Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Shades of Darkness: A Pecking Order of Trading Venues

We characterize the dynamic fragmentation of U.S. equity markets using a unique data set that disaggregates dark transactions by venue types. The “pecking order” hypothesis of trading venues states that investors “sort” various venue types, putting low-cost-low-immediacy venues on top and high-cost-high-immediacy venues at the bottom. Hence, midpoint dark pools on top, non-midpoint dark pools in the middle, and lit markets at the bottom. As predicted, following VIX shocks, macroeconomic news, and firms’ earnings surprises, changes in venue market shares become progressively more positive (or less negative) down the pecking order. We further document heterogeneity across dark venue types and stock size groups.
Food and wine tourism: integrating food, travel and terroir

The book is also not, as often happens with anthologies, very well glued together as would be expected in order to serve as academic literature for (undergraduate) students. The introductory chapter is brief and a bit mechanistic in order to serve a useful purpose. It fails to define central concepts and terms that could serve as a bridge between the different chapters, providing some feeling for how the material presented in the rest of the book comes together into some kind of wholeness of “gestalt”. The book’s strength lies in the issuing of rural tourism and entrepreneurship in a developed – developing context: an aspect fairly overlooked in tourism studies. However, it constitutes a mainly developed country, largely Anglo-Saxon treatment of the subject. It is written with a Western lens for Western readers.
The State of Sustainability Reporting (SR) in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Application of the Consolidated Narrative Interrogation (CONI) Method

The aim of this paper is to provide a critical appraisal of the current state of sustainability reporting (SR) from select territories within the Sub-Saharan region. With the exception of South Africa, SR in Sub-Saharan Africa is voluntary and only practiced by a handful of countries. The paper explores the diversity and depth of sustainability disclosures made by publicly listed firms in Mauritius, South Africa, and Kenya. These territories have been chosen, because they are the only countries in relatively close proximity to South Africa that practice sustainability reporting. This paper also seeks to explore if regulation in South Africa has possibly influenced SR practice in the other two countries. Therefore, we contribute to the ongoing discourse on the development of sustainability reporting within emerging markets. The approach used in this paper is the consolidated narrative interrogation (CONI) method based on Beck, Campbell & Shrives (2010). The CONI method is an extension of conventional content analysis that uses a matrix approach to capture both the extent and variability of disclosures made within sustainability reports. We use the GRI G4 guidelines as a paradigm to measure the level of disclosures made by firms. The study considers reports issued by public companies from environmentally sensitive industries from the three countries for the year ended 2014.
Management of isolated cricopharyngeal dysfunction: systematic review

Abstract Objective: A systematic review was performed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of different therapeutic interventions available for the management of isolated cricopharyngeal dysfunction. Methods: Studies were identified using the following databases: Ovid (Medline, Embase), the Cochrane Library, PubMed and Google Scholar. An initial search identified 339 articles. All titles and abstracts were reviewed. Fifty-six relevant articles were inspected in more detail; of these, 47 were included in the qualitative analysis. Results: No relevant randomised trials were found. A range of case series were used to perform a qualitative analysis. Botulinum toxin A injection and cricopharyngeal dilatation were associated with a higher risk of recurrence, but appear to be more suitable in elderly and co-morbid patients. In those patients requiring formal myotomy, endoscopic approaches appear to be as effective but less morbid when compared with classical open surgery. Conclusion: There is good evidence for the safety and efficacy of the different therapeutic options for isolated cricopharyngeal dysfunction. However, further studies are required to compare the efficacy of the various treatment modalities.
Valuation of manual and automated process redesign from a business perspective

Purpose – The continuous redesign of processes is crucial for companies in times of tough competition and fast‐changing surrounding conditions. Since the manual redesign of processes is a time‐ and resource‐consuming task, automated redesign will increasingly become a useful alternative. Hence, future redesign projects need to be valuated based on both a manual and an automated redesign approach. The purpose of this paper is to compare the manual and automated process redesign on the basis of the Business Process Management (BPM) lifecycle.Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, the authors compare the manual and automated process redesign on the basis of the Business Process Management (BPM) lifecycle. The results form the basis for a mathematical model that outlines the general economic characteristics of process redesign as well as for the manual and automated approaches. Subsequently, the authors exemplarily apply their model to a set of empirical data with respective assumptions on particular as.
Profile of Presentation of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection in North India, 2003-2007

