Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Association between Management Earnings Forecast Errors and Corporate Governance Structure in IPO Firms

This study investigates the relationship between management earnings forecast errors and corporate governance structure in initial public offerings (IPO) companies. To examining initial public offerings (IPO) companies’ corporate governance structure whether the good or bad of the structure could reduce the information asymmetry, and promoting management forecast likely to be precise and more accurate. Using the sample of initial public offerings (IPO) companies from 2002 February 19th to 2004 fiscal year. It’s including 176 observations to use multiple regression models for empirical analysis. Proxy management forecast’s preciseness by management forecast errors’ absolute vale (ABSFE), positive management forecast errors(FE) and negative management forecast errors(FE). The empirical results indicate that, the negative relations between the board of directors size (DSIZE), the cash-flow rights(CR) and control right deviating from cash-flow rights (DEV) with management forecast errors’ absolute vale(ABSFE). And the positive relations between chair of board acting as CEO (CHAIR) and management forecast errors’ absolute vale (ABSFE). We can’t find significant relations between effectiveness of independent directors and independent supervisors (DSRATIO) (DSEXP) and inside director ratio (IDRATIO) with management forecast errors’ absolute vale (ABSFE). This research result provides regulator rethink institution of independent directors and independent, and help outside investors to do investment decision for initial public offerings (IPO) companies. They can use the signals of corporate governance structure, and understand management forecast’s preciseness. Moreover, they could reduce the information asymmetry and avoid questions of adverse choice.
Association between Oral Health Status and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus among Sudanese Adults: A Matched Case-Control Study

Aim The purpose of this study was to compare the clinical and subjective oral health indicators of type 2 diabetic patients (T2DM) with age and gender matched non-diabetic controls. A second aim was to identify clinical and subjective oral health indicators that discriminate between well-controlled and poorly controlled T2DM patients as well as between patients with long and short duration of the disease. Methods A total of 457 individuals participated in the study (154 T2DM cases and 303 non-diabetic controls). The T2DM group was sub-divided according to metabolic control [(well-controlled: glycosylated haemoglobin test ≤8%), (poorly controlled: glycosylated haemoglobin test > 8%)] and according to duration of T2DM [(long duration: >10 years), (short duration: ≤10 years)]. Participants were interviewed using a structured questionnaire including socio-demographics, lifestyle and oral health related quality of life factors. The clinical examination comprised full mouth probing depths, plaque index, tooth mobility index, furcation involvement and coronal and root surface caries. Results The T2DM patients presented with more probing depths ≥4mm, furcation involvement, tooth mobility, missing teeth, and oral impacts on daily performance (OIDP). The corresponding adjusted odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals were 4.07 (1.74–9.49), 2.96 (1.36–6.45), 5.90 (2.26–15.39), 0.23 (0.08–0.63) and 3.46 (1.61–7.42), respectively. Moreover, the odds ratio was 2.60 (1.21–5.55) for the poorly controlled T2DM patients to have high levels of mobility index and 2.94 (1.24–6.94) for those with long duration of T2DM to have high decayed, missed and filled teeth (DMFT) values. Conclusion This study revealed that chronic periodontitis, tooth mobility, furcation involvement and OIDP were more prevalent among T2DM patients compared to their non-diabetic controls.
Identification of Aluminum Responsive Genes in Al-Tolerant Soybean Line PI 416937

Soybean is one of the most aluminum (Al) sensitive plants. The complex inheritance of Al tolerance trait has so far undermined breeding efforts to develop Al-tolerant soybeans. Discovering the genetic factors underlying the Al tolerance mechanisms would undoubtedly accelerate the pace of such endeavor. As a first step toward this goal, we analyzed the transcriptome profile in roots of Al-tolerant soybean line PI 416937 comparing Al-treated and untreated control plants using DNA microarrays. Many genes involved in transcription activation, stress response, cell metabolism and signaling were differentially expressed. Patterns of gene expression and mechanisms of Al toxicity and tolerance suggest that Cys2His2 and ADR6 transcription activators, cell wall modifying enzymes, and phytosulfokines growth factor play role in soybean Al tolerance. Our data provide insights into the molecular mechanisms of soybean Al tolerance and will have practical value in genetic improvement of Al tolerance trait.
Applications of Planned Behavior Theory on Internet Banking Services Adoption in Jordan: Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Although banks are investing more into online banking innovation to be at par with the world information technology advances, the internet banking services adoption (IBSA) in Jordan is still lagging behind. This paper is concerned with an empirical investigation of factors that could predict successful IBSA in Jordan through the applications of planned behavior theory (TPB). This theory suggests that three independent variables (exogenous): attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavior control could have a direct impact on intention and indirect impact on IBSA. This study uses a questionnaire survey data of 517 Jordanian public university employees as customers of internet banking services. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to examine the composite reliability and convergent validity of the measurements, and the structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to evaluate the causal model. Results of the study demonstrate significant and positive direct relationships between attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavior control and behavior intention. Similarly, direct significant and positive linkages between attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavior control, behavior intention and IBSA were observed. However, behavior intention does not have a mediating effect on the three linkages (attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavior control) with IBSA. This study concludes that the original TPB has a strong predictive power to explain IBSA in Jordan.
Dogmas and controversies in the handling of nitrogenous wastes: Ureotely and ammonia tolerance in early life stages of the gulf toadfish, Opsanus beta

