Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Do Compensation Committees Pay Attention to Section 404 Opinions of the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act?

Abstract: This study examines whether compensation committees adjust CEO/CFO compensation using the auditor opinions on internal control effectiveness (SOX 404 opinions), and whether the emphasis on internal controls depends on the level of compensation committees’ financial expertise. Following SOX 404, a firm's CEO and CFO are required to evaluate the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting, subject to the auditor's attestation. In light of recent accounting fraud, we expect and find that compensation committees adjust CEO/CFO compensation by reference to the SOX 404 opinions. Using different measures of financial expertise, we also find that the relationship is more pronounced in firms with higher levels of financial expertise. Our results suggest the importance of including directors with financial expertise on compensation committees.
Advertising's effect on the market demand elasticity: A note

Using a simple market model and Frisch's duality relation, this report develops propositions about the relationship between advertising and the market demand elasticity that may prove useful in empirical research. In particular, we find that a parallel shift in a linear demand function always alters the market demand elasticity unless supply is unitary elastic. However, the elasticity change in most cases will be negligible. We also find that curve rotation does not imply that the demand elasticity has changed, and vice versa. Lastly, if the price level affects advertising's ability to shift the market demand curve, it must also be true that advertising affects the demand elasticity. The converse is also true, i.e., if advertising affects the demand elasticity, the price level must affect advertising's ability to shift the demand curve. lJEL citations: Q130, Q170, Q180.r © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Agribusiness 20: 181-188, 2004.
Economic Significance of Predictable Variations in Stock Index Returns

Knowledge of the one-month interest rate is useful in forecasting the sign, as well as the variance, of the excess return on stocks. The services of a portfolio manager who makes use of the forecasting model to shift funds between bills and stocks would be worth an annual management fee of 2 percent of the value of the assets managed. During 1954:4 to 1986:12, the variance of monthly retuns on the managed portfolio was about 60 percent of the variance of the returns on the value weighted index, whereas the average return was two basis points higher. Copyright 1989 by American Finance Association.
Capital Structure and Windows of Opportunities: Tests in the Brazilian Market

This study tests the market timing theory (EMTT) in the Brazilian Stock Market. The study is an adaptation from the Baker and Wurgler's article (2002) that successfully tested the theory in the American Stock Market. The theory has not been proven in the Brazilian Market. The leverage decreases in the first year after the initial public offerings (IPO), but it grows once again without presenting the persistency required to corroborate the theory. No significant statistics were found between the market-to-book ratio and the leverage. The theory requires a negative correlation statistically robust for the market-to-book ratio to be confirmed.
Prospective Multicenter Clinical Trial of a Minimally Invasive Temperature‐Controlled Bipolar Fractional Radiofrequency System for Rhytid and Laxity Treatment

BACKGROUND A minimally invasive fractional bipolar radiofrequency (FRF) was developed. OBJECTIVE To evaluate safety and efficacy of FRF in reducing face and neck rhytides and laxity. MATERIALS AND METHODS This prospective, open‐label, multicenter clinical trial enrolled 100 subjects with mild to severe facial and neck rhytides and laxity at seven centers in a per‐protocol analysis. One single‐pass FRF treatment was administered through five 32 g‐needle electrode pairs at a preselected real‐time fixed temperature of 62 to 78°C, energy duration for 3 to 5 seconds, and impedance restrictions of 200 to 3,000 Ohms, ensuring intradermal delivery. Five blinded dermatologists and plastic surgeons graded randomized standardized baseline and follow‐up photographs of 53 and 42 subjects at 3‐ and 6‐month follow‐up intervals, respectively, using the Fitzpatrick wrinkle and Alexiades‐Armenakas laxity scales. Subject assessments and adverse events were recorded in 100 subjects. RESULTS Blinded evaluations revealed correct pre‐ and post‐treatment identification in 100% of scored cases, mean improvement of 25.6% on the Fitzpatrick Wrinkle Scale and 24.1% on the Alexiades‐Armenakas laxity scale at 6 months, and 100% response rate for rhytides and 95% for laxity. Subgroup analysis revealed maximal rhytid reduction in the mean target temperature of 66.7, energy duration of 4.2 seconds, and volume of denatured collagen of mm3 denatured collagen group. Adverse events included transient erythema, edema, and ecchymoses, resolving within 1 to 5 days, and two incidents of temporary pinpoint depressions. More than 90% of subjects were satisfied or very satisfied. CONCLUSION Real‐time temperature‐controlled FRF is a highly reproducible, safe, effective nonsurgical treatment of face and neck rhytides and laxity and provides important insights into neocollagenesis, neoelastogenesis, and clinical outcomes.
Herding and Positive Feedback Trading in American Stock Market: A Two Co-directional Behavior of Investors