Background: Clinico-epidemiological profile of the Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic in India is varied and depends on multitude of factors including geographic location. We analyzed the characteristics of HIV-infected patients attending our Immunodeficiency Clinic to determine any changes in their profile over five years. Settings and Design: A retrospective observational study. Materials and Methods: The study sample included all patients with HIV infection from January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2007. Diagnosis of HIV was made according to National AIDS Control Organization guidelines. Results: Of 3 067 HIV-infected patients, 1 887 (61.5%) were male and 1 180 (38.5%) were female patients. Mean age of patients was 35.1 ± 9.0 years. Majority (91.8%) of patients were in the age group of 15 to 49 years. Progressively increasing proportion of female patients was noted from year 2004 onward. Median CD4 count at presentation in year 2003 was 197/μl (Interquartile range [IQR] = 82.5-373) while in year 2007 it was 186.5/μl (IQR = 86.3-336.8). Mean CD4 count of male patients was 203.7 ± 169.4/μl, significantly lower as compared with female patients, which was 284.8 ± 223.3/μl (P value ≤0.05). Every year, substantial proportions of patients presenting to clinic had CD4 count<200/μl indicating advanced disease. Predominant route of transmission was heterosexual in 2 507 (81.7%) patients. Tuberculosis and oropharyngeal candidiasis were the most common opportunistic infections (OIs). Cryptococcal meningitis was the most common central nervous infection. Our patients had comparatively lower median CD4 counts at the time of presentation with various OIs. Conclusions: Patients had advanced stage of HIV infection at the time of presentation throughout five years. Females presented earlier during the course of HIV infection. There is need for early screening and increasing awareness in healthcare providers to make a diagnosis of HIV much sooner.
Determinants of Graduates’ Employability in Sri Lanka: How can the Employability of Graduates be Increased?

This paper discusses key factors that influence graduates’ employability. Main objective of this study is to identify the expected requirements of graduates in the job market. Discussions with managers in government sector, private sector and non-government organizations, interviews with recently passed out graduates and examining newspaper advertisements regarding jobs for graduates were used as methods of primary data collection. Research reports of the University Grants Commission, other institutions etc are mainly used as secondary data sources.
Impacto dos lucros retidos sobre a criação de valor para o acionista de companhias abertas brasileiras

The company's decision on reinvesting profits started from the premise that the return on invested capital will exceed the opportunity cost, creating, consequently, shareholder value. Thus, wealth generation of the entity will be influenced by the level of retained earnings. Therefore, in this work we seek to examine how retained profit affect the value creation of 223 Brazilian companies, from 2008 to 2014, the control used was investment opportunity. Therefore we used descriptive statistics and panel data models. As main results we found that there is a high level of retained profit in the sample, however, a small part of the companies created value in the period. Still, the negative relationship between the level of capitalization of profits and created value is highlighted. Besides, it was observed that the companies that belonged to groups of higher levels of profit distribution ended up generating more wealth for investors.
An investigation and comparison of inbound and outbound supply chain risk management (SCRM) among Norwegian manufacturing firms

Supply chain risk management (SCRM) has through the recent years had an increased focus among firms and within the academia. This study builds on theory from SCRM, collaboration and information sharing among partners in the supply chain. The purpose of this study is to compare Norwegian manufacturing firm’s attention to inbound and outbound SCRM and see if Norwegian manufacturing firms emphasizes inbound and outbound SCRM differently. A questionnaire responded by 92 firms was completed, and due to the small sample size PLS-SEM was used as an analyze tool. PLS-SEM results indicates that firms tends to manage risk upstream in the supply chain with respect to their suppliers. Comparing to upstream, the same level of attention is not discovered downstream in the supply chain concerning customers. However, if SCRM for all firms in a supply chain manage risk upstream, risk at each tier will be controlled and firms may continue having the same attention. Implications for future research could be to investigate the need for SCRM downstream in the supply chain.
Perceived family support of women with breast cancer and affecting factors in Turkey.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to examine the percieved family support of the women with breast cancer and the affecting factors. METHODS The subjects were breast cancer cases undergoing treatment (n=240). The sample for this study was formed by women who accepted participation, were in the facility between the dates and hours when the study was applied, and who were selected with a nonprobability sampling technique (n=120). RESULTS Two thirds of the women with breast cancer were in the 40-59 age group. The lowest score women with breast cancer for perceived family support scale was 0.00 and the highest was 40.0, with a mean of 30.1±8.85. CONCLUSION In this study, it was determined that perceived family support of Turkish women with breast cancer was reasonable.
Securitisation, loan growth and bank funding: the Swiss experience since 1932