SUMMARY The marine gulf toadfish (Opsanus beta) is an unusual teleost fish as it is able to switch between ammoniotelism and ureotelism in response to a variety of laboratory conditions. The present study integrates field work conducted in Biscayne and Florida Bays, USA with laboratory studies to examine ureotelism during the early life history stages of O. beta. Adult toadfish voluntarily nested in artificial shelters placed amongst seagrass beds and were found to be predominantly ureotelic under natural conditions as the internal shelter water had mean urea and ammonia concentrations (N=51) of 14.2±1.6 μmol N l–1 and 8.9±0.9 μmol N l–1, respectively. Toadfish successfully spawned in shelters, providing eggs, larvae and juvenile toadfish for laboratory study. In the lab, juvenile toadfish were also ureotelic and urea was excreted in pulsatile events that accounted for 62.0±5.9% of total urea-N excreted. Excretion rates of urea-N and ammonia-N were 1.018±0.084 μmol N h–1 g–1 and 0.235±0.095 μmol N h–1 g–1, respectively. Field-collected eggs, larvae and juveniles expressed significant levels of the ornithine–urea cycle enzymes carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase III, ornithine transcarbamylase and arginase and the accessory enzyme glutamine synthetase, all of which increased in activity as toadfish developed through early life stages. In juveniles, the ammonia 96-h LC50 value was 875 μmol N l–1 and there was a 3-fold increase in ornithine transcarbamylase activity in the 1000 μmol N l–1 NH4Cl treatment. The results are discussed in the context of the causal factor(s) for ureotelism in toadfish. Furthermore, the results of this study suggest it is unlikely that the adaptive significance of ureotelism in toadfish is a means to prevent fouling nests with ammonia and in turn poisoning offspring; however, additional study is warranted.
Cultivable Bacterial Microbiota of Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus): A New Reservoir of Antimicrobial Resistance?

The northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) is an ecologically and economically important avian species. At the present time, little is known about the microbial communities associated with these birds. As the first step to create a quail microbiology knowledge base, the current study conducted an inventory of cultivable quail tracheal, crop, cecal, and cloacal microbiota and associated antimicrobial resistance using a combined bacteriology and DNA sequencing approach. A total of 414 morphologically unique bacterial colonies were selected from nonselective aerobic and anaerobic cultures, as well as selective and enrichment cultures. Analysis of the first 500-bp 16S rRNA gene sequences in conjunction with biochemical identifications revealed 190 non-redundant species-level taxonomic units, representing 160 known bacterial species and 30 novel species. The bacterial species were classified into 4 phyla, 14 orders, 37 families, and 59 or more genera. Firmicutes was the most commonly encountered phylum (57%) followed by Actinobacteria (24%), Proteobacteria (17%) and Bacteroidetes (0.02%). Extensive diversity in the species composition of quail microbiota was observed among individual birds and anatomical locations. Quail microbiota harbored several opportunistic pathogens, such as E. coli and Ps. aeruginosa, as well as human commensal organisms, including Neisseria species. Phenotypic characterization of selected bacterial species demonstrated a high prevalence of resistance to the following classes of antimicrobials: phenicol, macrolide, lincosamide, quinolone, and sulphate. Data from the current investigation warrant further investigation on the source, transmission, pathology, and control of antimicrobial resistance in wild quail populations.
The design of a digital resource to store the knowledge of linguistic errors

In this paper we present the design of a digital resource which will be used as a repository of information of linguistic errors. As a first step in the design of this database, we made a classification of possible errors. This classification is based on information contained in Basque grammars (Alberdi et al., 2001; Zubiri, 1994) and our previous experience on knowledge representation of language students during their learning process (Diaz de Ilarraza et al. 1997). Besides, it has been carried out in collaboration with linguists of our group (http:ixa.si.ehu.es). With the purpose of validating this classification, a questionnaire was presented to experienced Basque teachers and proofreaders from newspapers or publishing houses. With their advice we completed a classification of possible errors. We designed a Zope interface (Zope is a framework for building web applications that lets you connect to external databases (Latteier et al., 2001)) so that linguists and experts in the subject will be able to introduce, through Internet, any error found in a corpus (along with its corresponding information). The importance of this database relies on the fact that the information contained in it will be used in two different, but in some sense, complementary, projects: i) a robust Basque grammar corrector that would get added to the already existing spelling corrector (Agirre et al., 1992) developed by our research group and integrated in Microsoft tools and, ii) a Basque tutor for syntax correction that would improve the one existing now (Diaz de Ilarraza et al., 1998) which includes different facilities related to giving adapted advise about morphological questions.
Autocovariance Structure of Markov Regime Switching Models and Model Selection

