Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Do Analysts at Independent Research Firms Make Better Earnings Forecasts?

This study compares the earnings forecasts of analysts employed by independent research firms to those of analysts employed by investment banks along the dimensions of accuracy and optimism. We discuss the conflicts of interest faced by both groups and suggest that, despite incentives stemming from corporate financing operations, investment bank analysts may nevertheless provide superior forecasts. We provide evidence on this empirical question using a sample of analyst forecasts from 1998-2001. Our results reveal that short-term forecasts made by investment bank analysts are on average more accurate and less optimistic than those from analysts employed by independent research firms. Our results are robust to controlling for several relevant factors identified in prior research and are consistent across both annual and quarterly earnings forecasts. We also examine the optimism in long-term earnings growth forecasts and fail to find a significant difference between the two groups.
Comparison and Implementation of a Rigid and a Flexible Multibody Planetary Gearbox Model

We propose algorithms for developing (1) a rigid (constrained) and (2) a exible planetary gearbox model. The two methods are compared against each other and advantages/disadvantages of each method are discussed. The rigid model (1) has gear tooth reaction forces expressed by Lagrange multipliers. The exible approach (2) is being compared with the gear tooth forces from the rigid approach, rst without damping and second the in uence of damping is examined. Variable sti ness as a function of base circle arc length is implemented in the exible approach such that it handles the realistic switch between one and two gear teeth in mesh. The nal results are from modelling the planetary gearbox in a 500 kW wind turbine which we also described in Jorgensen et al. (2013).
Organizational learning, absorptive capacity, imitation and innovation: Empirical analyses of 115 firms across China

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships among organizational learning, absorptive capacity, imitation and innovation in the Chinese context. Design/methodology/approach – Based on the organizational learning theory and innovation theory, the paper presents a framework linking organizational learning, absorptive capacity, imitation and innovation. Using a key informant technique, a survey questionnaire was designed and sent to the middle or top management managers of 115 firms located in Peking, People’s Republic (PR) of China. Structural equation modeling (SEM) with the maximum likelihood (ML) estimation procedures was applied to test the hypotheses developed in the research. Findings – The empirical results show that both organizational learning and absorptive capacity have positive impacts on innovation; imitation has a positive impact on absorptive capacity; absorptive capacity mediates the relationship between imitation and innovation. Practical implications – This study ha.
Simulations of Galaxy Formation in a Λ Cold Dark Matter Universe. I. Dynamical and Photometric Properties of a Simulated Disk Galaxy

We present a detailed analysis of the dynamical and photometric properties of a disk galaxy simulated in the Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmogony. The galaxy is assembled through a number of high-redshift mergers followed by a period of quiescent accretion after z ~ 1 that lead to the formation of two distinct dynamical components: a spheroid of mostly old stars and a rotationally supported disk of younger stars. The surface brightness profile is very well approximated by the superposition of an R1/4 spheroid and an exponential disk. Each photometric component contributes a similar fraction of the total luminosity of the system, although less than a quarter of the stars form after the last merger episode at z ~ 1. In the optical bands the surface brightness profile is remarkably similar to that of Sab galaxy UGC 615, but the simulated galaxy rotates significantly faster and has a declining rotation curve dominated by the spheroid near the center. The decline in circular velocity is at odds with observation and results from the high concentration of the dark matter and baryonic components, as well as from the relatively high mass-to-light ratio of the stars in the simulation. The simulated galaxy lies ~1 mag off the I-band Tully-Fisher relation of late-type spirals but seems to be in reasonable agreement with Tully-Fisher data on S0 galaxies. In agreement with previous simulation work, the angular momentum of the luminous component is an order of magnitude lower than that of late-type spirals of similar rotation speed. This again reflects the dominance of the slowly rotating, dense spheroidal component, to which most discrepancies with observation may be traced. On its own, the disk component has properties rather similar to those of late-type spirals: its luminosity, its exponential scale length, and its colors are all comparable to those of galaxy disks of similar rotation speed. This suggests that a different form of feedback than adopted here is required to inhibit the efficient collapse and cooling of gas at high redshift that leads to the formation of the spheroid. Reconciling, without fine-tuning, the properties of disk galaxies with the early collapse and high merging rates characteristic of hierarchical scenarios such as ΛCDM remains a challenging, yet so far elusive, proposition.
Wetting by Liquid Metals—Application in Materials Processing: The Contribution of the Grenoble Group

