Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Financial distress and bankruptcy prediction using accounting, market and macroeconomic variables

This thesis investigates the information content of different types of variables in the field of financial distress/default prediction. Specifically, the thesis tests empirically, for the first time, the utility of combining accounting data, market-based variables and macroeconomic indicators to explain corporate credit risk. Models for listed companies in the United Kingdom are developed for the prediction of financial distress and corporate failure. The models used a combination of accounting data, stock market information, proxies for changes in the macroeconomic environment, and industry controls. Furthermore, novel finance-based and technical definitions of firm distress and failure are introduced as outcome variables. The thesis produced binary and polytomous models with enhanced predictive accuracy, practical value, and macro dependent dynamics that have relevance for stress testing. The results unambiguously show the advantages, in terms of predictive accuracy and timeliness, of combining these types of variables. Unlike previous research works that employed discrete choice, non-linear regression methodologies, this thesis provided new evidence on the effects of the different types of variables on the probability of falling into each of the individual outcomes (e.g., financial distress, corporate failure). The analysis of graphic representations of changes in predicted probabilities, a primer in the field of risk modelling, offered new insights with regard to the behaviour of the vectors of predicted probabilities following a given change in the magnitude of a specific covariate. Additionally, and in line with the main area of study, the thesis provides historical evidence on the types of variables and the information sharing mechanisms employed by American and British investors and financial institutions to assess the riskiness of individuals, businesses and fixed-income instruments before the emergence of modern institutions such as the credit rating agencies and prior to the development of complex statistical models, filling thus a crucial gap in the credit risk literature.
Are Traffic Tickets Countercyclical?

There is anecdotal evidence that local governments use traffic tickets to generate revenue. Using panel data for North Carolina counties, we examine whether changes in local government revenue influence the number of traffic tickets issued. We find strong evidence of an asymmetric response by local governments. Specifically, positive changes in revenue have no effect on traffic tickets, but negative revenue changes increase the number of traffic tickets issued. A one percentage point decrease in revenue yields a 0.38 percentage point increase in traffic tickets. We calculate that traffic ticket revenue supplements a low percentage of local revenue losses.
Priming Patient Safety Through Nursing Handoff Communication: A Simulation Pilot Study

Understanding how safety culture mechanisms affect nursing safety-oriented behavior and thus patient outcomes is critical to developing hospital safety programs. Safety priming refers to communicating safety values intended to activate patient safety goals. Safety priming through nursing handoff communication was tested as a means by which cultural safety values may affect nursing practice. The mixed-methods pilot study setting was an academic medical center’s high-fidelity simulation lab. Twenty nurses were randomized into intervention and control groups. The intervention group received a safety priming intervention; all participants were observed for completing appropriate actions in response to patient safety risks embedded in a scenario. Stimulated recall interviews were conducted following simulation completion. Nurses receiving the safety priming intervention performed slightly but non-significantly more safety actions than nurses who did not (60.5% vs. 57.9% of 43 actions). Implications for both research and practice are discussed for interventions targeting routine versus safety goal-directed nursing actions.
Disabled People's Costs of Living: 'More Than You Would Think'

Title: Disabled people’s costs of living : more than you would think Authors: Smith, Noel Middleton, Sue Ashton-Brooks, Kate Cox, Lynne Dobson, Barbara M. Reith, Lorna Issue Date: 2004 Publisher: Disabled people’s costs of living : more than you would think Citation: SMITH, N. , et al, 2004. Disabled people’s costs of living : more than you would think. Loughborough : Loughborough University Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the additional needs and ​ associated financial costs of disability from the perspective of disabled ​ people themselves. The research took place at a time when it is ​ recognised that disabled people have a range of additional needs and ​ costs (Large, 1991) and have a disproportionate risk of poverty (Gordon, ​ et al., 2000). However, research to date has not provided a clear ​ measure of these additional costs (Berthoud, 1998). As a result, levels ​ of nationally provided financial benefits and local services are predicated ​ on limited evidence. Certain state benefits are meant to offset, at least ​ partially, the additional costs associated with disability, but the extent to ​ which these benefits meet additional needs and costs is unknown. ​ Recently, ‘fairer charging’ policies for local authority domiciliary care ​ have been introduced with the intention that service charges should take ​ into account the additional costs that individuals incur because of ​ disability. Clear guidance for determining these additional costs is ​ proving elusive. The central aim of this research was to provide clear ​ evidence on the extent of these additional costs. Description: This report is also available electronically at: http://www.jrf. org.uk/bookshop/eBooks/1859352375.pdf Sponsor: Joseph Rowntree Foundation URI: https://dspace.lboro. ac.uk/2134/2458 ISBN: 1859352367 1859352375 Appears in Collections: Official Reports (CRSP)
An Attempt to Determine the Benefits of a ‘Home-for-Life’ Principle in Residential Care for People with Dementia and Behavioural Problems: A Comparative Cohort Study

