Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Cash Conversion Cycle Approach to Liquidity Analysis

Although working capital management receives less attention in the literature than longer-term investment and financing decisions, it occupies the major portion of a financial manager's time and attention [9, p. 173]. In part, this simply reflects the repetitive nature of investment commitments with relatively short life expectancy and rapid transformation from one investment form to another [6, pp. 1-2]. The time devoted to working capital management, however, also reflects the crucial liquidity or repayment capability implications of a firm's short-term investment and financing policies. Inattention to the liquidity management process may cause severe difficulties and losses due to adverse short-run developments even for the firm with favorable long-run prospects. Incorrect evaluation of the liquidity implications of a firm's working capital needs may, in turn, subject creditors and investors to an unanticipated risk of default. Financial managers and their external financial analyst counterparts recognize, at least intuitively, that all working capital investments do not enjoy the same life expectancy, nor are they transformed into usable liquidity flows at the same speed. It is not clear, however, that they recognize explicitly the crucial role f these differences in evaluating a firm's liquidity position. A cash conversion cycle approach to working capital management illustrates the potential danger of an intuitive approach to liquidity analysis.
Infections in Patients With Diabetes Mellitus : Importance of Early Recognition , Treatment , and Prevention

iabetes mellitus affects 7% to 8% of adults in the United States, including 18% of individuals between the ages of 65 and 75 years and up to 40% of those older than 80 years. Infectious diseases are a significant source of morbidity and mortality in people with diabetes. Confirming the longstanding belief among clinicians that patients with diabetes are especially susceptible to infection, a large retrospective cohort study conducted in Canada documented that nearly half of all people with diabetes had at least one physician visit or hospitalization for an infectious disease per year in each of 2 cohorts studied. The risk ratio for such an event was 1.21 (95% confidence Infections in Patients With Diabetes Mellitus: Importance of Early Recognition, Treatment, and Prevention
Reducing measurement overload: Rationalizing performance measures for public aquatic centres in Australia

The increasing pressure for organizations to monitor outputs and operations using performance measures raises two important issues. First, are there specific performance measures that are significant contributors to the key measures? Second, and as a corollary of the first, is it possible to reduce the number of performance measures and minimize the potential for organizations becoming overwhelmed by data of limited cost-effectiveness? With these issues in mind, this paper examines a number of performance measures currently used widely in Australian public aquatic centres. Employing hierarchical multiple regression analysis, results indicate that a small number of measures appear to be closely related to two key performance measures for visitation and financial success.
Exploring the impact of institutional and organizational factors on the reaction of MNCs to the global financial crisis

This paper analyses some of the factors that impact multinational companies' (MNCs) reaction to the global financial crisis. This paper reports the results from a large-scale study of its impact on MNCs in Australia, considering occurrences of site closures, offshoring, outsourcing, labour force reductions, reductions in working hours, salary reductions, and reductions in training and travel. Evidence showed that MNC reactions varied according to certain institutional and organizational effects. For example, MNCs originating from liberal-market economies are more likely to have offshored and outsourced production and reduced employment. The implications for understanding of MNC behaviour are discussed.
The Cost of Equity Finance: Conventional Wisdom Reconsidered

Until recently, the periodic assessment of a company's cost of capital presented few problems to the company's finance director. However, the cost of equity capital, an important component of a company's overall cost of capital, can now be a more complex problem. Some of the most important techniques for computing the cost of equity capital are reviewed and the equity risk premium is discussed in some detail.
Flooding and Relocation: The Zambezi River Valley in Mozambique