The wettability of ceramics by liquid metals is discussed from both the fundamental point of view and the point of view of applications. The role of interfacial reactions (simple dissolution of the solid in the liquid or formation of a layer of a new compound) is illustrated and analysed. Several results are presented in order to illustrate the role of wettability in materials processing, namely infiltration processing, joining dissimilar materials by brazing and selecting crucibles for crystallising liquid metals and semiconductors. The review includes results obtained during the last 15 years mainly, but not only, by the Grenoble group.
Uncertain Intellectual Property Conditions and Knowledge Appropriation Strategies: Evidence from the Genomics Industry

Innovating science- and technology-based firms often endure a sustained period of uncertain intellectual property rights (IPR) protection before patents could be granted to their valuable knowledge assets. This problem is exacerbated, as firms increasingly develop their innovations or operate in countries with weak IPR institutional environments. But how does IPR uncertainty affect firms’ strategy toward knowledge appropriation—capturing of economic value from their knowledge assets—and toward providing access to these knowledge assets? Drawing on research from the economics of science and intellectual property strategy, we examine this question using a novel panel data covering 362 firms and organizations in the knowledge-intensive genomics industry based on all genomics patents and matching papers from 1988 to 2005. We find that under uncertain IPR conditions, firms reveal and accumulate more knowledge through open science (follow-on publishing) but shift to knowledge appropriation through commercial science (follow-on patenting) when IPR uncertainty is narrowed. This effect is most salient when firms develop their knowledge assets or operate under strong IPR institutional regime. For highly science-based knowledge assets, firms continue tapping into open science for access and reciprocity in knowledge acquisition from the scientific community. These findings highlight the role of patent grant as a potential lever to shape firms’ knowledge processes and long-term innovative capacity, and the emergence of a concerted “science strategy” employed by firms.
Airway inflammatory and spirometric measurements in obese children.

OBJECTIVES To investigate the association between obesity and airway inflammation and spirometric parameters in local children. DESIGN Cross-sectional and observational study. SETTING Paediatric clinics of a university-affiliated teaching hospital in Hong Kong. PATIENTS Chinese subjects aged 6 to 18 years were recruited from the paediatric clinics. Obesity was defined as being 120% or more of the median weight-for-height. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Airway inflammation assessed by exhaled nitric oxide concentration; lung function evaluated by measuring forced expiratory flow in 1-second and forced vital capacity using spirometry; and peak expiratory flow rate measured by using a mini-Wright peak flow meter. RESULTS Fifty-five subjects were recruited into four groups as follows: 13 non-obese controls, 16 obese non-asthmatics, 15 non-obese asthmatics, and 11 obese asthmatics. The median (interquartile range) exhaled nitric oxide concentrations of these groups were 17.6 (14.4-20.9), 33.3 (26.1-75.4), 65.7 (32.0-110.0) and 49.2 (41.1-82.6) parts per billion, respectively (P=0.001 for trend). Post-hoc analysis revealed higher exhaled nitric oxide concentration in the latter three groups (obese and/or asthmatic subjects) than controls (P< or =0.002). Exhaled nitric oxide concentration did not differ among obese non-asthmatics, non-obese asthmatics, and obese asthmatics (P>0.1 for all). In non-asthmatics, exhaled nitric oxide concentration correlated positively with age (P=0.048), weight-for-height z-score (P=0.001), and forced vital capacity (P=0.009). Weight-for-height z-score correlated positively with forced vital capacity (P=0.041), but inversely with the forced expiratory flow in 1-second/forced vital capacity ratio (P=0.049). Such correlations were not observed in asthmatic children. CONCLUSION Increased airway inflammation as revealed by exhaled nitric oxide concentration was found in obese non-asthmatic children. Weight-for-height z-score as an indicator of childhood obesity correlated with exhaled nitric oxide concentration and spirometric parameters in children without asthma. Nonetheless, concomitant obesity does not influence exhaled nitric oxide concentration in asthmatic children. Further studies are needed to identify the pathophysiologic mechanisms for such associations.
Charcot – Marie – Tooth disease CMT 4 A : GDAP 1 increases cellular glutathione and the mitochondrial membrane potential

