Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Practice Big Bath Earnings Management Via Goodwill Impairments ?

Research conducted during SFAS 142’s adoption year (2002) and shortly thereafter indicated new CEOs exhibited big bath behavior by impairing goodwill early in their tenure. A new CEO could blame the impairment on prior management while also paving the way for enhanced future profitability. However, several studies indicate that various types of earnings management declined precipitously in recent years. We re-examine the propensity of new CEOs to take big baths relative to goodwill impairments and find no evidence of this manipulative reporting. Instead, goodwill impairments by new CEOs seem to be justified based on their firms’ deteriorating performance over time.
Incorporation of Quantum Corrections to Semiclassical 2-Dimensional Device Modeling with the Boltzmann/Wigner Equation

Abstact: A new method for accounting for quantum effects in semiclassical device simulation is presented. The approach is based on the solution to the Boltzmann/Wigner equation, which is derived from the Schrodinger equation. The Boltzmann/Wigner equation is formulated using spherical harmonics. This facilitates analytical evaluation of the collision integral, and allows for reduction of dimensionality. The Boltzmann/Wigner equation is solved self-consistently with the Poisson and hole-current continuity equations for a BJT and a MOSFET. The results show that the carrier concentrations predicted by the Boltzmann/Wigner equation near the base-emitter junction and the MOSFET channel are less than that predicted by the semiclassical Boltzmann model. Calculations show terminal currents to be 2% and 7% lower for the quantum simulations than the semiclassical results for the BJT and MOSFET, respectively.
Fibromyalgia : a daring new look S .

Department of Rheumatology, Hôpital Henri Mondor, AP-HP, Créteil, France. Please address correspondence to: Sandra Guignard, MD Department of Rheumatology, Hôpital Henri Mondor, AP-HP, 51 avenue Maréchal-de-Lattre-de-Tassigny, 94010 Créteil, France. E-mail: sandra.guignard@hmn.aphp. fr Received on February 18, 2013; accepted in revised form on May 31, 2013. Clin Exp Rheumatol 2013; 31 (Suppl. 79): S3-S5. © Copyright CliniCal and ExpErimEntal rhEumatology 2013.
Demand for Money in Developing Countries: Alternative Estimates and Policy Implications

This paper shows that alternative time series techniques applied in estimating demand for money functions for twelve developing countries give similar summaries of observed facts. Our results are not only consistent with prior expectations but also across the three methods of estimation. This indicates that adequate attention should be paid to the purpose of research and interpretation of results rather than on the estimation methods because they hardly give conflicting summaries. However, they may differ in their precision but only marginally. The estimates of income elasticities are close to unity for all countries in our sample, except for Philippines where it is higher at around 1.25, and the interest rate elasticities are well determined and significant. Further, the dynamics are adequately captured and political and financial reform dummies together with lagged growth in inflation rate seems to have affected money demand in some of these countries. Stability tests show that demand for money functions in all our sample countries are temporally stable and therefore respective monetary authorities may consider targeting money supply as opposed to the rate of interest.
A Robust Multi-Criteria Collaborative Filtering Algorithm 1

Collaborative filtering recommender systems assist individuals to discover relevant products or services that they might be interested in a large set of alternatives by analyzing the collected preferences. Recent research presents that the accuracy of recommendations might be improved significantly by collecting multi-criteria user preferences. Such rating scheme allows users to express their preferences better. Multi-criteria collaborative filtering algorithms are suitable for utilizing in many domains such as research paper, movie, or hotel recommendation. However, such systems are vulnerable to shilling attacks. In order to prevent manipulations, robust recommendation algorithms are required. Although multi-criteria collaborative filtering algorithms were evaluated in several dimension, robustness against shilling attacks has not been studied as a feature. In this paper, we propose an attack-resistant multi-criteria collaborative filtering algorithm. Experimental evaluation confirms that the proposed algorithm is not deeply affected against all known attack types.
Simulation of Semiconductor Processes and Devices 2007: SISPAD 2007

This volume will contain the proceedings of the 12th edition of the International Conference on Simulation of Semiconductor Processes and Devices (SISPAD 2007), which will take place in Vienna, Austria, on September 25-27, 2007. Like the previous meetings, SISPAD 2007 will provide a world-wide forum for the presentation and discussion of recent advances and developments in the theoretical description, physical modeling and numerical simulation and analysis of semiconductor fabrication processes, device operation and system performance. Topics covered will be device simulation, including transport in nano-structures models of VLSI device scaling limits, quantum effects, and novel devices process simulation, including both continuum and atomistic approaches equipment, topography, and lithography simulation interconnect modeling and algorithms including noise and parasitic effects compact device modeling for circuit simulation integration of circuit and device simulation user interfaces and visualization high performance computing, numerical methods and algorithms mesh generation and adaptation simulation of such devices as microsensor and optoelectronics devices benchmarking, calibration, and verification of simulators.
Environmental policy and health in the presence of labor market imperfections