Since the 1980’s there has been an increasing debate throughout the world, that argues whether environmental degradation is a major cause of migration. Scientists claimed there were millions of “environmental refugees” in the late 1980s. The discussion of the links between environmental change and migration have since then been widely debated, especially because of the lack of empirical data on the linkages of the environment and migration. Within the last years the Nobel price winning International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007) raised awareness about future impacts of climate change and stated that extreme weather events will occur more frequently and the number of people affected will be highest in the low-lying deltas of Asia and Africa. Heavy rain in south eastern Africa in early 2008 flooded the low-lying river areas along the Zambezi River in Central Mozambique and displaced up to 80,000 people -- the second such occurrence within two years. This number adds to tens of thousands of people already displaced from floods and cyclones during 2000, 2001 and 2007. Flooding in Mozambique provides a picture of the vulnerability many developing countries experience vis-a-vis extreme climate events. Resettlement has become a policy of last resort for a government trying to ensure safety in a populated area. Mozambique has in recent years become a prominent example of environmentally induced displacement/migration caused by flooding, and the efforts of a government to balance the safety of threatened people with the need to earn livelihoods on floodplains. Hence, this paper aims to understand the impacts of current extreme weather events, especially for a region of the world where the population is surviving via subsistence economy. This paper intends to decrease the lack of data on the linkages between the environment, displacement and migration and identify the major issues in dealing with these impacts.
Sensorimotor organization in double cortex syndrome

Subcortical band heterotopia is a diffuse malformation of cortical development related to pharmacologically intractable epilepsy. On magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), patients with “double cortex” syndrome (DCS) present with a band of heterotopic gray matter separated from the overlying cortex by a layer of white matter. The function and connectivity of the subcortical heterotopic band in humans is only partially understood. We studied six DCS patients with bilateral subcortical band heterotopias and six healthy controls using functional MRI (fMRI). In controls, simple motor task elicited contralateral activation of the primary motor cortex (M1) and ipsilateral activation of the cerebellum and left supplementary motor area (SMA). All DCS patients showed task‐related contralateral activation of both M1 and the underlying heterotopic band. Ipsilateral motor activation was seen in 4/6 DCS patients. Furthermore, there were additional activations of nonprimary normotopic cortical areas. The sensory stimulus resulted in activation of the contralateral primary sensory cortex (SI) and the thalamus in all healthy subjects. The left sensory task also induced a contralateral activation of the insular cortex. Sensory activation of the contralateral SI was seen in all DCS patients and secondary somatosensory areas in 5/6. The heterotopic band beneath SI became activated in 3/6 DCS patients. Activations were also seen in subcortical structures for both paradigms. In DCS, motor and sensory tasks induce an activation of the subcortical heterotopic band. The recruitment of bilateral primary areas and higher‐order association normotopic cortices indicates the need for a widespread network to perform simple tasks. Hum Brain Mapp, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Role of Human and Financial Capital in the Profitability and Growth of Women‐Owned Small Firms

This paper examines the relationship between human and financial capital and firm performance for women‐ and men‐owned small firms in the service and retail sectors. Results indicate that human capital variables, including education and experience, had a positive impact on the profitability of women‐owned firms, whereas measures of financial capital had a greater impact of the profitability of men‐owned firms. The ability to secure financial capital also had a positive impact on the growth rate of men‐owned firms, but did not appear to affect the growth rate of women‐owned firms. These findings suggest that the growth aspirations for women‐owned firms may be driven by factors other than human capital or the ability to secure external capital.
SCHOOLCHILDREN AND BICYCLE HELMET USE IN CROATIA

In spring 2003 a survey was carried out among the schoolchildren at primary schools in Zagreb, Varaždin, and Samobor. A total of 546 schoolchildren attending fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades, at the age between 10 to 15 years were surveyed.A comparison of the towns regarding the ownership of bicycles has shown that there are slightly more bicycles (91.5%) in Samobor than in the other two towns, but the difference is not statistically significant. However, when analysing the number of helmets per town then the results have shown that Zagreb children are the most frequent helmet-wearers (17.8%) while Samobor takes the last place (5.6%). The difference in helmet ownership in the observed three towns has proven to be statistically significant ( 2=15.01, df=2, p=0.0005). Positive knowledge about wearing the cycle helmet (experienced riders need helmet, helmet has to be worn also on less busy streets, helmet must be worn also on cycle lanes, laws on helmet-wearing are positive, even riding near the home requires wearing a helmet) has been noticed in Zagreb and Varaždin, whereas such knowledge in Samobor is insufficient – more than half of the examinees answered these questions incorrectly. The answers to questions regarding helmet-wearing and head protection (wearing a helmet may save lives, this is a good method of head protection) have shown more knowledge in case of the Samobor schoolchildren - 100% (Varaždin 91%, 92.4 ; Zagreb 87.7%, 81.1%, respectively). Negative attitudes regarding helmet-wearing (other children laugh when they see you wearing a helmet, the helmet takes the fun out of cycling, helmets do not fit well) are less emphasised in Varaždin (30.5%, 28.8%, 27.8%) and Zagreb (30.0%, 40.0%, 34.1%), whereas being very strong in Samobor (88.7%, 100%, 76.4%).
Stock Prices, Inflation, and Output: Evidence from the Emerging Markets