It is not clear whether moving individuals with dementia and behavioural problems as part of a rehabilitation and relocation (‘intermediate care’, IC) nursing home model worsens behaviour, compared with a ‘home for life’ philosophy. We studied this in contiguous services with the same formal admission criteria but different models of subsequent care. 37 patients admitted to ‘homes for life’ and 24 to IC homes were followed up for 1 year using the BEHAVE-AD. Scores were lower at baseline in the IC group. Both groups deteriorated over the year, although more in IC patients (trend), and those actually moving home were worse after the move. Use of neuroleptic medication increased significantly in the IC group. Our results confirm previous studies of the disruptive effects of re-location for patients with severe dementia but do not suggest major differences between the two models of care.
Determinants of knowledge transfer and learning in hybrid public private alliances

This paper uses the case study of a hybrid public-private strategic alliance as data to complement and contrast with the traditional views on knowledge transfer and learning between alliance partners. In particular, the paper explores whether the concept of competitive collaboration conceptualized by Hamel (1991) in his seminal work holds true for all forms of strategic alliances. Conceptualizing the knowledge boundaries of organisations in alliances as a ‘collaborative membrane’, we focus attention on the permeability of these boundaries rather than the actual location of the boundaries. In this vein, we present a case study of a major public sector organization that illustrates how these principles have allowed it to start rebuilding its internal capabilities adopting a more collaborative stance and ensuring their knowledge boundaries are highly porous as they move more major projects into hybrid public private alliance contracts.
PAX3+ skeletal muscle satellite cells retain long‐term self‐renewal and proliferation

Introduction: Different populations of satellite cells (SCs) have been identified, but their functional difference remains unclear. Methods: We used cell‐surface markers and paired box transcription factor 3 (Pax3)/paired box transcription factor 7 (Pax7) expression to separate SC populations. In addition, self‐renewal, proliferation, and differentiation abilities of each population were analyzed. Results: Pax3+/Pax7‐ SCs exhibited higher proliferation ability characterized by forming clusters of myogenic colonies with more self‐renewing cells after several passages, while Pax3‐/Pax7+ SCs had faster differentiation. The myotubes derived from Pax3+/Pax7‐ SCs tended to express slow‐myosin heavy chain and exhibited rhythmic contraction, while myotubes originating from Pax3‐/Pax7+ SCs primarily formed fast‐myosin heavy chains characterized by transitory contraction. Conclusions: Pax3+/Pax7‐ SCs exhibited the ability of long‐term self‐renewal and proliferation, whereas Pax3‐/Pax7+ SCs demonstrated faster differentiation. Muscle Nerve 54: 943–951, 2016
Anosognosia for motor and sensory deficits after unilateral brain damage: a review.

PURPOSE The syndrome of unawareness (anosognosia) for sensory and motor neurological deficits (hemiplegia, hemianaesthesia, and hemianopia), contralateral to the side of a hemispheric lesion, is reviewed. CONTENT Main topics include: basic historical facts; the types of patient's interview and specific questions used to reveal the deficits; the clinical patterns of presentation; the associations and dissociations of the different anosognosic manifestations, and their relationships with associated disorders of sensory, memory, and executive-intellectual functions; the hemispheric asymmetry of anosognosia, that, as the syndrome of unilateral spatial neglect, is more frequent and severe after damage to the right cerebral hemisphere; the relationships between spatial neglect and the anosognosias, and their neural correlates; the effects of lateralized sensory stimulations on defective awareness of neurological impairments. CONCLUSIONS The argument is made that anosognosia for sensory and motor neurological deficits should be considered as a multi-component syndrome, including a number of specific disorders that are due to the impairment of discrete monitoring systems, specific for the different supervised functions. The putative causal role of associated deficits of other parts of the sensory-motor or cognitive (e.g., memory, general intelligence) system is critically discussed. These specific control processes may be physically implemented in brain areas anatomically (and functionally) close to those subserving the monitored function.
A retrospective study of factors associated with eliminating circulating pseudorabies virus in sow herds

