Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deep Incremental Boosting

This paper introduces Deep Incremental Boosting, a new technique derived from AdaBoost, specifically adapted to work with Deep Learning methods, that reduces the required training time and improves generalisation. We draw inspiration from Transfer of Learning approaches to reduce the start-up time to training each incremental Ensemble member. We show a set of experiments that outlines some preliminary results on some common Deep Learning datasets and discuss the potential improvements Deep Incremental Boosting brings to traditional Ensemble methods in Deep Learning.
Low-molecular-weight heparin versus a coumarin for the prevention of recurrent venous thromboembolism in patients with cancer.

BACKGROUND Patients with cancer have a substantial risk of recurrent thrombosis despite the use of oral anticoagulant therapy. We compared the efficacy of a low-molecular-weight heparin with that of an oral anticoagulant agent in preventing recurrent thrombosis in patients with cancer. METHODS Patients with cancer who had acute, symptomatic proximal deep-vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, or both were randomly assigned to receive low-molecular-weight heparin (dalteparin) at a dose of 200 IU per kilogram of body weight subcutaneously once daily for five to seven days and a coumarin derivative for six months (target international normalized ratio, 2.5) or dalteparin alone for six months (200 IU per kilogram once daily for one month, followed by a daily dose of approximately 150 IU per kilogram for five months). RESULTS During the six-month study period, 27 of 336 patients in the dalteparin group had recurrent venous thromboembolism, as compared with 53 of 336 patients in the oral-anticoagulant group (hazard ratio, 0.48; P=0.002). The probability of recurrent thromboembolism at six months was 17 percent in the oral-anticoagulant group and 9 percent in the dalteparin group. No significant difference between the dalteparin group and the oral-anticoagulant group was detected in the rate of major bleeding (6 percent and 4 percent, respectively) or any bleeding (14 percent and 19 percent, respectively). The mortality rate at six months was 39 percent in the dalteparin group and 41 percent in the oral-anticoagulant group. CONCLUSIONS In patients with cancer and acute venous thromboembolism, dalteparin was more effective than an oral anticoagulant in reducing the risk of recurrent thromboembolism without increasing the risk of bleeding.
Do Technical Trading Rules Generate Profits? Conclusions from the Intra-day Foreign Exchange Market

Several recent studies have demonstrated the profitability of technical analysis by simulating certain trading rules over a very long period of daily foreign exchange rates. In this paper, we use filter rules identified and supplied by technical analysts on the intra-daily foreign exchange market. We provide evidence that, although some profits could be made by following these rules in periods of trends, this was not the case on average. Our results are further strengthened when we incorporate transaction costs. We also simulate some of the rules used in previous studies and show that they would not be profitable when applied to our intra-daily data set. Copyright @ 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selectivity and timing abilities of international socially responsible funds

This article analyses the selectivity and market timing abilities of international Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) funds, from eight European markets, in comparison to conventional funds with similar characteristics. The results show that differences in market timing abilities of international SRI funds and their conventional peers are not statistically significant. However, SRI funds investing in European equities are significantly worse stock pickers than conventional funds, whereas for funds investing globally, selectivity abilities are similar among both fund groups. Hence, our results suggest that a broader investment universe might increase SRI fund managers’ stock picking abilities and, consequently, improve SRI fund performance.
Factors associated with parents’ levels of stress in pediatric wards

Hospitalization of a child is a stressful experience, increasing parents’ anxiety and deteriorating their satisfaction with the health-care services. This study aimed to assess the level of stress that parents of hospitalized children experienced and evaluate the association of parent’s stress and satisfaction and identify its predictors. Three hundred and fifty-two parents whose children were hospitalized in two pediatric hospitals were enrolled in the study, from February 2015 to April 2015. The Perceived Stress Scale was used to estimate parental stress and the Pyramid Questionnaire was used for assessing parents’ overall satisfaction with care. Parents expressed mild to moderate overall levels of stress. Less-stressed parents felt more satisfied. Being single (p < .001), having lower educational level (p = .005), one’s child been hospitalized for more than 14 days (p = .001), and one’s have visited the hospital many times in the past (p = .014) were the predictors of experiencing high levels of stress. During pediatric hospitalization, parental needs (communication, interpersonal health care, continuous information, involvement in child’s care) should be considered, so as stress levels to be decreased and parents get more satisfied by the quality of health care provided.
Transcriptome analysis of injured human meniscus reveals a distinct phenotype of meniscus degeneration with aging.