This article examines the short and long-term relationships between stock prices, inflation, and output in 21 emerging capital markets. It also investigates whether the proxy hypothesis can explain the puzzling negative relation between stock returns and inflation. The study shows that in the short run the negative relationship between stock returns and inflation still persist for all countries except Malaysia, even after the effects of expected economic activity and inflation variability have been explicitly incorporated. Furthermore, the results of the generalised autoregressive conditional heteroscedastic (GARCH) model are consistent with the OLS results. These results reject the proxy-effect hypothesis in the short run. However, in the long run, cointegration tests verify a long-run equilibrium between stock prices, consumer price index, and the real economic activity. The findings support the Fisher effect and the proxy hypotheses in the long run only.
Adolescent Drug Use and Educational Attainment

Recent studies investigating the labor-market effects of illicit drug use have consistently found a positive relation between drug use and earnings. These analyses have, however, ignored the potential relationship between drug use and human-capital formation. This paper examines the effect of drug use during adolescence on formal educational attainment using a sample drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey Youth Cohort. The probability of drug use is estimated across racial groups according to three categories; use of any illicit drug, use including hard drugs, and use of only marijuana. Fitted values for the probability of drug use are calculated and entered into a regression framework to estimate the number of school years completed. The empirical results indicate that all three categories of drug use are associated with significant negative impacts on educational attainment after controlling for individual differences in personal endowments and socioeconomic characteristics. On average, adolescent drug use is found to reduce eventual educational attainment by about 1 year, ceteris paribus . These findings suggest that previous studies that focus only on the direct effects of drug use on earnings may reflect a statistical bias that leads to an overstatement of the positive effects of drug use on earnings.
Assessment of Fetal Pulmonic Maturity by Measurement of the Surface Tension of Amniotic Fluid Lipid Extract

Fetal pulmonic maturity is currently predicted by the lecithin/sphingomyelin (L/S) ratio which utilizes the changes with increased gestation in the lecithin component of amniotic fluid surfactant. The surface tension lowering property of lipids extracted from the amniotic fluid of 45 patients was measured directly. The surface tension (γ) of various aliquots of the amniotic fluid lipid extract was measured by a modification of the Wilhelmy plate method. At 80λ of the extract, a γ of 67 dynes/cm or less indicated pulmonic maturity, while a γ of >67 dynes/cm suggested immaturity, provided that the γ at 200λ was >56 dynes/cm. The fluid was termed transitional if the γ was >67 dynes/cm at 80λ, but <56 dynes/cm at 200λ. A comparison was made with the L/S ratio; there were no false positive values and only 13.6% false negative surface tension values. Addition of blood to amniotic fluid, mature and immature, yielded the same results as with the L/S ratio. Two infants with respiratory distress syndrome had both immature L/S ratios and surface tension results. Results indicate that the surface tension of the amniotic fluid lipid extracts is a reliable and rapid means of antenatally predicting fetal pulmonic maturity.
Multi-robot cooperation method based on the ant algorithm

