Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The consequences of private equity acquisitions for employees: new evidence on the impact on wages, employment and productivity

There is growing controversy on the HR consequences of private equity acquisitions, especially when the existing management team is replaced. Much of the debate thus far has centred on the use of limited panels of case studies and industry surveys. This article, in contrast, uses both in-depth interviews with relevant stakeholders and objective company data to compare firms subject to private equity acquisitions against a control group of non-acquired firms. Our interviews provide insights into key issues that are investigated in the subsequent empirical analysis. Our core findings are that firms subject to a specific type of private equity acquisition – institutional buyouts – are associated with job losses, lower wages and lower productivity. This evidence is consistent with the notion that this type of private equity acquisition has negative employment consequences without any corresponding improvement in productivity.
On Multistate System Analysis

Discrete function theory, which extends switching function theory and multiple-valued logic function theory, is introduced into multistate system analysis. Some theoretical conclusions and algorithms which play key roles in multistate system analysis are presented. The concepts of s-coherence and duality in binary-state system analysis are generalized. The set of minimal upper (maximum lower) vectors for level j, which play the role of min path (cut) set, is introduced to represent the states of a monotonic multistate system. Two approaches to computing state probability of multistate systems are given, one is based on inclusion-exclusion, the other is based on enumeration. Binary-state fault-tree is extended to multistate fault-tree. A computer code (MSTA1) has been programmed and is used to evaluate a multistate fault-tree. Multistate fault-tree and the computer code have been applied to paper-making industry; the results are consistent with the field data.
Safety and tolerability of paricalcitol in patients with chronic kidney disease

Introduction: Secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) is a complication of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Beyond skeletal complications, uncontrolled SHPT is associated with cardiovascular mortality. Vitamin D receptor activators (VDRAs) are a mainstay of therapy for SHPT; however, use is limited by hypercalcemia, though less so with calcitriol analogs such as paricalcitol and there is emerging experience with oral formulations for non-SHPT indications. The role of VDRAs in the treatment of SHPT becomes a complex question as alternative strategies have developed. Areas covered: This review summarizes trials that established the safety and efficacy of paricalcitol for SHPT. Comparative experience with paricalcitol as against other VDRAs will be reviewed as will the experience with paricalcitol in non-dialysis CKD and comparative experience with non-VDRA-based therapy. Expert opinion: VDRA therapy is considered first-line therapy for treatment of SHPT. Paricalcitol has demonstrated superiority to calcitriol with respect to parathyroid hormone suppression and calcium–phosphorus balance. Oral formulations of paricalcitol appear to be similarly effective for SHPT. While there is evidence to suggest adjunctive antiproteinuria benefit with the use of VDRAs, efficacy of these agents to slow the progression of CKD or to reduce cardiovascular risk has not yet been demonstrated.
Heterogeneous Feature Models and Feature Selection Applied to Bearing Fault Diagnosis

Distinct feature extraction methods are simultaneously used to describe bearing faults. This approach produces a large number of heterogeneous features that augment discriminative information but, at the same time, create irrelevant and redundant information. A subsequent feature selection phase filters out the most discriminative features. The feature models are based on the complex envelope spectrum, statistical time- and frequency-domain parameters, and wavelet packet analysis. Feature selection is achieved by conventional search of the feature space by greedy methods. For the final fault diagnosis, the k-nearest neighbor classifier, feedforward net, and support vector machine are used. Performance criteria are the estimated error rate and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC-ROC). Experimental results are shown for the Case Western Reserve University Bearing Data. The main contribution of this paper is the strategy to use several different feature models in a single pool, together with feature selection to optimize the fault diagnosis system. Moreover, robust performance estimation techniques usually not encountered in the context of engineering are employed.
Insider Trading Prior to Hospitality Acquisition Payment Type Announcements

ABSTRACT This study examines evidence of whether hospitality insiders use personal private information to maximize their private benefits prior to hospitality acquisition payment type announcements. The findings of this study with few exceptions, do not support the hypothesis that hospitality insiders undertake abnormal insider trading using inside information about the true value of the acquiring firm when an acquisition payment type is announced. For hospitality acquiring firms using stock or cash financing to pay for the acquisition, the level of abnormal insider transactions in the four quarters prior to an acquisition payment announcement was not significant. However, for hospitality acquirers using mixed financing (cash and stock), abnormal insider sales were positive and significant in the four quarters prior to the announcement. The lack of significant results for the all cash or stock payment announcements may reflect legal constraint on insider trading, managerial control or compensation issues.
Skin in the Game: The Inputs and Incentives that Shape Buy-Side Analysts' Stock Recommendations

Buy-side analysts play an important role in capital markets through their influence on institutional investment decisions, but they are rarely the subject of academic research. We survey 344 buy-side analysts from 181 investment firms and conduct 16 detailed follow-up interviews to gain insights into the activities and incentives of buy-side analysts, including the inputs to their stock recommendations, the determinants of their compensation, the frequency and value of their communication with company management, their beliefs about financial reporting quality, and the role of sell-side analysts in buy-side research. One important finding is that buy-side analysts indicate recent 10-K or 10-Q reports are more useful than quarterly conference calls, management earnings guidance, and recent earnings performance for determining their stock recommendations. We also find that less than 3% of buy-side analysts believe sell-side stock recommendations are very useful, in spite of buy-side analysts’ strong incentives to produce their own profitable stock recommendations. Our findings highlight the fundamentally different incentives of buy-side versus sell-side analysts.
A decade of corporate women: some progress in the boardroom, none in the executive suite