OBJECTIVE Meniscus tears are associated with a heightened risk of osteoarthritis. This study aimed to advance our understanding of the metabolic state of injured human meniscus at the time of arthroscopic partial meniscectomy through transcriptome-wide analysis of gene expression in relation to the patient's age and degree of cartilage chondrosis. METHODS The degree of chondrosis of knee cartilage was recorded at the time of meniscectomy in symptomatic patients without radiographic osteoarthritis. RNA preparations from resected menisci (n = 12) were subjected to transcriptome-wide microarray and QuantiGene Plex analyses. Variations in the relative changes in gene expression with age and chondrosis were analyzed, and integrated biologic processes were investigated computationally. RESULTS We identified a set of genes in torn menisci that were differentially expressed with age and chondrosis. There were 866 genes that were differentially regulated (≥1.5-fold difference and P < 0.05) with age and 49 with chondrosis. In older patients, genes associated with cartilage and skeletal development and extracellular matrix synthesis were repressed, while those involved in immune response, inflammation, cell cycle, and cellular proliferation were stimulated. With chondrosis, genes representing cell catabolism (cAMP catabolic process) and tissue and endothelial cell development were repressed, and those involved in T cell differentiation and apoptosis were elevated. CONCLUSION Differences in age-related gene expression suggest that in older adults, meniscal cells might dedifferentiate and initiate a proliferative phenotype. Conversely, meniscal cells in younger patients appear to respond to injury, but they maintain the differentiated phenotype. Definitive molecular signatures identified in damaged meniscus could be segregated largely with age and, to a lesser extent, with chondrosis.
Utilisation and restrictiveness of covenants in Australian private debt contracts

This paper investigates the accounting based covenants typically contained in the private debt contracts of listed Australian firms. In particular, cross sectional determinants of variation in covenant utilisation and restrictiveness are investigated. The primary source of data presented in the paper is a questionnaire completed by senior corporate managers of banks lending to listed Australian firms. In addition, standard and actual bank loan agreements are analysed. The survey results indicate that there is considerable cross-sectional variation in the utilisation and restrictiveness of covenants included in Australian private debt contracts, with this variation being partially explained by firm size and industry membership. The covenants most likely to be included are leverage, interest coverage, current, and prior charges ratios.
The Relationship Between Inflammatory Biomarkers and Symptom Distress in Lung Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy

Background: Symptom distress often occurs in lung cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. However, a biomarker has not been identified to reflect the severity of their symptom distress. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between symptom distress and serum inflammatory biomarkers in lung cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Methods: A longitudinal, repeated-measures design was used to assess subjective symptoms (fatigue, sleep disturbance, pain, depression, and confusion), serum biomarkers (tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5a [TRACP5a], interleukin 6 [IL-6], IL-8, and C-reactive protein), and white blood cells in 62 lung cancer patients recruited from a single medical center at 3 time points: T1 was the baseline, T2 was the eighth day after the first chemotherapy cycle, and T3 was prior to the second cycle. Symptom distress was measured individually by 5 questionnaires (General Fatigue Scale, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Brief Pain Inventory, Profile of Mood States–Depressive, and Confusion). Results: The trend of TRACP5a was positively correlated to the trend of the patients’ symptom distress. However, the trends of IL-6 and IL-8 did not correlate. Conclusions: Serum TRACP5a was associated with symptom distress in lung cancer patients. Therefore, TRACP5a might be a potential biomarker to assess symptom distress of lung cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Implications for Practice: Oncology nurses may be able to apply TRACP5a expression to predict or monitor multiple distress symptoms in lung cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Furthermore, nurses can use these study findings to better understand the patients who need more attention to improve their quality of life.
Too Big to Be Efficient? The Impact of Implicit Subsidies on Estimates of Scale Economies for Banks

We examine whether “too‐big‐to‐fail” (TBTF) factors affect estimates of scale economies for large banks. From a standard model of bank production that does not control for any TBTF factors, we find evidence of scale economies for our sample of large banks. We then control for TBTF factors by using a measure of the “implicit subsidy” that emerges from a reduction in TBTF banks’ funding costs due to investor expectations of government support. We do this in two ways: first, we estimate scale economies from an augmented model of bank production that employs a proxy for the counterfactual price of debt that banks would face in the absence of any TBTF funding cost advantage; second, we estimate scale economies from a model of bank production that is estimated only for a sample of banks considered unlikely to be TBTF. After controlling for TBTF factors using either method, we no longer find evidence of scale economies for our sample of large banks. These results suggest that estimated scale economies for large banks are affected by TBTF factors.
The Impact of Corporate Governance Reforms on the Remuneration of Executives in the UK