Summary Objective: To define risk factors associated with sow herds that have not been successful in stopping circulation of pseudorabies virus (PRV, Aujeszky’s disease). Methods: Officials in charge of eradicating PRV in the major swine-producing states in the United States completed surveys to compare herds in which virus circulation had been successfully stopped (cases) to those in which it was not (controls) in an unmatched case-control design. Unsuccessful herds were defined as breeding herds that were diagnosed with PRV but that continued to have replacement animals become infected. The diagnostic and vaccination methods, characteristics of the farm and livestock, and eradication methods attempted were investigated. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to compare and select statistically significant variables. Results: Offsite and all-in–all-out (AIAO) finishing was more frequent among successful than unsuccessful herds. The frequency of other practices, such as sorting back pigs from one AIAO group to another, did not differ between successful and unsuccessful herds. In a higher proportion of successful herds, sows were culled directly from the farrowing room and conversely, a lower proportion of successful herds mixed cull sows with the finishing pigs. Unsuccessful herds were more likely to have other infected herds within 3.2 km (2 miles). Unsuccessful farms were more likely to raise gilts in their own facilities and did not cull out of the farrowing room but instead retained the sows. They also did not regularly clean and disinfect the livestock trucks or use a syringe dedicated to PRV vaccinations. Implications: The picture of the problem herd that develops from this analysis is of a herd that is slow to take up new technologies, particularly biosecurity and disease control technologies.
Symptoms, impairment and illness intrusiveness–their relationship with depression in women with CFS/ME

Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) is an illness in which physiological and psychological factors are believed to interact to cause and maintain CFS/ME in an individual predisposed to it. The various symptoms and impairments associated with CFS/ME have a large impact on quality of life. The purpose of the present study was to identify the extent to which the core symptoms and impairments associated with CFS/ME relate to depression in women with CFS/ME, and to discover whether these relationships were mediated by illness intrusiveness. CFS/ME was found to be a highly intrusive illness, intruding into more life domains and to a greater degree than other illnesses. The effects of both symptoms and impairment on depression were, in part, mediated by illness intrusiveness. Although symptoms severity and impairment had both direct and indirect effects on depression, illness intrusiveness was the strongest predictor of depression.
Towards tracer dose reduction in PET studies: Simulation of dose reduction by retrospective randomized undersampling of list-mode data.

OBJECTIVE Optimization of tracer dose regimes in positron emission tomography (PET) imaging is a trade-off between diagnostic image quality and radiation exposure. The challenge lies in defining minimal tracer doses that still result in sufficient diagnostic image quality. In order to find such minimal doses, it would be useful to simulate tracer dose reduction as this would enable to study the effects of tracer dose reduction on image quality in single patients without repeated injections of different amounts of tracer. The aim of our study was to introduce and validate a method for simulation of low-dose PET images enabling direct comparison of different tracer doses in single patients and under constant influencing factors. METHODS (18)F-fluoride PET data were acquired on a combined PET/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner. PET data were stored together with the temporal information of the occurrence of single events (list-mode format). A predefined proportion of PET events were then randomly deleted resulting in undersampled PET data. These data sets were subsequently reconstructed resulting in simulated low-dose PET images (retrospective undersampling of list-mode data). This approach was validated in phantom experiments by visual inspection and by comparison of PET quality metrics contrast recovery coefficient (CRC), background-variability (BV) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of measured and simulated PET images for different activity concentrations. In addition, reduced-dose PET images of a clinical (18)F-FDG PET dataset were simulated using the proposed approach. RESULTS (18)F-PET image quality degraded with decreasing activity concentrations with comparable visual image characteristics in measured and in corresponding simulated PET images. This result was confirmed by quantification of image quality metrics. CRC, SNR and BV showed concordant behavior with decreasing activity concentrations for measured and for corresponding simulated PET images. Simulation of dose-reduced datasets based on clinical (18)F-FDG PET data demonstrated the clinical applicability of the proposed data. CONCLUSION Simulation of PET tracer dose reduction is possible with retrospective undersampling of list-mode data. Resulting simulated low-dose images have equivalent characteristics with PET images actually measured at lower doses and can be used to derive optimal tracer dose regimes.
Are plain radiographs of the spine necessary during evaluation after blunt trauma? Accuracy of screening torso computed tomography in thoracic/lumbar spine fracture diagnosis.

