.10). Diabetes (OR = 1.96, 95% CI = 1.02-3.76), hypoalbuminemia (OR = 2.83, 95% CI = 1.70-4.73), and muscle-skeletal diseases (OR = 1.78, 95% CI = 1.01-3.16) were significant correlates of concealed CRF. BMI (OR = 1.05, 95% CI = 1.01-1.10) and diabetes (OR = 2.25, 95% CI = 1.26-4.03) were significantly associated with overt CRF. CONCLUSIONS CRF is highly prevalent in patients with COPD, even with normal serum creatinine, and might contribute to explaining selected conditions such as anemia that are frequent complications of COPD.
First search for gravitational waves from inspiraling compact binaries using TAMA300 data

We analyzed 6 hours of data from the TAMA300 detector by matched filtering, searching for gravitational waves from inspiraling compact binaries. We incorporated a two-step hierarchical search strategy in matched filtering. We obtained an upper limit of 0.59/hour (C.L.=90%) on the event rate of inspirals of compact binaries with mass between 0. 3M_solar and 10M_solar and with signal-to-noise ratio greater than 7.2. The distance of 1. 4M_solar (0.5M_solar) binaries which produce the signal-to-noise ratio 7.2 was estimated to be 6.2kpc (2.9kpc) when the position of the source on the sky and the inclination angle of the binaries were optimal.
Host–parasite fluctuating selection in the absence of specificity

Fluctuating selection driven by coevolution between hosts and parasites is important for the generation of host and parasite diversity across space and time. Theory has focused primarily on infection genetics, with highly specific ‘matching-allele’ frameworks more likely to generate fluctuating selection dynamics (FSD) than ‘gene-for-gene’ (generalist–specialist) frameworks. However, the environment, ecological feedbacks and life-history characteristics may all play a role in determining when FSD occurs. Here, we develop eco-evolutionary models with explicit ecological dynamics to explore the ecological, epidemiological and host life-history drivers of FSD. Our key result is to demonstrate for the first time, to our knowledge, that specificity between hosts and parasites is not required to generate FSD. Furthermore, highly specific host–parasite interactions produce unstable, less robust stochastic fluctuations in contrast to interactions that lack specificity altogether or those that vary from generalist to specialist, which produce predictable limit cycles. Given the ubiquity of ecological feedbacks and the variation in the nature of specificity in host–parasite interactions, our work emphasizes the underestimated potential for host–parasite coevolution to generate fluctuating selection.
Rethinking reverence for Stalinism in the kibbutz movement

Abstract The reverence for Stalinism by the main kibbutz movements, which through revolutionary rhetoric helped perpetuate leaders who had reached the dysfunctional phase, was wrongly interpreted. Historians missed leaders’ efforts to induce reverence and its use for their domination, while social researchers missed its enhancement of oligarchic rule. These are explained by the suppression of critics at the hands of a co-opted functionalist scientific coalition, by ethnographers missing the impact of inter-kibbutz organizations, and by the differentiation of disciplines. Multiple ethnographies of kibbutzim (pl. of kibbutz) and inter-kibbutz organizations and the integration of various findings by a good theory exposed these failures. They point to the required integration of disciplines and to the need for reform of scientific publication decision-making aimed at preventing such failures.
The Influence of Personality Traits and Motivational Factors in Predicting Students Academic Achievement.

Research has shown that non intellective factors also contribute to academic performance (Poropat, 2009). A study was carried out whereby the big five personality traits (Openness to New Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism) and motivational factors (intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation) where investigated to detect if they predicted positive academic results and to what extent. 199 participants completed a questionnaire measuring the big five traits levels, motivational style and academic performance. The study showed a positive relationship between conscientiousness, openness to experience, extraversion and an extrinsic motivational style in predicting academic performance. The results indicated there is more research to be done on the area of personality traits, motivational styles and academic performance. Applications for this study can be used at a secondary school level, post-secondary school and at a government level.
A self-determination approach to the understanding of motivation in physical education.