This paper empirically analyses securitisation in Switzerland from a macroeconomic and bank balance sheet perspective based on a novel and near-comprehensive data set on a specific form of securitisation over the sample period from 1932 to 2014. The Swiss Pfandbrief is a distinct covered bond with a similar institutional framework as the U.S. Federal Home Loan Bank System.
Performance of the fullPIERS model in predicting adverse maternal outcomes in pre‐eclampsia using patient data from the PIERS (Pre‐eclampsia Integrated Estimate of RiSk) cohort, collected on admission

The fullPIERS (Pre‐eclampsia Integrated Estimate of RiSk) model is a promising tool for the prediction of adverse outcomes in pre‐eclampsia, developed using the worst values for predictor variables measured within 48 hours of admission. We reassessed the performance of fullPIERS using predictor variables obtained within 6 and 24 hours of admission, and found that the stratification capacity, calibration ability, and classification accuracy of the model remained high. The fullPIERS model is accurate as a rule‐in test for adverse maternal outcome, with a likelihood ratio of 14.8 (95% CI 9.1–24.1) or 17.5 (95% CI 11.7–26.3) based on 6‐ and 24‐hour data, respectively, for the women identified to be at highest risk (predicted probability ≥30%).
A Study of Car and House Ownership in the Face of Increasing Commuting Expenses (CHOICE)

This research presents the design, implementation and results of a survey of Car and House Ownership in the face of Increasing Commuting Expenses (CHOICE). The CHOICE survey is a web-based survey that combines RP and SP components, and was designed to collect information of commuting mode choices, housing and neighbourhood preferences along with vehicle ownership choices of households with cross-regional commuters in the Greater Toronto Area. Investigations of the survey data revealed that for small increases in commuting costs people are willing to change to more efficient cars. As commuting costs reached higher levels, participants chose to relocate their home in order to commute shorter distances. This study provides evidence that vehicle ownership and especially residential location decisions are a complex process and are interrelated. The findings of this study show some of the possible reactions of households in the GTA in the face of extreme increases in transportation costs.
NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES BIRTHPLACE DIVERSITY AND ECONOMIC PROSPERITY

We use recent immigration data from 195 countries and propose an index of population diversity based on people's birthplaces. This new index is then decomposed into a size (share of foreign born) and a variety (diversity of immigrants) component and is available for 1990 and 2000 disaggregated by skill level. We show that birthplace diversity is largely uncorrelated with ethnic, linguistic, or genetic diversity. Our main result is that the diversity of skilled immigration relates positively to economic development (as measured by income and TFP per capita and patent intensity) even after controlling for ethno-linguistic and genetic fractionalization, geography, trade, education, institutions and origin-effects capturing income/productivity levels in the immigrants' home countries. We make progress towards addressing endogeneity by specifying a gravity model to predict the share and diversity of immigration based on exogenous bilateral variables. The results are robust across various OLS and 2SLS specifications and suggestive of skill complementarities between native workers and immigrants, especially when the latter come from richer countries at intermediate levels of cultural proximity. Alberto Alesina Department of Economics Harvard University Littauer Center 210 Cambridge, MA 02138 and IGIER and also NBER aalesina@harvard.edu Johann Harnoss EQUIPPE, University of Lille, and Harvard University johann.harnoss@post.harvard.edu Hillel Rapoport Department of Economics Bar Ilan University 52900 Ramat Gan, Israel and QUIPPE, University of Lille and also Center for International Development Hillel.Rapoport@biu.ac. il
Awareness and Use of Online Information Sources among University of Ibadan Students

The internet has helped in the amassing of a large amount of information for consumption in varied fields of endeavor. This has brought about increasing ease in the search for and use of information in academic, social, political and other spheres of life. However, despite the increasing simplicity in the accessing of information, there are indications that some students do not fully utilize information sources. Thus, this study investigates the awareness and use of online information sources among university of Ibadan undergraduate students. Copies of questionnaires were administered on 300 students on purposive sampling basis. Findings show that 97.9% of the students were generally aware of online information sources but very few of the students were aware of the individual online sources that are made available in the university. In addition, very few of the students were satisfied with the available online information sources. This study suggests that university libraries should effectively create awareness about the various online resources that available for students’ usage. The findings of this study will be useful to academic institutions in the same terrain like the University of Ibadan. Also, librarians and academic scholars will find this study useful in the effective creation of awareness of online information sources among university students.
An Overview on the use of Ontologies in Software Engineering