Using aggregate data from DJIA since 1987, this paper attempts to address two potential co-directional behaviors of investors: Herding and positive feedback trading. These behavioral patterns bear interesting implications for market price as they may lead to excess volatility and mispricing. To empirically test for herding behavior, we employ two econometric techniques: the Cross Sectional Standard Deviation (CSSD) and the cross sectional absolute standard deviation (CSAD), while we employ the model formally introduced by Sentana and Wadhwani (1992) to empirically test for positive feedback trading. Our results support the joint significant presence of herding and positive feedback trading behaviors during periods of relatively large market price movements.
TRLMS: Two-Stage Resource Scheduling Algorithm for Cloud Based Live Media Streaming System

SUMMARY This letter proposes an e ﬃ cient Two-stage Resource scheduling algorithm for cloud based Live Media Streaming system (TRLMS). It transforms the cloud-based resource scheduling problem to a min-cost ﬂow problem in a graph, and solves it by an improved Successive Short Path (SSP) algorithm. Simulation results show that TRLMS can enhance user demand satisfaction by 17.1% than mean-based method, and its time complexity is much lower than original SSP algorithm. key words: cloud computing, live media streaming, min-cost ﬂow
Translating and testing the ENABLE: CHF-PC concurrent palliative care model for older adults with heart failure and their family caregivers.

BACKGROUND Heart failure (HF) and palliative care (PC) organizations recommend early PC to improve the quality of life of patients living with HF. OBJECTIVE We conducted a two-phase formative evaluation study to translate a cancer-focused concurrent PC intervention into one that would be appropriate for rural-dwelling adults with New York Heart Association Class III-IV HF and their primary caregivers. METHODS Phase I: We tailored the intervention for an HF population via literature review, expert consultation, and clinician (N=15) small group interviews. Phase II: We enrolled 11 patient/caregiver dyads to assess intervention feasibility and satisfaction. We assessed participants' experiences and satisfaction after session/week three and session/week six via digitally recorded interviews. Clinician and participant interviews were transcribed and content analyzed. Outcome measures were evaluated for completion rates and effect sizes. RESULTS Phase I: Clinicians described barriers to initiating PC in HF, triggers for initiating PC, and suggestions for intervention improvement. Phase II: Participants were able to complete the majority of study sessions, measures, and interviews. Satisfaction interviews revealed the content to be relevant and comprehensive in addressing HF patient and caregiver primary concerns; however, participants unanimously suggested making the intervention available earlier in the illness trajectory. Efficacy measures demonstrated small to medium effect sizes. CONCLUSIONS We tailored and demonstrated feasibility of providing an early, concurrent palliative care intervention to patients with advanced HF and their caregivers. Based on this experience we are now conducting an efficacy trial in a racially diverse sample.
The Role of Markets in Reducing Expected Utility Violations

Market theorists assume that expected utility predicts preferences at the market level even as evidence mounts that it predicts poorly at the individual level. The arguments for better‐performing markets are grounded in the assumption that individuals respond to the competition of the market. The objective of this study is to test empirically the validity of those assumptions using the betweenness property of expected utility. I conclude that expected utility does indeed predict better in markets, but analyses suggest that improved performance may be due to the statistical role played by markets introduced by market price selection rules.
The Future of the Euro : A Public Choice Perspective