We show that the covariance function of a second‐order stationary vector Markov regime switching time series has a vector ARMA(p,q) representation, where upper bounds for p and q are elementary functions of the number of regimes. These bounds apply to vector Markov regime switching processes with both mean–variance and autoregressive switching. This result yields an easily computed method for setting a lower bound on the number of underlying Markov regimes from an estimated autocovariance function.
Robustness of Circadian Clocks to Daylight Fluctuations: Hints from the Picoeucaryote Ostreococcus tauri

The development of systemic approaches in biology has put emphasis on identifying genetic modules whose behavior can be modeled accurately so as to gain insight into their structure and function. However, most gene circuits in a cell are under control of external signals and thus, quantitative agreement between experimental data and a mathematical model is difficult. Circadian biology has been one notable exception: quantitative models of the internal clock that orchestrates biological processes over the 24-hour diurnal cycle have been constructed for a few organisms, from cyanobacteria to plants and mammals. In most cases, a complex architecture with interlocked feedback loops has been evidenced. Here we present the first modeling results for the circadian clock of the green unicellular alga Ostreococcus tauri. Two plant-like clock genes have been shown to play a central role in the Ostreococcus clock. We find that their expression time profiles can be accurately reproduced by a minimal model of a two-gene transcriptional feedback loop. Remarkably, best adjustment of data recorded under light/dark alternation is obtained when assuming that the oscillator is not coupled to the diurnal cycle. This suggests that coupling to light is confined to specific time intervals and has no dynamical effect when the oscillator is entrained by the diurnal cycle. This intringuing property may reflect a strategy to minimize the impact of fluctuations in daylight intensity on the core circadian oscillator, a type of perturbation that has been rarely considered when assessing the robustness of circadian clocks.
A Study on Relationship between Language Anxiety and Proficiency : In a Case of Japanese Learners of English

Yusuke Kondo Waseda University Abstract Language anxiety is one of the negative factors in second language acquisition. However, several studies produced inconsistent results and have not concurred in the subcategorization of language anxiety. These inconsistent results seem likely to be caused by socio-cultural differences. This present study investigated the applicability of language anxiety scale developed by previous studies to the context of Japan and relationship between language anxiety and proficiency in a speaking test. The participants of this study were sixty-four university students in Japan. The study collected the data on language anxiety through questionnaires and the data on English proficiency through a speaking test. The study found that language anxiety in the speaking test was only a poor predictor of English proficiency.
Joint network-channel code design for real wireless relay networks

Joint network-channel coding (JNCC) has attracted significant interests recently to improve the reliability of data transmission in a large network. Adaptive network coded cooperation (ANCC) is one of these numerous works that combine network and channel coding to match network-on-graph to code-on-graph. Since the network consists of unpredictable fading channels, the link failure and time varying network topology have to be considered. In this paper, we consider an extreme channel condition where the relays fail to decode the received information to create parity check symbols, this results in no protection for the corresponding information messages at the sink. We present a channel selection solution and investigate the performance of the proposed scheme. Furthermore, based on the proposed scheme, a repeat accumulate (RA) code structure is introduced into the JNCC design by following an extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) chart and simulation results show a considerable performance improvement.
Computing Gaussian Mixture Models with EM using Side-Information

Estimation of Gaussian mixture models is an efficient and popular technique for clustering and density estimation. An EM procedure is widely used to estimate the model parameters. In this paper we show how side information in the form of equivalence constraints can be incorporated into this procedure, leading to improved clustering results. Equivalence constraints are prior knowledge concerning pairs of data points, indicating if the points arise from the same source (positive constraint) or from different sources (negative constraint). Such constraints can be gathered automatically in some learning problems, and are a natural form of supervision in others. We present a closed form EM procedure for handling positive constraints, and a Generalized EM procedure using a Markov net for the incorporation of negative constraints. Using publicly available data sets we demonstrate that such side information may lead to considerable improvement in clustering tasks, and that our algorithm is preferable to another suggested method using this type of side information.
Cultural Values, Social Status, and Chinese American Immigrant Parents’ Emotional Expressivity