One of the main goals of the Software Engineering (SE) discipline is to find higher abstraction levels and ways to reuse software in order to increase its productivity and quality. Ontologies, which are typically considered as a technique or an artifact used in one or more software lifecycle phases, may be used to help achieve that goal. This paper provides a literature review, discussion and analysis of the existing solutions for implementing ontologies in SE. We selected several software development paradigms (including Software Product Lines, Component-Based Development, Generative Programming and Model-Driven Engineering) for our classification and discussion of different approaches proposed in the literature. It was established that ontologies are suitable for providing a common vocabulary to avoid misunderstanding between different parties in SE, requirements specification, features specification, variability management, components specification, components matching, model transformations and code generation. Based on the conducted review, guidelines for further research are given.
In vitro activity of the new difluorinated quinolone sparfloxacin (AT-4140) against Mycobacterium tuberculosis compared with activities of ofloxacin and ciprofloxacin

MICs of the new fluoroquinolone drugs ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, and sparfloxacin (AT-4140) for 10 strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis were determined by using both a BACTEC radiometric method and testing on solid 7H11 agar medium. Radiometric MICs by 7H12 broth testing ranged from 0.5 to 1.0, 0.25 to 0.5, and 0.1 to 0.2 microgram/ml for ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, and sparfloxacin respectively, whereas MICs in solid medium ranged from 0.5 to 1.0, 0.5 to 1.0, and 0.2 to 0.5 microgram/ml, respectively. The bactericidal action of the quinolones compared with their reported peak concentrations in human serum showed that sparfloxacin is the most bactericidal, followed by ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin. Our results suggest the potential of the new difluorinated quinolone sparfloxacin for use against the tubercle bacillus and indicate that further determination of its antimycobacterial spectrum and intracellular efficacy may be fruitful.
Cryptic Species Identification and Composition of Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) Complex in Henan Province, China

Abstract Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is a cryptic species complex, causing significant crop losses in China during the last decade. Although knowledge of cryptic species composition and dynamics within B. tabaci complex is critical for developing sustainable pest management strategies, limited information is available on this pest in the Henan province of China. A systematic survey of the cryptic species composition and distribution of B. tabaci complex in different locations of Henan province was conducted in 2012. The results of RAPD-PCR and the gene for the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit-1 (mtCOI) based phylogenetic relationships established using Bayesian method indicated there were four known cryptic species MEAM1, MED, Asia II 3, Asia II 9 and a new cryptic species named China 6 in Henan province. In the survey, the invasive cryptic species MED and MEAM1 were found to be predominant with wide spread distribution across the surveyed regions. On the contrary, the indigenous B. tabaci cryptic species including Asia II 3, Asia II 9 and China 6 remained with low prevalence in some surveyed regions. Cryptic species MEAM1 and MED have not completely displaced the native B. tabaci in Henan province. This current study for the first time unifies our knowledge of the diversity and distribution of B. tabaci across Henan province of China.
Association of wrist circumference with cardio metabolic risk factors.

OBJECTIVE The current study aimed to investigate the association of wrist circumference with major cardio metabolic risk factors. METHODS This study was conducted in 2005-2007 among 3000 first-degree relatives of diabetic patients in Isfahan, Iran. RESULTS Overall, 1709 (386 males and 1323 females) participants were enrolled in this study. The association of wrist circumference with cardio- metabolic risk factors was significantly positive with waist circumference (p = 0.001), BMI (p = 0.001), and LDL-C (p = 0.01), but significantly inverse with HDL-C (p = 0.001). The corresponding figure was not significant for triglycerides (p = 0.13), total cholesterol (p = 0.13), systolic BP (p = 0.15), diastolic BP (p = 0.6), and HbA1c (p = 0.4). CONCLUSION Measurement of wrist circumference can serve as an easy-to-detect clinical marker to identify individuals at risk of cardio metabolic disorders, and can be used in large epidemiological studies.
Credit Risk-Return Puzzle: Asian Countries Representative

This research investigates the presence of Credit Risk-Return Puzzle on Indonesia, China, Japan and Singapore, by analyzing the relationship between credit risk and stock return with the utilization of credit ratings from Moody’s to represent credit risk. The data comprises of monthly data from January 2001 to December 2015, compiled in an unbalanced panel and then regressed with the Hausman-Taylor Estimator due to the presence of time-invariant variables such as countries and country classifications within the dataset. The results from this research show that Credit Risk-Return Puzzle exists in both developed and developing market for long-term credit ratings, proven by the negative relationship between stock return and credit ratings. On the other hand Credit Risk-Return Puzzle does not exist in the case of credit rating changes in terms of direction but do show some signs of existence through difference in magnitude, as different reasons underlying credit rating changes such as leverage changes can change the direction of stock price movement. K ey w ords : credit risk-return puzzle, credit rating announcements, credit risk, impact of rating changes, decoupling-recoupling hypothesis