Public choice analysis can be helpful in predicting the course of European monetary integration and policy. The median (or decisive) voter theorem, the theory of the political business cycle and the economic theory of bureaucracy are all applicable. The purpose of this paper is to explain and predict the behaviour of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Council of Ministers on the basis of the available empirical evidence. Section 2 relies on the median voter theorem to derive predictions for the inflation rate of the euro. It shows that inflation rates have to be explained by the voters' sensitivity to inflation rather than the independence of central bankers and that the French members of the ECB Council hold the median position in terms of past inflation, voters' sensitivity to inflation and predicted or simulated preferred inflation. However, if the historical real exchange rate change is extrapolated and if failure to agree on an Executive Board is considered a possibility, the Belgian member of the ECB Council is the inflation median.
Residues Glutamate 216 and Aspartate 301 Are Key Determinants of Substrate Specificity and Product Regioselectivity in Cytochrome P450 2D6*

Cytochrome P450 2D6 (CYP2D6) metabolizes a wide range of therapeutic drugs. CYP2D6 substrates typically contain a basic nitrogen atom, and the active-site residue Asp-301 has been implicated in substrate recognition through electrostatic interactions. Our recent computational models point to a predominantly structural role for Asp-301 in loop positioning (Kirton, S. B., Kemp, C. A., Tomkinson, N. P., St.-Gallay, S., and Sutcliffe, M. J. (2002) Proteins 49, 216–231) and suggest a second acidic residue, Glu-216, as a key determinant in the binding of basic substrates. We have evaluated the role of Glu-216 in substrate recognition, along with Asp-301, by site-directed mutagenesis. Reversal of the Glu-216 charge to Lys or substitution with neutral residues (Gln, Phe, or Leu) greatly decreased the affinity (K m values increased 10–100-fold) for the classical basic nitrogen-containing substrates bufuralol and dextromethorphan. Altered binding was also manifested in significant differences in regiospecificity with respect to dextromethorphan, producing enzymes with no preference for N-demethylationversus O-demethylation (E216K and E216F). Neutralization of Asp-301 to Gln and Asn had similarly profound effects on substrate binding and regioselectivity. Intriguingly, removal of the negative charge from either 216 or 301 produced enzymes (E216A, E216K, and D301Q) with elevated levels (50–75-fold) of catalytic activity toward diclofenac, a carboxylate-containing CYP2C9 substrate that lacks a basic nitrogen atom. Activity was increased still further (>1000-fold) upon neutralization of both residues (E216Q/D301Q). The kinetic parameters for diclofenac (K m 108 μm,k cat 5 min−1) along with nifedipine (K m 28 μm,k cat 2 min−1) and tolbutamide (K m 315 μm,k cat 1 min−1), which are not normally substrates for CYP2D6, were within an order of magnitude of those observed with CYP3A4 or CYP2C9. Neutralizing both Glu-216 and Asp-301 thus effectively alters substrate recognition illustrating the central role of the negative charges provided by both residues in defining the specificity of CYP2D6 toward substrates containing a basic nitrogen.
Acute renal colic: diagnosis with duplex Doppler US.

PURPOSE To determine the sensitivity of renal duplex Doppler sonography in the detection of patients with acute renal colic. MATERIALS AND METHODS The authors correlated results of renal duplex Doppler sonography with those of urography in 32 patients presenting with symptoms of urinary colic. The mean resistive index (RI) of each kidney and the difference between the mean RIs (delta RI) of both kidneys were calculated for all patients. The nonpaired two-tailed Student t test was used to determine if there was a significant difference in parameters between patients with and without obstruction. The sensitivity and specificity of the mean RI and the delta RI for the diagnosis of acute renal colic were calculated. RESULTS Nineteen patients had obstruction. The differences in the mean RI and delta RI for the patients with and without obstruction were statistically significant. When the published discriminatory thresholds for obstruction (mean RI > or = 0.7, delta RI > or = 0.1) were applied, however, the sensitivity and specificity of the Doppler examination were only 44% and 82%, respectively. CONCLUSION Duplex Doppler sonography is highly insensitive for the detection of acute renal colic.
Inter-Temporal Risk Parity: A Constant Volatility Framework for Equities and Other Asset Classes