We examine the impact of environmental taxation on health and output, in the presence of labor market frictions, by developing an intertemporal general equilibrium search model of unemployment with pollution and endogenous health-status, which is coherent with the empirical evidence that unemployment is detrimental to health. Amongst several results, we demonstrate that matching process and wage bargaining introduce new channels of transmission of environmental taxation on the economy such that assuming perfect labor market leads to over-estimate the positive impact of environmental taxation on health. Furthermore, we highlight that the existence of a pollution externality on health creates a sort of “rebound effect” of the environmental policy, reducing its efficiency in terms of pollution reduction. We also show that for the most polluted economies (with great room of health improvements), the higher market frictions, the greater the expected health dividend of environmental policy.
Comparing Interview and WrittenElicitation Tasks in Native and Non-native Data: Do Speakers Do What WeThink They Do?

Research on the second language acquisition (SLA) of Spanish has identified grammatical structures for which an analysis of errors for second-language (L2) learners is inappropriate (Geeslin, 2003; Geeslin & Guijarro-Fuentes, 2006; Gudmestad, 2006). This is because the norms of use for such structures are changing, and prescriptive grammars do not coincide with actual language use. Thus, in order to examine such sociolinguistically-variable grammatical features in learner language, researchers have shifted to an analysis of the predictors of use of a given variant, rather than an assessment of accuracy (Geeslin, 2000). Investigations following this approach on structures such as copula choice and mood choice have been largely based on written contextualized tasks (WCT), where use is contextualized and participants indicate a preference for one of the two possible variants. The advantage of this type of task is twofold. First, in comparison with grammaticality judgment tasks, participants are not forced to select one (presumably the only) grammatical sentence from the options provided. Consequently, the WCT is more in line with the idea that variation is indeed an acceptable, and even irrefutable, part of native-like speech. Secondly, in comparison with tasks that elicit less directed production, the WCT assures that each participant will respond to the same tokens (both lexically and in terms of the contextual features that predict selection of a given variant) and that each participant will provide sufficient data for analysis. Nevertheless, while the aforementioned advantages of this methodology are clear (Chaudron, 2003), the degree to which such data generalize to those collected using other elicitation tasks is less widely understood. In other words, what we think speakers do as a result of these studies may not be an accurate view of what speakers do in general or in other elicitation contexts. The current paper contributes to the relatively extensive body of research in which variation across tasks among L2 learners has been documented (Bayley & Preston, 1996; Bygate, 1999; Ellis, 1987) by exploring cases of sociolinguistically-variable structures, such as use of the Spanish indicative and subjunctive moods and the copulas. Specifically, we compare both the frequency and the predictors of choice of these two structures across tasks for advanced non-native and nativespeaking groups. In so doing, our goal is to learn more about the SLA of variable structures in general, about the ways native speaker (NS) and non-native speaker (NNS) variation differ from each other, and about the influence of different elicitation tasks on language.
Monitoring cyanobacterial toxins in a large reservoir: relationships with water quality parameters

Cyanobacteria are widely distributed in fresh, brackish, and ocean water environments, as well as in soil and on moist surfaces. Changes in the population of cyanobacteria can be an important indicator of alterations in water quality. Metabolites produced by blooms of cyanobacteria can be harmful, so cell counts are frequently monitored to assess the potential risk from cyanobacterial toxins. A frequent uncertainty in these types of assessments is the lack of strong relationships between cell count numbers and algal toxin concentrations. In an effort to use ion concentrations and other water quality parameters to determine the existence of any relationships with cyanobacterial toxin concentrations, we monitored four cyanobacterial toxins and inorganic ions in monthly water samples from a large reservoir over a 2-year period. Toxin concentrations during the study period never exceeded safety limits. In addition, toxin concentrations at levels above the limit of quantitation were infrequent during the 2-year sampling period; non-detects were common. Microcystin-LA was the least frequently detected analyte (86 of 89 samples were ND), followed by the other microcystins (microcystin-RR, microcystin-LR). Cylindrospermopsin and saxitoxin were the most frequently detected analytes. Microcystin and anatoxin concentrations were inversely correlated with Cl−, SO\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{upgreek} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} }{}${}_{4}^{-2}$\end{document}4−2, Na+, and NH\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{upgreek} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} }{}${}_{4}^{+}$\end{document}4+, and directly correlated with turbidity and total P. Cylindrospermopsin and saxitoxin concentrations in water samples were inversely correlated with Mg+2 and directly correlated with water temperature. Results of our study are expected to increase the understanding of potential relationships between human activities and water quality.
Teachers’ and Students’ Views on E-Learning Readiness in Kuwait’s Secondary Public Schools