Corporate governance reforms have been motivated to a considerable degree by concerns about the possible malfunctioning of the executive remuneration determination process in large firms. It is not clear, however, how effective these reforms have been in altering pay-setting procedures in the direction of aligning executive and shareholder interests. This paper reviews some initial evidence and suggests that a mixed picture emerges. It appears that reforms have been more successful in reducing executive tenure - and hence pay-offs in the event of failure - than they have been in linking rewards to performance for continuing executives. It is clear, however, that reforms have facilitated the role for institutional shareholders in approving remuneration packages. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2005.
Granger causality and innovation accounting analysis of the monetary transmission mechanism in Croatia

This article explores the pass-through of different monetary policy channels to inflation in Croatia between January 1998 and December 2009. Using a four-step procedure: unit root test, co-integration test, Granger causality and innovation accounting techniques, we find that (i) interest rates, credits and the nominal exchange rate do not Granger-cause inflation individually; however, they do with nominal M1 money supply jointly at lag two; (ii) the nominal effective exchange rate is the most important pass-through to inflation statistically, accounting for approximately 11% of forecast error variance after four years; (iii) credits and nominal M1 have very small portions in explaining variations in the total variance of inflation; and (iv) the nominal interest rate is the weakest but statistically significant channel to inflation in the long run. These results are discussed within the Croatian monetary framework and future developments of monetary channels in Central and Eastern European countries.
Depression and Chronic Illness: A Test of Competing Hypotheses

No Indonesian studies have addressed the relationship between chronic illness and depression. Using simultaneous equation modeling, this study modeled the joint dependency of depression and chronic illness. The findings showed that the odds of having at least two chronic health conditions increase with the level of depression and individuals with at least two chronic health conditions have higher odds of being in a higher depression category. The health benefits of education are greater among Indonesian women after controlling for mobility, age, marital status, and smoking. Policies directed toward reducing gender differences in education are crucial to reduce persistent health inequalities.
Sintering and Mechanical Properties of Magnesium and Fluorine Co-Substituted Hydroxyapatites

Biological apatites contain several elements as traces. In this work, Magnesium and fluorine co-substituted hydroxyapatites with the general formula Ca9Mg(PO4)6(OH)2-yFy, where y = 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 were synthesized by the hydrothermal method. After calcination at 500℃, the samples were pressureless sintered between 950℃ and 1250℃. The substitution of F- for OH- had a strong influence on the densification behavior and mechanical properties of the materials. Below 1200℃, the density steeply decreased for y = 0.5 sample. XRD analysis revealed that compared to hydroxylfluorapatite containing no magnesium, the substituted hydroxyfluorapatites decomposed, and the nature of the decomposition products is tightly dependent on the fluorine content. The hardness, elastic modulus and fracture toughness of these materials were investigated by Vickers’s hardness testing. The highest values were 622 ± 4 GPa, 181 ± 1 GPa and 1.85 ± 0.06 MPa.m1/2, respectively.
Determinants of export success in professional business services: a qualitative study

Despite their crucial contributions to the prosperity of national economies worldwide, there is limited knowledge on the international operations of professional service firms (PSFs). The purpose of this paper is to investigate the antecedents of export success of PSFs, taking into account both firm characteristics and market characteristics. Research findings indicated that management attitude, resource commitment, and international experience and reputation significantly enhanced their export performance. However, the firms appeared to disagree on the role of firm size in fostering their success. Additionally, the performance of professional service exporters was also determined by competition intensity and actions by the host governments. Finally, export promotion efforts, in the form of export assistance by home government and support from industry-based associations, also played a significant role.
Development of a Master Plan for Water Pollution Control Using MCDM Techniques: A Case Study

Abstract Excessive demand for water due to a growing population, agricultural, and industrial development, along with climate change and depletion of nonrenewable resources have intensified the need for integrated water resources management and water pollution control. This paper presents different aspects of a master plan for water pollution control and the results of a case study for developing a master plan for water resources pollution control in Isfahan Province in Iran. Different components of the water resources system and pollution sources in the study area were identified and the effects of each of the pollution sources on surface and groundwater resources contamination were investigated. Two Multiple Criterion Decision Making (MCDM) techniques, namely Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) method and Analytical Hierarchy Structure (AHP) were used in order to determine the share of agricultural, industrial, and domestic sectors in polluting the water resources. In the application of MCDM techniques, engineering judgments and the information gathered from brain storming sessions with engineering experts and the agencies' officials have also been incorporated in order to overcome the data deficiency in this region for this type of analysis. Based on this study, several specific major categories of water pollution reduction projects were defined and in each category, several projects were identified. The total cost of implementation of the projects was also estimated and the projects were prioritized based on their potential impact on water pollution control.
“Of Course I Can”: The Effect of CEO Overconfidence on Entrepreneurially Oriented Firms