BACKGROUND It is widely acknowledged that Physical Education (PE) can play a potentially important role in enhancing public health by creating positive attitudes toward exercise and by promoting health-related fitness programmes. However, these initiatives will have limited success if students are not motivated to participate actively in their PE lessons. AIM A sequence of motivational processes, proposed by Vallerand (1997), was tested in this study. The sequence has the form 'social factors-->psychological mediators-->types of motivation-->consequences'. SAMPLE Participants were 424 British students aged 14-16 years from Northwest England. METHOD Questionnaires were used to measure cooperative learning, self-referenced improvement, and choice of tasks (social factors), perceived competence, autonomy, and relatedness (psychological mediators), intrinsic motivation, identification, introjection, external regulation, and amotivation (types of motivation), and boredom, effort, and future intention to exercise (consequences). RESULTS A SEM analysis showed that perceived competence was the major psychological mediator. Intrinsic motivation was related to positive consequences, whereas external regulation and amotivation were predictors of negative consequences. A multisample analysis indicated that the model was largely invariant across gender. CONCLUSIONS The findings underline the importance of perceived competence and intrinsic motivation in compulsory PE.
Prevalence of Known Risk Factors in Women Diagnosed with Breast Cancer at Inmol Hospital, Lahore, Punjab.

BACKGROUND Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer in women worldwide and its frequency is increasing gradually in many countries. Over the last three decades an increase in the breast cancer has been witnessed in the earlier low-risk Asian countries including Pakistan. PURPOSE The objective of the current study was to assess the prevalence of known risk factors like early menarche, late menopause, socio economic, reproductive and demographic factors, among women diagnosed with breast cancer at INMOL hospital, Lahore, Punjab, as little information exists in this regard. MATERIALS AND METHODS A survey study was conducted on 200 women diagnosed with breast cancer who were seen at Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Oncology (INMOL) hospital, Lahore. A structured questionnaire was administered to these patients regarding the known risk factors through face to face interviews after obtaining appropriate consent. RESULTS Regarding non-modifiable risk factors, our study showed that majority of the breast cancer patients were diagnosed at 35-45 years (32.5%) or at older age (≤46) and experienced menarche at 12 years or older (66 %). Likewise, a large number of patients reached menopause at the age of 45 years (60%), had no family and personal history of breast cancer (80%) and hence fell in a low risk category. Regarding modifiable risk factors in women diagnosed with breast cancer, most of the patients fell in low risk strata as the majority were married (98%) at young age, breastfed their children for 12 months or more (88%) and bore two to three children (80%). Considering income criteria, the majority of the patients had a low risk profile as they belonged to middle class (70%), urban area (60%) and were house wives (80%). However, it was noted that a considerable number of women (34%) diagnosed with breast cancer experienced menarche at an early age (<12) and reached menopause after the age of 45 years. This situation is further augmented by environmental changes and dietary habits and places them in a high risk category.
Characterization of a ComE3 Homologue Essential for DNA Transformation in Helicobacter pylori

ABSTRACT To find genes involved in natural competence in Helicobacter pylori, we used a bioinformatics database search and found two transformation-related open reading frames (ORFs): a comE3 homologue (HP1361 ORF) of Bacillus subtilis and a comL homologue (HP1378 ORF) of Neisseria gonorrhoeae. We failed to obtain an HP1378 ORF knockout mutant, while an HP1361 ORF knockout mutant was obtained by transposon shuttle mutagenesis. The DNA transformation abilities of both natural transformation and electroporation were severely impaired (frequency, <10−9) in the HP1361− mutant. Complementation with a pHel2 vector carrying the HP1361 ORF restored the capabilities of natural competence (to a frequency of 4.21 × 10−7) and electroporation (to 3.62 × 10−7). The HP1361− mutant showed impairment in DNA binding and uptake. The results suggest that HP1361 is a comE3 homologue and is required for DNA binding and uptake during DNA transformation.
PID controller design for output PDFs of stochastic systems using linear matrix inequalities

This paper presents a pseudo proportional-integral-derivative (PID) tracking control strategy for general non-Gaussian stochastic systems based on a linear B-spline model for the output probability density functions (PDFs). The objective is to control the conditional PDFs of the system output to follow a given target function. Different from existing methods, the control structure (i.e., the PID) is imposed before the output PDF controller design. Following the linear B-spline approximation on the measured output PDFs, the concerned problem is transferred into the tracking of given weights which correspond to the desired PDF. For systems with or without model uncertainties, it is shown that the solvability can be casted into a group of matrix inequalities. Furthermore, an improved controller design procedure based on the convex optimization is proposed which can guarantee the required tracking convergence with an enhanced robustness. Simulations are given to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed approach and encouraging results have been obtained.
The clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of screening for anal squamous intraepithelial lesions in homosexual and bisexual HIV-positive men.