This article reports on an e-learning readiness study that was carried out to assess the organizational and individual factors of the two major stakeholder groups (teachers and students) in the secondary education institutions in the State of Kuwait in order to provide significant information to the policy makers and regulatory bodies for the development of successful e-learning strategies. Data were gathered with the use of the e-learning Readiness Survey from a purposive sample of 1,314 teachers and 1,307 students. This study looks specifically at some factors at the initial stage of an e-learning introduction that can have tremendous impact on the later stages of the process. The findings from the study were instrumental in implementing successful e-learning strategies for Kuwait and will also benefit e-learning initiatives in similar institutions in other Gulf Cooperation Council countries and beyond.
LONG-AND SHORT-RUN EFFECTS OF INCOME INEQUALITY ON THE PER CAPITA OUTPUT OF AUSTRALIAN STATES

This paper makes two contributions. Firstly, using taxation statistics we compile consistently defined Gini coefficients for the period 1942–2013 for all Australian states and territories. The computed Gini coefficients are comparable with available series reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. While income inequality exhibited a downward trend until 1979, it has since been on the rise not only over time, but also across states and territories. Secondly, we examine longand short-run effects of income inequality by state on per capita output using all available panel data (1986–2013). We find that income inequality adversely affects per capita output in the long-run in the larger states (New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria) with the opposite occurring in the ACT. Our findings are consistent with median voter theory when mean income exceeds the median income, incentivising individuals to vote for redistributive taxes and transfers.
TEACHING MATHEMATICS BY USING ABDUCTIVE-DEDUCTIVE STRATEGY FOR IMPROVING STUDENTS’ PROOF CONSTRUCTION ABILITY

Many students of all levels of education face serious difficulties with constructing mathematical proof. Some methods of proving such as generic proof, structured proof, WWHWT, and heuristic answer example had been developed. Nevertheles, they didn’t overcome the students’ difficulties on constructing the steps of logical proof. A quasi experiment was conducted to improve students’ proof construction by using abductive-deductive strategy. The study involved 128 students of mathematics and mathematics education program, and four kinds of instruments those were a prior math ability test, proof reading test, a proof construction test, a self regulation scale. The study found that proof construction process was more difficult than proof reading for all students. Furthermore, students of mathematics education program performed better on proof reading ability than that of students.of mathematics program. However, there was no significant difference of proof reading ability between students.of both learning approaches. In relation to proof construction ability, students of abductivedeductive strategy class were leading than that of conventional teaching, but there was no significant difference of students’ ability of both study program. The study also found that in both study programs and prior mathematics ability performed consistent role on developing proof reading and proof construction ability. The higher students’ prior mathematics ability so the higher students’ ability of proof reading and proof construction as well. Other study’s findings was no significant difference on self regulated learning of students looking at it from study program, teaching approach and prior mathematics ability, and all of them were classified as fairly good. Beside that, study found not consistent interaction among students’ prior math ability, study program, and teaching approach toward students’ proof reading and construction ability, and self regulated learning. Key word: abductive-deductive strategy, mathematical proof, premise, warrant, claim, mediate target, end target, conclusion, self regulated learning A. Background The opinion of mathematics education experts toward the necessity of introducing mathematical proof to be thought at high school levels was increased. Between 1970 and 1980 a number of mathematics teachers in America conducted intensive discussion about whether mathematics proof should be included or excluded in senior high school mathematics curriculum. The teachers said that actually mathematical proof had been developed in a topic which stress on formal aspects, but it was lack to focus on understanding mathematics (Hanna, 1983). The argument was developed so that National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM, 1989) stated that (1) it was not necessary that deductive proof to be taught at high school level
The Analysis of the Haines Index Climatology for the Eastern United States , Alaska , Hawaii , and Puerto Rico

Since the Haines Index (HI) was introduced in 1988 (Haines, 1988), it has been used as a tool by fire managers in their decision-making to assess fire risk. The HI is a lower atmospheric severity index for wildland fire severity (growth potential) based upon environmental lapse rates and moisture (Haines 1988). Index values of 1, 2, and 3 for stability and moisture are summed to get a value from 2 to 6. Each of the two factors, stability and moisture, could influence the fire growth.
Wakeup CPU User Task Sleep Existing Device Resume Thaw user CPU Peripheral Core Suspend Resume Commodity Kernel DRAM Emu Dynamic Binary Translation IO Translated code Freeze user Device