Department of Neurology, Medical Faculty, University of Düsseldorf, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany, Target Discovery, Bayer Schering Pharma, 42096 Wuppertal, Germany, Neuromuscular Unit, Mossakowski Medical Research Centre, Polish Academy of Sciences, 02-106 Warsaw, Poland, Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, USA, Institute for Neuroanatomy, RWTH Aachen University, D-52074 Aachen, Germany and Department of Neurology, Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf, D-20251 Hamburg, Germany
Combinatorial Interactions Are Required for the Efficient Recruitment of Pho Repressive Complex (PhoRC) to Polycomb Response Elements

Polycomb Group (PcG) proteins are epigenetic repressors that control metazoan development and cell differentiation. In Drosophila, PcG proteins form five distinct complexes targeted to genes by Polycomb Response Elements (PREs). Of all PcG complexes PhoRC is the only one that contains a sequence-specific DNA binding subunit (PHO or PHOL), which led to a model that places PhoRC at the base of the recruitment hierarchy. Here we demonstrate that in vivo PHO is preferred to PHOL as a subunit of PhoRC and that PHO and PHOL associate with PREs and a subset of transcriptionally active promoters. Although the binding to the promoter sites depends on the quality of recognition sequences, the binding to PREs does not. Instead, the efficient recruitment of PhoRC to PREs requires the SFMBT subunit and crosstalk with Polycomb Repressive Complex 1. We find that human YY1 protein, the ortholog of PHO, binds sites at active promoters in the human genome but does not bind most PcG target genes, presumably because the interactions involved in the targeting to Drosophila PREs are lost in the mammalian lineage. We conclude that the recruitment of PhoRC to PREs is based on combinatorial interactions and propose that such a recruitment strategy is important to attenuate the binding of PcG proteins when the target genes are transcriptionally active. Our findings allow the appropriate placement of PhoRC in the PcG recruitment hierarchy and provide a rationale to explain why YY1 is unlikely to serve as a general recruiter of mammalian Polycomb complexes despite its reported ability to participate in PcG repression in flies.
Lessons learned from a two-year experience in science data literacy education

In spring 2008 and 2009, we offered a course “Scientific Data Management” to undergraduate and graduate students from science and technology majors with support from an NSF CCLI (award #0633447) grant. We actively advertised the course on campus and conducted outreach efforts to individual classes and faculty representing a wide range of science and technology disciplines. Each time the course was offered, we conducted preand post-course surveys to assess the instructional effectiveness and learning outcomes. This paper will describe our experience as well as lessons learned in three areas: science faculty perceptions on data management, effect of science curriculum structures on data literacy education, and changes of students’ perceptions and aptitudes, and discuss how the lessons learned will help shape our escience Librarianship curriculum development, which is being funded by IMLS.
Do Rural Infrastructure Investments Benefit the Poor? Evaluating Linkages: A Global View, a Focus on Vietnam