Guided by the upper echelons theory, this research examines the relationship between chief executive officer (CEO) overconfidence and a firm's entrepreneurial orientation (EO). The study theoretically establishes and empirically validates an increasing effect of CEO overconfidence on EO, although at a decreasing rate. Empirical results are based on a multisource secondary data set for high–tech S&P 500 firms from 2005 to 2007. Findings further indicate that the proposed relationship between CEO overconfidence and EO is moderated by market dynamism. A theoretically established moderating effect of market concentration could not be validated empirically.
Customer Markets, Trade Unions and Stagflation

Customer market analysis combined with trade-union wage setting is shown to yield a range of equilibrium levels of employment. Only when employment is forced outside this range can the disequilibrium acceleration or d eceleration of the price level be expected to operate. Numerical calc ulations suggest that this range is quite large, implying that the ma ximum level of unemployment consistent with nondecelerating inflation is way above the minimum level of unemployment consistent with nonac celerating inflation. A range of equilibrium employment levels appear s to be in closer agreement with empirical experience than a unique, "natural" rate of unemployment. Copyright 1987 by The Review of Economic Studies Limited.
Mindfulness groups for distressing voices and paranoia: a replication and randomized feasibility trial.

BACKGROUND The clinical literature cautions against use of meditation by people with psychosis. There is, however, evidence for acceptance-based therapy reducing relapse, and some evidence for clinical benefits of mindfulness groups for people with distressing psychosis, though no data on whether participants became more mindful. AIMS To assess feasibility of randomized evaluation of group mindfulness therapy for psychosis, to replicate clinical gains observed in one small uncontrolled study, and to assess for changes in mindfulness. METHOD Twenty-two participants with current distressing psychotic experiences were allocated at random between group-based mindfulness training and a waiting list for this therapy. Mindfulness training comprised twice-weekly sessions for 5 weeks, plus home practice (meditation CDs were supplied), followed by 5 weeks of home practice. RESULTS There were no significant differences between intervention and waiting-list participants. Secondary analyses combining both groups and comparing scores before and after mindfulness training revealed significant improvement in clinical functioning (p = .013) and mindfulness of distressing thoughts and images (p = .037). CONCLUSIONS Findings on feasibility are encouraging and secondary analyses replicated earlier clinical benefits and showed improved mindfulness of thoughts and images, but not voices.
A Re-Examination of Analyst Underreaction

Prior studies suggest that analysts underreact to past information (Klein 1990; Abarbanell and Bernard 1992; Easterwood and Nutt 1999). I examine whether this underreaction can be attributed to analyst self-selection. Analyst self-selection arises when analysts' information production efforts focus on stocks that analysts expect to perform well. My study suggests that self-selection is responsible, at least in part, for analyst underreaction to past information about the firm's performance.
Mean-Reverting Portfolios: Tradeoffs Between Sparsity and Volatility

Mean-reverting assets are one of the holy grails of financial markets: if such assets existed, they would provide trivially profitable investment strategies for any investor able to trade them, thanks to the knowledge that such assets oscillate predictably around their long term mean. The modus operandi of cointegration-based trading strategies [Tsay, 2005, {\S}8] is to create first a portfolio of assets whose aggregate value mean-reverts, to exploit that knowledge by selling short or buying that portfolio when its value deviates from its long-term mean. Such portfolios are typically selected using tools from cointegration theory [Engle and Granger, 1987, Johansen, 1991], whose aim is to detect combinations of assets that are stationary, and therefore mean-reverting. We argue in this work that focusing on stationarity only may not suffice to ensure profitability of cointegration-based strategies. While it might be possible to create syn- thetically, using a large array of financial assets, a portfolio whose aggre- gate value is stationary and therefore mean-reverting, trading such a large portfolio incurs in practice important trade or borrow costs. Looking for stationary portfolios formed by many assets may also result in portfolios that have a very small volatility and which require significant leverage to be profitable. We study in this work algorithmic approaches that can take mitigate these effects by searching for maximally mean-reverting portfo- lios which are sufficiently sparse and/or volatile.
Varieties of capitalism and responses to the Financial Crisis: the European social Model versus the US Model

The objective of this paper is to show how European Union (EU), which employs different varieties of capitalism, and US, which operates based on a competitive capitalist model, are coping with the current economic crisis. Although EU is fragmented and needs to work towards better and deeper integration among member states, the main features of the European Social Model (ESM) allows for a more sustainable recovery and lessens the social costs. A new index was developed in this paper: the Synthetic Vulnerability Index; which shows that the US position is worse than the Eurozone position in terms of recovery from the current crisis and of exposure to further crises. Nevertheless, current financial reforms, both in the US and EU seem to be insufficient and the recent fiscal austerity measures seem to be moving the economies in the wrong direction