BACKGROUND Fracture of the thoracolumbar (TL) spine is reported in 8 to 15% of victims of blunt trauma. Current screening of these patients is done with conventional radiography. This may require repeated sets of films and take hours to days. It is imperative that these patients get timely, accurate evaluation to allow for treatment planning and early mobilization; alternatives to plain films would aid in this. The objective of this study is to determine whether the data obtained from admission chest/abdomen/pelvis (CAP) computed tomography (CT) scans after blunt trauma has utility in thoracolumbar spine evaluation. METHODS The records of all patients admitted to a Level I trauma center over a 2-month period who underwent CAP CT were reviewed for the presence of TL spine fracture, time to completion of plain film evaluation, and clinical course. Admission CT scans were reviewed by an attending radiologist who was blinded to any previously diagnosed spine fractures. The two tests were compared for diagnostic accuracy and their discriminatory ability was compared using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Significance was defined as p < 0.05. RESULTS In all, 103 patients were admitted from January 1, 2003 to February 28, 2003 and underwent CAP CT scan as part of their initial trauma evaluation. Of these, 26 (25%) had thoracolumbar fractures. Seven (27%) thoracolumbar fractures were not seen on plain radiographs taken during the trauma evaluation. Average time until plain film completion in this group was 8 hours (range, 44 minutes to 38 hours). All 26 (100%) patients with fractures, however, were diagnosed on CT scan performed shortly after admission. Of the remaining 77 patients, two (2.6%) were falsely read as positive for fracture on CT. Sensitivity and specificity of CT scan for thoracolumbar fracture were excellent at 100% and 97%, respectively, with a negative predictive value of 100%. Plain radiographs were 73% sensitive, 100% specific, and had a negative predictive value of 92%. Area under the ROC curve for CT was 0.98, but for plain film was 0.86 (p < 0.02). CONCLUSION Admission CAP CT obtained as part of the routine trauma evaluation in these high-risk patients is more sensitive than plain radiographs for evaluation of the TL spine after blunt trauma. In addition, CAP CT can be performed faster. Omission of plain radiographs will expedite accurate evaluation allowing earlier treatment and mobilization.
Mutual Funds’ Returns from Providing Liquidity and Costs of Immediacy

We present evidence that some mutual funds systematically act as contrarian traders, and earn returns in the stock market by providing liquidity to investors that demand immediacy, while others systematically realize costs of immediacy. On average, the mutual funds’ costs of immediacy exceed their returns from providing liquidity. The funds with outflows, flows that correlate with industry flows, high market beta funds, and funds highly exposed to the momentum strategy suffer the most in costs of immediacy. The mutual funds’ average underperformance can be explained with their costs of immediacy. Finally, the funds’ historical costs of immediacy predict their alphas.
Consumption of Counterfeit Alcohol in Contemporary Russia: The Role of Cultural and Structural Factors

The majority of Russians believe that counterfeit alcohol may cause death. Nevertheless, alcohol is a common target of counterfeiting in contemporary Russia as are branded clothes, accessories and audio products. This paper aims to reveal whether counterfeit alcohol consumers are distinctive in terms of structure and culture. It investigates the prevalence and structure of counterfeit alcohol purchasing and consumption; attitudes and beliefs about counterfeit alcohol; and predictors of counterfeit alcohol consumption. The research is based on the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS-HSE), an annual nationwide panel survey designed to monitor the health and economic welfare of households and individuals in the Russian Federation. The research findings demonstrate that cultural and structural factors contribute a lot to the consumption of counterfeit alcohol. Counterfeit alcohol consumption is associated with hazardous alcohol drinkers and homemade alcohol drinkers who tend to ignore trademarks and the taste of alcoholic beverages. Blur counterfeiting is a characteristic of hazardous alcohol drinkers and vodka-lovers who are inclined to be price sensitive and to ignore brands. Social networks play a significant role in consumption of counterfeit alcohol. Counterfeit alcohol consumers are highly likely to represent lower classes.
Immunological Differentiation of Epididymal and Seminal Spermatozoa of the Rabbit

Rabbit spermatozoa from the epididymis lack the antigenic material present on seminal spermatozoa, which these latter cells have in common with the seminal plasma. This observation provides further support for the indirect evidence, obtained previously, that antigenic material is taken up by the spermatozoa from the seminal plasma.
Assessing the Safety and Efficacy of the Fda: The Case of the Prescription Drug User Fee Acts

The US Food and drug Administration (FDA) is estimated to regulate markets accounting for about 20% of consumer spending in the US. This paper proposes a general methodology to evaluate FDA policies, in general, and the central speed-safety tradeoff it faces, in particular. We apply this methodology to estimate the welfare effects of a major piece of legislation affecting this tradeoff, the Prescription Drug User Fee Acts (PDUFA). We find that PDUFA raised the private surplus of producers, and thus innovative returns, by about $11 to $13 billion. Dependent on the market power assumed of producers while having patent protection, we find that PDUFA raised consumer welfare between $5 to$19 billion; thus the combined social surplus was raised between $18 to $31 billions. Converting these economic gains into equivalent health benefits, we find that the more rapid access of drugs on the market enabled by PDUFA saved the equivalent of 180 to 310 thousand life-years. Additionally, we estimate an upper bound on the adverse effects of PDUFA based on drugs submitted during PDUFA I/II and subsequently withdrawn for safety reasons, and find that an extreme upper bound of about 56 thousand life-years were lost. We discuss how our general methodology could be used to perform a quantitative and evidence-based evaluation of the desirability of other FDA policies in the future, particularly those affecting the speed-safety tradeoff.