Cultural values and social status are two salient factors in the psychological experiences of immigrant families, and both have been associated with immigrant parents’ patterns of emotional expression in previous studies. The present study examined how endorsement of cultural values (collectivism and conformity) and social status were uniquely associated with immigrant parents’ emotional expressivity in the family. First-generation Chinese American immigrant parents (N = 239, 80% mothers; M = 41.31 years old) of elementary-age children reported on their endorsement of values of collectivism and conformity, their patterns of emotional expressivity in the family context, and their family income and education levels. Path analyses indicated unique positive associations between family income and all domains of parents’ emotional expressivity and negative associations between family income and parents’ endorsement of collectivism and conformity. Parents’ endorsement of collectivism was negatively associated with negative-dominant expressivity. We discuss implications of our findings for theories of culture and emotion, as well as for future intersectional approaches with Asian American populations.
Two-year follow-up of low-level laser therapy for elderly with painful adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder

Introduction This paper reports on the medium-term mean 2-year prospective follow-up of a patient cohort of 35 unselected elderly patients with mean age of 65 years who visited our tertiary referral pain center for painful adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder managed with low-level laser therapy (LLLT). Materials and methods All patients in this prospective cohort study had documentation of the diagnosis by contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging before study entry and all had failed to respond to a combination of conventional physical therapy and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications for not fewer than 4 weeks. LLLT, at a wavelength of 810 nm emitted from a GaAIAs semiconductor laser device with 5.4 J per point and a power density of 20 mW/cm2, was employed to irradiate six predetermined anatomic points and two acupuncture points. The treatment regimen consisted of three sessions of treatment per week for 8 consecutive weeks. Each treatment session lasted 180 seconds. Serial clinical assessment was undertaken using the Constant–Murley shoulder score. Results A total of 50 painful shoulder joints were treated, as a number of elderly presented with bilateral symptoms. All but four painful shoulders showed significant improvement in Constant–Murley shoulder score at the end of 8-weeks’ LLLT treatment and, surprisingly, the improvement was found maintained at follow-up assessments at 1 year and 2 years. Conclusion We conclude that LLLT is a viable option in the conservative treatment of shoulder pain arising from adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder in the elderly, with a positive clinical result of more than 90% and with clinical efficacy both in the short-term and the medium-term.
Binary relationship imposition rules on ternary relationships in ER modeling

In this paper, we discuss the simultaneous existence, and relationship between binary and ternary structures. We demonstrate which binary relationship cardinalities are permitted within ternary relationships, during ER modeling. We develop an Implicit Binary Cardinality rule (B3C rule), which states that, in any ternary relationship, the cardinality of any binmy relationship embedded in the ternary, is many-to-many when there are no explicit constraints on the data instances. We then present an Explicit Binary Permission rule (EBP rule), which explains and enumerates all permitted binary relationships for various cardinalities of ternary relationships. Finally we present an Implicit Binary Override rule (IBO rule), which states that the implicit binary cardinalities can be constrained in a ternary relationship by explicit constraints imposed by a binary relationship. We also detail how the cardinalities within the ternary are altered as the binary relationship is imposed. In discussing these findings, we consider the rules in the context of decomposing ternary relationships into multiple binary relationships.
Effect of herbal antioxidant-rich formula on improvement of antioxidant defense system and heat shock protein-70 expression in recreational female athletes: A randomized controlled trial

Background: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of natural antioxidant formula (blend of herbs: ginger root, cinnamon bark and raw almond fruit powder, rosemary leaf powder, and honey) on oxidative status, antioxidant enzyme activity, and relative heat shock protein (HSP-70) expression in recreational female athletes. Materials and Methods: Eighteen female participants trained for 4 weeks and randomly received either antioxidant formula (FormEX) (n = 8) or placebo (PlcEX) (n = 10) in a randomized controlled trial. Blood samples were obtained 1-h before, 1 h and 24 h postexercise to measure malondialdehyde (MDA), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidases (GPx), and HSP70 mRNA expression. Data analysis was performed using 2 (treatment = grouping factor) ×6 (time = within-factor) repeated measurements analysis of variance or generalized estimating equations (GEE) test. We used the independent t-test to evaluate any significant differences for real-time polymerase chain reaction data. Results: Antioxidant formula increased the relative HSP-70 mRNA expression more than Plc-EX group in all time points (P = 0.001). The time main effect was significant with regard to TAC and SOD concentrations (P = 0.001 and 0.002, respectively). However, there were no statistically significant differences between groups for TAC, SOD, and MDA (P = 0.25, 0.06, and 0.38, respectively). Neither the time main effect for MDA nor time and intervention interaction was not statistically significant for MDA, TAC, and SOD (P = 0.19, 0.13, and 0.10, respectively). GEE results for GPx showed that there were no significant differences between the groups (P = 0.11). Conclusion: The results presented herein revealed that natural antioxidant rich formula had variable effects on oxidative status. However, in contrast to many antioxidant supplements, this formulation increases the HSP-70 mRNA expression which might improve the antioxidant ability of cells in the long-term period and exercise-induced adaptation.