The Ant Algorithm Ding YmgYing, He Yan, J i g Jingping College of Electrical Engin&g, Zhejiang UNversity Hanm 310027, P.R China dingnina@sohu.com, heyan@,cee.ziu. edu.q eeiianP~. dial.ziu. edu.cn adaptability. To realize the on-line cooperation programming, experience can be utilized in the work. Dorigo proposed the Ant Algorithm in 1991[51. This Ant Algorithm is an optimization algorithm that pined by obseniag the real ant colonies, and it is very useful in solving diffimlt optimization and control optimization algorithm is based on the labor division and Droblemr m e . Leorithm is modeled on a ~ e v concent a114 cooperation of the ant society. with the idea of the ant 'sljgmerpy" of The ant sodetiea, which is used'in our algorithm to design the coopention of multi-robots. Io a8 nnlmowa environment, one of the most important problems to the mulli-robot syatem is to decide a task he completed by how many robots. With the concept 'stigmelgy", the number of the mbots cooperating on a task is decided accordiog to the difficulty of the task Given the definition of the 'Task Deadlock", an adaptive attenuation factor to eWna te task deadlock is intmduced in the coopention algorithm. Simulations show the effectiveness of the algorithm. ~ e y words: multi-robot system coopention, ant algorithm. task deadlock the algoritbm. algorithm, a mdti-robot cooperation algorithm is p t forward here. The algorithm can orgdnize different m u n h of to cooperate on a task according to the task a d t y , In sation two the theory of the ant algorithm is i n d u d ; ~n don three the multi-mbot based on the ant algo,. iw is designed; In section four the definition of the "task deadl&" is giveq and an attermation factor to eliminate the task deadlock is introduced; In the last sation, a simulation is done to test
Covert Shifts of Spatial Attention in the Macaque Monkey

In the awake state, shifts of spatial attention alternate with periods of sustained attention at a fixed location or object. Human fMRI experiments revealed the critical role of the superior parietal lobule (SPL) in shifting spatial attention, a finding not predicted by human lesion studies and monkey electrophysiology. To investigate whether a potential homolog of the human SPL shifting region exists in monkeys (Macaca mulatta), we adopted an event-related fMRI paradigm that closely resembled a human experiment (Molenberghs et al., 2007). In this paradigm, a pair of relevant and irrelevant shapes was continuously present on the horizontal meridian. Subjects had to covertly detect a dimming of the relevant shape while ignoring the irrelevant dimmings. The events of interest consisted of the replacement of one stimulus pair by the next. During shift but not stay events, the relevant shape of the new pair appeared at the contralateral position relative to the previous one. Spatial shifting events activated parietal areas V6/V6A and medial intraparietal area, caudo-dorsal visual areas, the most posterior portion of the superior temporal sulcus, and several smaller frontal areas. These areas were not activated during passive stimulation with the same sensory stimuli. During stay events, strong direction-sensitive attention signals were observed in a distributed set of contralateral visual, temporal, parietal, and lateral prefrontal areas, the vast majority overlapping with the sensory stimulus representation. We suggest medial intraparietal area and V6/V6A as functional counterparts of human SPL because they contained the most widespread shift signals in the absence of contralateral stay activity, resembling the functional characteristics of the human SPL shifting area.
Neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio and mean platelet volume in central serous chorioretinopathy