What are linkages between rural infrastructure investments, and household welfare? In the past, most of the evaluations to assess the effectiveness of a project, focused on physical outputs, and success of project implementation. In recent years, more attention has been given to the impact of investments, particularly its effect on the poor, both in economic, and non-economic terms. The author presents findings from a survey of the existing literature on such impacts. Although evidence exists for improved household welfare from rural infrastructure investment, little evidence was found of studies that provided concrete linkages between specific investments in rural infrastructure, and increased welfare of the rural poor. This is due in part to the complexity, and oftentimes the concurrent nature of interventions, that make attributing welfare improvements, to a particular project, virtually impossible. The evidence is presented in this three-part paper. Part I gives examples of past, and current attempts to assess the impact of rural infrastructure projects, and provides suggestions for future evaluations. Part II discusses in detail some observed economic, and non-economic impacts on the poor, from different rural infrastructure interventions. Part III presents lessons learned from the literature on how to maximize the impact of rural infrastructure interventions on household welfare. Specific project, and country examples from the literature, and new data from a recent qualitative study in Vietnam, are presented as evidence for, and illustration of key ideas, and issues.
Component Structure of Credit Default Swap Spreads and Their Determinants

In this paper, we decompose credit default swap (CDS) spreads into a transitory component and a persistent component and test how these components are affected by the theoretical explanatory variables. We find significant but differing impacts of these explanatory variables on the extracted components. For example, equity volatility seems to have a larger influence on the transitory component, suggesting that its effect may be mostly short-lived, while our proxy for illiquidity has a greater impact on the persistent component indicating its more enduring effect. Also, the slope of the yield curve has impacts with opposite signs on the two components and so our analysis thus helps address the conflicting results reported in earlier studies without such a component framework. These results indicate that a two-factor formulation may be needed to model CDS options.
On the absence of mutations in nucleotide excision repair genes in sporadic solid tumors.

In general, stochastic tumors show genomic instability associated with the proliferation of DNA point mutations, that is, a mutator phenotype. This feature cannot be explained by a dysfunctional mismatch repair alone, and indicates that nucleotide excision repair (NER) and/or base excision repair should be suppressed. However, mutations in NER genes are not causally implicated in the oncogenesis of sporadic solid tumors, according to the Cancer Gene Census at http://www.sanger. ac.uk/genetics/CGP/Census/. This brings up an apparent paradox: how to explain the recurrent non-existence in NER genes of somatic mutations causally related to cancer? In a recent study, we have shown that the origin of point mutations in cancer cell genomes can be explained by a structurally conserved NER with a functional disorder generated from its entanglement with a disabled apoptosis gene network. In the present study, we further characterize NER gene network properties and show that it has a highly connected architecture. This feature suggests that the absence of mutations in NER genes in sporadic solid tumors is a result of their participation in many essential cellular functions.
Rapid Increases and Time‐Lagged Declines in Amphibian Occupancy after Wildfire

Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and severity of drought and wildfire. Aquatic and moisture‐sensitive species, such as amphibians, may be particularly vulnerable to these modified disturbance regimes because large wildfires often occur during extended droughts and thus may compound environmental threats. However, understanding of the effects of wildfires on amphibians in forests with long fire‐return intervals is limited. Numerous stand‐replacing wildfires have occurred since 1988 in Glacier National Park (Montana, U.S.A.), where we have conducted long‐term monitoring of amphibians. We measured responses of 3 amphibian species to fires of different sizes, severity, and age in a small geographic area with uniform management. We used data from wetlands associated with 6 wildfires that burned between 1988 and 2003 to evaluate whether burn extent and severity and interactions between wildfire and wetland isolation affected the distribution of breeding populations. We measured responses with models that accounted for imperfect detection to estimate occupancy during prefire (0–4 years) and different postfire recovery periods. For the long‐toed salamander (Ambystoma macrodactylum) and Columbia spotted frog (Rana luteiventris), occupancy was not affected for 6 years after wildfire. But 7–21 years after wildfire, occupancy for both species decreased ≥25% in areas where >50% of the forest within 500 m of wetlands burned. In contrast, occupancy of the boreal toad (Anaxyrus boreas) tripled in the 3 years after low‐elevation forests burned. This increase in occupancy was followed by a gradual decline. Our results show that accounting for magnitude of change and time lags is critical to understanding population dynamics of amphibians after large disturbances. Our results also inform understanding of the potential threat of increases in wildfire frequency or severity to amphibians in the region.
A variable-domain approach for image segmentation based on statistical models