CONTEXT Homosexual and bisexual men infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are at increased risk for human papillomavirus-related anal neoplasia and anal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). OBJECTIVE To estimate the clinical benefits and cost-effectiveness of screening HIV-positive homosexual and bisexual men foranal squamous intraepithelial lesions (ASIL) and anal SCC. DESIGN Cost-effectiveness analysis performed from a societal perspective that used reference case recommendations from the Panel on Cost-Effectiveness in Health and Medicine. A state-transition Markov model was developed to calculate lifetime costs, life expectancy, and quality-adjusted life expectancy for no screening vs several screening strategies for ASIL and anal SCC using anal Papanicolaou (Pap) testing at different intervals. Values for incidence, progression, and regression of anal neoplasia; efficacy of screening and treatment; natural history of HIV; health-related quality of life; and costs were obtained from the literature. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS Hypothetical cohort of homosexual and bisexual HIV-positive men living in the United States. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Life expectancy, quality-adjusted life expectancy, quality-adjusted years of life saved, lifetime costs, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio. RESULTS Screening for ASIL increased quality-adjusted life expectancy at all stages of HIV disease. Screening with anal Pap tests every 2 years, beginning in early HIV disease (CD4 cell count >0.50 x 10(9)/L), resulted in a 2.7-month gain in quality-adjusted life expectancy for an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $13,000 per quality-adjusted life year saved. Screening with anal Pap tests yearly provided additional benefit at an incremental cost of $16,600 per quality-adjusted life year saved. If screening was not initiated until later in the course of HIV disease (CD4 cell count <0.50 x 10(9)/L), then yearly Pap test screening was preferred due to the greater amount of prevalent anal disease (cost-effectiveness ratio of less than $25,000 per quality-adjusted life year saved compared with no screening). Screening every 6 months provided little additional benefit over that of yearly screening. Results were most sensitive to the rate of progression of ASIL to anal SCC and the effectiveness of treatment of precancerous lesions. CONCLUSIONS Screening HIV-positive homosexual and bisexual men for ASIL and anal SCC with anal Pap tests offers quality-adjusted life expectancy benefits at a cost comparable with other accepted clinical preventive interventions.
High-Throughput 3-D Monitoring of Agricultural-Tree Plantations with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Technology

The geometric features of agricultural trees such as canopy area, tree height and crown volume provide useful information about plantation status and crop production. However, these variables are mostly estimated after a time-consuming and hard field work and applying equations that treat the trees as geometric solids, which produce inconsistent results. As an alternative, this work presents an innovative procedure for computing the 3-dimensional geometric features of individual trees and tree-rows by applying two consecutive phases: 1) generation of Digital Surface Models with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology and 2) use of object-based image analysis techniques. Our UAV-based procedure produced successful results both in single-tree and in tree-row plantations, reporting up to 97% accuracy on area quantification and minimal deviations compared to in-field estimations of tree heights and crown volumes. The maps generated could be used to understand the linkages between tree grown and field-related factors or to optimize crop management operations in the context of precision agriculture with relevant agro-environmental implications.
Does a Wife’s Education Influence Spousal Agreement on Approval of Family Planning?: Random-effects Modeling Using Data from Two West African Countries

Spousal approval of family planning is critical for contraceptive use. Both contraceptive use rates and women’s education are low in many West-African countries and this study examines the role of wives’ education in spousal agreement on approval of family planning in two sub-Saharan West African countries. We used couples’ data from Demographic Health Surveys in Senegal and in Niger, conducted in 2005 and 2006, respectively. Multiple logistic regression results using multilevel modeling show that the odds of spousal agreement on approval of family planning were slightly over three times [OR: 3.16; 95% CI: 1.32 to 7.57] in Senegal and were about three times [OR: 3.07; 95% CI: 1.64 to 5.76] in Niger higher for women with more than primary education. Findings suggest that improvement in women’s education could lead to spousal agreement on approval of family planning, which may lead to use of family planning in sub-Saharan African countries.
Protein Subassemblies of the Helicobacter pylori Cag Type IV Secretion System Revealed by Localization and Interaction Studies