Purpose This study aimed to evaluate mean platelet volume (MPV) and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) values and their relationship with clinical findings in patients with central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR). Methods Overall, 87 patients fulfilling inclusion criteria and 320 age- and sex-matched healthy individuals as controls were included in the study. The CSCR patients (n=87) were classified into 2 groups as acute CSCR (group 1, n=43) and chronic CSCR (group 2, n=44). Results It was found that NLR (P<0.05) and C-reactive protein (CRP) (P<0.05) values were higher in acute CSCR group than the other groups. MPV value was found to be higher in chronic CSCR group than the other groups (P<0.001). Conclusion It seems that neutrophils play a major role in acute CSCR while platelets are involved in progression to chronic CSCR. Larger, prospective studies are needed on this topic.
In vitro anticancer activity and cytotoxicity screening of phytochemical extracts from selected traditional Chinese medicinal plants.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the anticancer activity of 10 selected traditional Chinese medicinal plants on 4 cancer cell lines, namely MCF-7 (breast carcinoma), BALL-1 (acute lymphoblastic leukemia), Huh-7 (hepatocellular carcinoma), HeLa (cervical carcinoma) and their cytotoxicity on a normal cell line, namely MCF-10A (non-tumorigenic mammary epithelial line), about which there were few reports previously. METHODS Six phytochemical extracts, namely petroleum ether extract (PEE), chloroform extract (CE), ethyl acetate extract (EAE), n-butanol extract (BE), the remainder after extraction (RE) and water extract (WE) from each plant were prepared. These 60 extracts were screened for their cytotoxicity on the aforementioned cell lines using MTT assay. RESULTS All plant species showed certain anticancer activity against at least one of the 4 cancer cell lines and obvious selective cytotoxicities were observed. Compared with Huh-7 and HeLa cells, MCF-7 and BALL-1 cells were more sensitive to the treatments of the phytochemical extracts. The PEE, CE and EAE of Brassica campestris, the PE and CE of Hibiscus syriacus, as well as the BE of Pittosporum tobira exhibited strong anticancer activity but weak cytotoxicity on the normal cell line. CONCLUSION Our results provided new evidence for anticancer activities of these plants which could be useful for developing new anticancer therapies.
Capecitabine and hand–foot syndrome

Hand–foot syndrome (HFS), or palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia, is a common side effect in patients taking long-term 5-fluorouracil treatment and is the most frequently reported side effect of oral capecitabine therapy (≥ 50% of patients). Although the pathogenesis of HFS is not fully understood, it may be due to damaged deep capillaries in the soles of the feet and palms of the hands, leading to a COX inflammatory-type reaction, or related to enzymes involved in the metabolism of capecitabine, namely, thymidine phosphorylase and dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase. Ethnic variations in the clinical manifestation of HFS warrant further attention, and an alternative system for grading HFS in non-white patients has been proposed. In addition to treatment interruption and dose reduction, supportive treatments can help alleviate symptoms. Because capecitabine is an oral therapy administered at home, it is crucial that patients understand the importance of complying with treatment, be aware of the possibility of HFS, and inform the doctor or nurse immediately if symptoms of HFS develop. Several cases of HFS are presented.
Switching from clopidogrel to prasugrel or ticagrelor: tips and tricks.

This editorial refers to ‘A head-to-head pharmacodynamic comparison of prasugrel vs. ticagrelor after switching from clopidogrel in patients with coronary artery disease: results of a prospective randomized study’, by F. Rollini et al . , doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehv744 Clopidogrel is a thienopyridine prodrug, the active metabolite of which (CAM) inhibits the interaction of ADP with its platelet P2Y12 receptor, which plays a central role in platelet activation and thrombus formation.1 In combination with aspirin, it is recommended for patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) and for those undergoing percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) to reduce the risk of subsequent cardiovascular events such as stent thrombosis or other major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). 1 Its clinical utility is hampered by the wide interindividual variability of pharmacological response, with a significant proportion of subjects (∼30%) who are poor responders, displaying high on-treatment platelet reactivity (HPR). 2,3 Impaired transformation of the prodrug to CAM by hepatic cytochrome P450 (CYP) is among the most important causes of HPR. Because patients with HPR are at increased risk of MACE,2,3 alternative P2Y12 antagonists displaying a lower degree of interindividual variability of platelet inhibition are necessary in order to protect the large majority of patients from stent thrombosis and MACE. ⇓ Figure 1 Hypothesis of P2Y12 receptor occupancy up to 24 h after a loading dose (LD) and 7 days after maintenance doses (MDs) of prasugrel or ticagrelor given to patients on maintenance treatment with clopidogrel. 1. Maintenance treatment with 75 mg/day clopidogrel accomplishes partial, irreversible inhibition of the platelet P2Y12 receptors; 24 h after the last dose of clopidogrel, virtually no active metabolite of clopidogrel (CAM) will be …