In this paper, a novel variable-domain approach to curve evolution for image segmentation was proposed, being based on a statistical active contour model using level sets. The essential idea is to re-define the computing domain in image repeatedly, by separating the segmentation procedure into several individual phases, for images composed of an infinite number of regions. By our algorithm, the work can be done automatically without manual intervention. Moreover, the accuracy and rapidity can be enhanced effectively for the objects with complicated topology.
LA CLARIDAD DE LA INFORMACIÓN NARRATIVA EN LAS EMPRESAS COTIZADAS ESPAÑOLAS

La comprensibilidad es una caracteristica fundamental para que la informacion de caracter narrativo sea comunicada de manera efectiva y asi resulte util a los usuarios. La ausencia de esta cualidad en la informacion puede derivarse de que, en la preparacion del mensaje, se oscurezcan de manera deliberada las malas noticias. El objetivo del presente trabajo es analizar la utilizacion de la claridad, subrogado de la comprensibilidad, como medio de alteracion de la neutralidad del informe de direccion de las empresas cotizadas espanolas. Para ello, hemos realizado un analisis descriptivo y multivariante de 316 informes, utilizando tanto metodos manuales como informatizados en la elaboracion de nuestras variables dependientes. Los resultados del estudio nos indican es posible mejorar la legibilidad y comprensibilidad de los informes de gestion, y senalan la posibilidad de que las empresas utilicen la ofuscacion como tecnica de manipulacion de la informacion narrativa.
Cell Cycle-Driven Heterogeneity: On the Road to Demystifying the Transitions between “Poised” and “Restricted” Pluripotent Cell States

Cellular heterogeneity is now considered an inherent property of most stem cell types, including pluripotent stem cells, somatic stem cells, and cancer stem cells, and this heterogeneity can exist at the epigenetic, transcriptional, and posttranscriptional levels. Several studies have indicated that the stochastic activation of signaling networks may promote heterogeneity and further that this heterogeneity may be reduced by their inhibition. But why different cells in the same culture respond in a nonuniform manner to the identical exogenous signals has remained unclear. Recent studies now demonstrate that the cell cycle position directly influences lineage specification and specifically that pluripotent stem cells initiate their differentiation from the G1 phase. These studies suggest that cells in G1 are uniquely “poised” to undergo cell specification. G1 cells are therefore more prone to respond to differentiation cues, which may explain the heterogeneity of developmental factors, such as Gata6, and pluripotency factors, such as Nanog, in stem cell cultures. Overall, this raises the possibility that G1 serves as a “Differentiation Induction Point. ” In this review, we will reexamine the literature describing heterogeneity of pluripotent stem cells, while highlighting the role of the cell cycle as a major determinant.
The Causes of Emigration from Singapore: How Much Is Still Political?

ABSTRACT: Efforts to maintain a robust Singaporean economy have had to confront the serious challenge of substantial brain drain from the city-state. To address the negative effects of this problem, Singapore's ruling People's Action Party (PAP) has adopted a policy of increasing reliance on a foreign labor force. Meanwhile, the PAP appears to ignore the continued loss of human and intellectual capital. This study examines the main determinants of emigration from Singapore, specifically the political factors. The analysis is based on two primary data surveys that investigated what Singaporeans think about emigration: the 2006 Asian Barometer and the 2000–2002 Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia. Contrary to some previous empirical literature, data from these surveys indicate that anti–PAP and pro-democratic ideas strongly influence the decision of native Singaporeans to leave the island state. These findings likewise suggest that democratization and an expansion of business and technical education would be more effective in preserving economic growth than a policy of importing labor in the face of popular xenophobia.