Inter-temporal risk parity is a strategy which rebalances between a risky asset and cash in order to target a constant level of risk over time. When applied to equities and compared to a buy and hold strategy it is known to improve the Sharpe ratio and reduce drawdowns. We used Monte Carlo simulations based on a number of time series parametric models from the GARCH family in order to analyze the relative importance of a number of effects in explaining those benefits. We found that volatility clustering with constant returns and the fat tails are the two effects with the largest explanatory power. The results are even stronger if there is a negative relationship between return and volatility. On the other hand, if the Sharpe ratio remains constant over time, the only benefit would arise from an inter-temporal risk diversification effect which is small and has a negligible contribution. Using historical data, we also simulated what would have been the performance of the strategy when applied to equities, corporate bonds, government bonds and commodities. We found that the benefits of the strategy are more important for equities and high yield corporate bonds, which show the strongest volatility clustering and fat tails. For government bonds and investment grade bonds, which show little volatility clustering, the benefits of the strategy have been less important.
A school-based intervention for diabetes risk reduction.

The members of the writing group (Gary D. Foster, Ph.D., Temple University, Philadelphia; Barbara Linder, M.D., Ph.D., National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Bethesda, MD; Tom Baranowski, Ph.D., Baylor College of Medicine, Houston; Dan M. Cooper, M.D., University of California at Irvine, Irvine; Linn Goldberg, M.D., Oregon Health and Science University, Portland; Joanne S. Harrell, Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill; Francine Kaufman, M.D., Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles; Marsha D. Marcus, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh; Roberto P. Treviño, M.D., University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio; and Kathryn Hirst, Ph.D., George Washington University, Washington, DC) assume responsibility for the integrity of the article. Address reprint requests to Dr. Foster at the Center for Obesity Research and Education, Temple University, 3223 N. Broad St., Suite 175, Philadelphia, PA 19140, or at gfoster@temple.edu.
A Philosophic Defense of Advertising

Abstract This paper presents a non-traditional defense of advertising against its so-called social criticisms. It is non-traditional because the defense does not rest on the premise that advertising contributes to the welfare of society, but rather on the premise that it is morally right and good to pursue one's own selfish interests. That is, it is right and good for egoistic producers to use persuasive advertising to appeal to the self-interest of consumers for their own (the producers') selfish gain. Further, the author argues that the charges against advertising of manipulative deception, persuasive coercion, and tasteless offensiveness result from a hostility toward capitalism and egoism and that these charges rest on the untenable philosophic doctrines of elitism, intrinsicism and determinism.
Are Women Really More Risk‐Averse than Men? A Re‐Analysis of the Literature Using Expanded Methods

While a substantial literature in economics and finance has concluded that ‘women are more risk averse than men’, this conclusion merits investigation. After briefly clarifying the difference between making generalizations about groups, on the one hand, and making valid inferences from samples, on the other, this essay suggests improvements to how economists communicate our research results. Supplementing findings of statistical significance with quantitative measures of both substantive difference (Cohen's d, a measure in common use in non-Economics literatures) and of substantive overlap (the Index of Similarity, newly proposed here) adds important nuance to the discussion of sex differences. These measures are computed from the data on men, women and risk used in 35 scholarly works from economics, finance and decision science. The results are considerably more mixed and overlapping than would commonly be inferred from the broad claims made in the literature, with standardized differences in means mostly amounting to considerably less than one standard deviation, and the degree of overlap between male and female distributions generally exceeding 80%. In addition, studies that look at contextual influences suggest that these contribute importantly to observations of differences both between and within the sexes.
The Validity of Case'Control Studies with Nonrandom Selection of Controls