ABSTRACT Type IV secretion systems are possibly the most versatile protein transport systems in gram-negative bacteria, with substrates ranging from small proteins to large nucleoprotein complexes. In many cases, such as the cag pathogenicity island of Helicobacter pylori, genes encoding components of a type IV secretion system have been identified due to their sequence similarities to prototypical systems such as the VirB system of Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The Cag type IV secretion system contains at least 14 essential apparatus components and several substrate translocation and auxiliary factors, but the functions of most components cannot be inferred from their sequences due to the lack of similarities. In this study, we have performed a comprehensive sequence analysis of all essential or auxiliary Cag components, and we have used antisera raised against a subset of components to determine their subcellular localization. The results suggest that the Cag system contains functional analogues to all VirB components except VirB5. Moreover, we have characterized mutual stabilization effects and performed a comprehensive yeast two-hybrid screening for potential protein-protein interactions. Immunoprecipitation studies resulted in identification of a secretion apparatus subassembly at the outer membrane. Combining these data, we provide a first low-resolution model of the Cag type IV secretion apparatus.
Oxytocin Enhances Amygdala-Dependent, Socially Reinforced Learning and Emotional Empathy in Humans

Oxytocin (OT) is becoming increasingly established as a prosocial neuropeptide in humans with therapeutic potential in treatment of social, cognitive, and mood disorders. However, the potential of OT as a general facilitator of human learning and empathy is unclear. The current double-blind experiments on healthy adult male volunteers investigated first whether treatment with intranasal OT enhanced learning performance on a feedback-guided item–category association task where either social (smiling and angry faces) or nonsocial (green and red lights) reinforcers were used, and second whether it increased either cognitive or emotional empathy measured by the Multifaceted Empathy Test. Further experiments investigated whether OT-sensitive behavioral components required a normal functional amygdala. Results in control groups showed that learning performance was improved when social rather than nonsocial reinforcement was used. Intranasal OT potentiated this social reinforcement advantage and greatly increased emotional, but not cognitive, empathy in response to both positive and negative valence stimuli. Interestingly, after OT treatment, emotional empathy responses in men were raised to levels similar to those found in untreated women. Two patients with selective bilateral damage to the amygdala (monozygotic twins with congenital Urbach–Wiethe disease) were impaired on both OT-sensitive aspects of these learning and empathy tasks, but performed normally on nonsocially reinforced learning and cognitive empathy. Overall these findings provide the first demonstration that OT can facilitate amygdala-dependent, socially reinforced learning and emotional empathy in men.
An intelligent framework for monitoring students Affective Trajectories using adaptive fuzzy systems

In this paper we investigate the Affective Trajectories Hypothesis in an educational context, and its possible implications on Affective Computing. Using the results from an online survey we try to explore the relationships of the Affective Trajectories basic elements, namely one's current affective state, prediction of the future, and experienced outcomes following this prediction, with a set of education related emotions. The relations of these elements with flow, excitement, calm, boredom, stress, confusion, frustration and neutral linguistic emotional labels are presented and discussed. Their predictive power is evaluated by using these elements as inputs to different classification systems, and observing their performance in mapping different combinations of those elements to specific emotion labels. A data-driven fuzzy approach is utilized in order to linguistically model the underlying relations between the emotions, and the basic elements, by creating easily interpretable fuzzy rule bases. In our research we suggest that the basic elements are combined in a personalized way in order for an individual to choose a specific emotion label to describe his affective state. For this reason a fuzzy adaptive approach is also implemented, in order to demonstrate the importance of individual differences in this process, and the benefits of having a personalized system that can perpetuate modelling of emotional trajectories over learning tasks. Finally an overview and a basic implementation of an affective computing system which uses these elements are presented, and future research directions discussed.