Smart devices see a large number of ephemeral tasks driven by background activities. In order to execute such a task, the OS kernel wakes up the platform beforehand and puts it back to sleep afterwards. In doing so, the kernel operates various IO devices and orchestrates their power state transitions. Such kernel executions are inefficient as they mismatch typical CPU hardware. They are better off running on a low-power, microcontroller-like core, i.e., peripheral core, relieving CPU from the inefficiency. We therefore present a new OS structure, in which a lightweight virtual executor called transkernel offloads specific phases from a monolithic kernel. The transkernel translates stateful kernel execution through cross-ISA, dynamic binary translation (DBT); it emulates a small set of stateless kernel services behind a narrow, stable binary interface; it specializes for hot paths; it exploits ISA similarities for lowering DBT cost. Through an ARM-based prototype, we demonstrate transkernel’s feasibility and benefit. We show that while crossISA DBT is typically used under the assumption of efficiency loss, it can enable efficiency gain, even on off-the-shelf hardware.
USING SOFT SYSTEMS METHODOLOGY AS AN APPROACH TO EVALUATE CHEATING IN THE NATIONAL EXAMINATION

One of the most important issues the National Examination (UN) is the quality aspect of the level of honestly or integrity of parties involved in national examination. From various evaluation of the National Examination, the acts of cheating is always a problem from year to year, starting from the incident of cheating until the leakage of exam questions has always been a polemic. One of the factors considered to be the largest contributor to the cheating behavior is the national exam as a determinant of students’ graduation. For that matter, the government has implemented various policies including removing the national exam as determinant of graduation, but the policy was not followed by a decrease in the rate of cheating. This research is using soft-system methodology as well as to propose a conceptual model and plan for change in facing in situation of the problems.
English Learner Labeling: How English Learner Status Shapes Teacher Perceptions of Student Skills & the Moderating Role of Bilingual Instructional Settings

Prior research has shown that EL classification is consequential for students, however, less is known about how EL classification impacts students’ outcomes. In this study, we examine one hypothesized mechanism: teacher perceptions. Using nationally-representative data (ECLS-K:2011), we use coarsened exact matching to estimate the effect of EL status on teachers’ perceptions of students’ skills in language arts, math, science, and social studies in kindergarten through second grade. We further explore whether that impact is moderated by instructional setting (bilingual versus English immersion). We find evidence that EL classification results in lower teacher perceptions across content areas and grade levels. This impact is, however, moderated by bilingual environments. This study adds to research on teacher perceptions and the effects of EL classification.
Efficiency of Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) Genotypes in Retention of Processing Qualities under Ambient Conditions

The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) is a semi-perishable commodity. Appropriate and efficient post harvest technology and marketing are critical to the entire productionconsumption system of sweet potato because of its bulkiness and perishability. The purpose of storage is to maintain tubers in marketable condition and to provide a uniform flow of tubers to market and processing plants throughout the year. It must be realized that storage losses cannot be avoided even by optimal storage (Maldegem, 1999). Storage losses are mainly caused by the processes like respiration, weevil incidence, sprouting, evaporation of water from the tubers, spread of diseases, changes in the chemical composition and physical properties of the tuber and damage by extreme temperatures.
Fiscally Responsible Mafia-clans S

To work as an accountability mechanism, fiscal decentralization requires the democratic mechanism to function well. This is generally not the case where the quality of the institutional environment is weak, and local governments might be captured by local oligarchs. We explore this issue by studying how Italian municipalities reacted to an unexpected tax reform reducing tax autonomy at the local level. Focusing on three Southern provinces, where some municipal governments are captured by Camorra clans, our estimates suggest that captured municipalities are less responsive to incentives stemming from recentralization. We also observe a different recomposition of spending between the two groups, which we interpret – according to our theoretical model – considering the different degrees with which clans can extract rents from public expenditure. JEL-Codes: D73, H40, H71, H72.
A Study onthe Variations of Musculo-Cutaneous Nerve In Relation To Coracobrachialis & Median Nerve

The musculocutaneous nerve is a branch coming from lateral cord of brachial plexus. After origin it enters the arm by piercing the coracobrachialis and supplies it along with other muscles of arm, then it continue into the forearm as lateral cutaneous of forearm. Variations in the branching pattern of nerve are not uncommon but have clinical significance during surgical procedures involving brachial plexus block and in diagnostic clinical neurophysiology.Methods:In the present study, 100 upper limbs of 50 cadavers preserved with formalin available in the department of anatomy were dissected and the formation, course, relations and branches of musculocutaneous nerve in the axilla, arm, forearm and hand were observed and compared with the previous studies of various authors.Results:In the present study, 8% of the specimens showed communicating branches with the musculocutaneous nerve &in 2% of the specimens the median nerve was innervating anterior compartment of the arm along with the absence of musculocutaneous nerve.