An unbiased estimate of the rate ratio can be obtained using a case-control design in which each case is matched to one or more controls randomly selected from population members at risk and in the same stratum as the case at the time of disease onset. However, the nonrandom assignment of controls to cases is quite frequent in case-control research. It occurs, for example, in matched case-control studies using either friend controls or neighborhood controls. Many valid random designs, in contrast to most nonrandom designs, require enumeration of a substantial fraction of the study base. Therefore, there may be important cost and logistic advantages to using valid nonrandom designs. In this paper we determine those nonrandom case-control designs that can produce unbiased estimates of the rate ratio and discuss the implications of our findings for the design of case-control studies. We conclude, as did Flanders and Austin, that friend-case-control studies should generally be avoided. On the other hand, in a typical neighborhood-matched, case-control study, any bias attributable to nonrandom control selection is usually too small to affect substantive conclusions. (Epidemiology 1990;1:273–284)
Academics as part-time marketers in university offshore programs: an exploratory study

Australian universities maintain almost 900 offshore programs delivered to more than 100 000 students, primarily in the nations of Singapore, Malaysia, China, and Hong Kong (Universities Australia, 2009; IDP, 2009a). Although offshore students comprise an estimated 30 per cent of international student enrolments at Australian universities (IDP, 2009b), there is evidence that many local institutions neither prepare academics to add value beyond their core teaching roles, nor create the environment in which academics become formally aware of their potential to serve as part-time marketers on behalf of their institutions (see, for example, Dunn & Wallace, 2006). Thus, the aim of this exploratory study was to determine the extent to which such international management deficiencies exist in a sample institution. The results of the study indicate that substantial potential exists for the more-active participation of academics in marketing processes while engaged in offshore teaching activities, and that deliberate strategies to achieve this outcome were both demanded and desired. Further research will be undertaken to confirm the validity of this conclusion.
The Impact of a Project Organisational Culture and Team Rewarding on Project Performance

The purpose of this paper is to identify the level of project organisational culture in Slovenian enterprises and the impact of that culture on team motivation and project execution compared with monetary rewards for finalising projects in time and within budget. The research showed a high level of project organisational culture and that only one-third of enterprises have implemented reward systems, while the results of the analysis proved that a project organisational culture along with rewards increase the motivation of team members and consequently reduces project delays and cost overruns.
Parallel memory traces are built after an experience containing aversive and appetitive components in the crab Neohelice

Significance In nature, animals are exposed to complex situations in which actions and stimuli predict appetitive and aversive consequences at the same time. To study memory formation after a learning episode that represents such real-life experience, we trained crabs in a context in which they found food while they were also threatened by a danger stimulus. We found that crabs build separate appetitive and aversive memories that compete during retrieval. Which memory is expressed depends on the strength of the unconditioned stimuli during training but also on the motivational state of the animal during retrieval. The results support that appetitive and aversive memories acquired during experience are independently stored to be used according to particular requirements during retrieval. The neurobiology of learning and memory has been mainly studied by focusing on pure aversive or appetitive experiences. Here, we challenged this approach considering that real-life stimuli come normally associated with competing aversive and appetitive consequences and that interaction between conflicting information must be intrinsic part of the memory processes. We used Neohelice crabs, taking advantage of two well-described appetitive and aversive learning paradigms and combining them in a single training session to evaluate how this affects memory. We found that crabs build separate appetitive and aversive memories that compete during retrieval but not during acquisition. Which memory prevails depends on the balance between the strength of the unconditioned stimuli and on the motivational state of the animals. The results indicate that after a mix experience with appetitive and aversive consequences, parallel memories are established in a way that appetitive and aversive information is stored to be retrieved in an opportunistic manner.