This study examines the extent to which women have circumvented the glass ceiling by empirically examining whether there has been an increase in women’s representation on corporate boards and CEO positions over the 10‐year period from 1987 to 1996. Results indicate greatly increased representation on corporate boards. There is, however, no evidence of progress in, or towards, the CEO suite. Moreover, there is no evidence of that circumstance abating in the next several years. The number of female inside directors, an intermediate, and requisite, position in the succession to CEO, is astonishingly small, only 0.006 percent. Notably, there has been no increase in that proportion over the last decade. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ADOPTION OF ONLINE BANKING IN MANILA: WHAT THE COMMERCIAL BANKS SHOULD LEARN TO BE COMPETITIVE

The researcher conducted a survey consisting of 200 online banking users and non-users in Manila. The sample represented the profile of the respondents based on gender, age, civil status and education. This research examined which factors affected the acceptance of online banking in the Philippines and used factor analysis and multiple regression analysis to study the relationship. The results of the study showed that determinants such as perceived usefulness and perceived easy to use positively affected the intent to use online banking. This research recommended that learning the determinants affecting the intention to use online banking is important to the commercial banks to make them competitive in the banking industry.
Nocturnal changes in serum melatonin during female puberty in rhesus monkeys: a longitudinal study.

Diurnal concentrations of serum melatonin were determined longitudinally in female rhesus monkeys throughout sexual maturation to ascertain how levels varied with advancing age and reproductive onset. Females were housed either in outdoor enclosures (n = 8) exposed to ambient environmental conditions, or indoors (n = 4) under a photoperiod of 12 h light: 12 h darkness and fixed temperature of 20-23 degrees C. Animals were studied from immaturity (15 months) through first ovulation and were additionally compared with fully adult female rhesus monkeys (n = 5) studied during the annual breeding season. The diurnal melatonin pattern was described for the developing females in the summer, autumn and winter in 3 successive years from samples collected at 10.00, 18.00, 22.00, 02.00, 06.00 and 10.00 h. Nocturnal levels of melatonin declined significantly during development in both indoor- and outdoor-housed females with a progressive decrease up to 33 months of age. Daytime values were consistently low but exhibited a slight decline also with age. Nocturnal values in all months sampled fell significantly with greater decreases occurring at the earliest ages. Furthermore, superimposed upon this developmental change, animals housed outdoors responded to seasonal changes in photoperiod with diurnal increases in melatonin occurring after sunset. The females in the present study exhibited first ovulation at two distinct ages: 32-37 months ('early', n = 6) and 41-45 months ('later', n = 5). One female did not ovulate within the study period. Although nocturnal levels of serum melatonin were similar between the two groups up to 29 months of age, a post-hoc analysis revealed that concentrations were significantly lower by 34 months of age for the early group, a time coincident with first ovulation. Nocturnal levels of melatonin remained high, relative to the early group, in the later ovulating females until 43 months of age, coincident with first ovulation for these animals. The diurnal pattern of serum melatonin at first ovulation, regardless of chronological age, was similar to that observed during the ovulatory season for adult female rhesus monkeys. These data suggest that nocturnal melatonin concentrations decline with advancing chronological age in prepubertal female rhesus monkeys. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Local Advantage or Nonlocal Disadvantage? A Direct Examination of Individual Investors’ Information Set

We examine 176,375 Twitter posts from nearly two thousand individuals covering 1,015 U.S. companies from 2009 to 2011. While nonlocal Twitter posters consistently exhibit a large negative predictability of stock returns, local posters have close-to-zero and insignificant return predictability. The differential return predictability, or nonlocal disadvantage, is 18 basis points per week and statistically significant. Nonlocal disadvantage is much larger in firms without public news coverage and firms with greater information asymmetry. Compared to local investors, nonlocal investors exhibit significantly greater overreaction to analyst opinions. These results indicate that the performance spread between local and nonlocal individual investors is attributable to local individual investors’ private information, which reduces individual investors’ behavioral biases.
A meta-analysis investigating incidence and features of stroke in HIV-infected patients in the highly active antiretroviral therapy era

Objective Recent studies have suggested a close biological and clinical association between HIV infection and risk of myocardial infarction, whereas contrasting data have been reported about incidence of stroke and its clinical predictors. Design and setting Studies including HIV-infected patients developing a cerebral ischemic event were systematically searched for in MEDLINE/PubMed. Patients and main outcome measures Baseline, treatment and outcome data were appraised and pooled with random-effects methods computing summary estimates (95% confidence intervals). Results Five studies comprising 89 713 participants were included: they were young [46 (46–50) years, mainly male (70% (68–79)] with a moderate prevalence of diabetes [19% (14–21)]. Atrial fibrillation and history of previous coronary artery disease were observed in 3% (2–5) and 18% (15–22), respectively. All patients were on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and had been treated for a mean of 5 (2–6) years. After a median of 4 (3–5) years of follow-up, 1245 ischemic strokes occurred [1.78% (0.75–2.81)]. Traditional risk factors such as age (five studies), hypertension (three studies), smoking (two studies), hyperlipidemia (one study), atrial fibrillation (one study) and diabetes (one study) were identified as independent predictors of stroke. In one study, RNA viral load [log of odds ratio = 1.10 (1.04–1.17)] and CD4+ cell count less than 200/&mgr;l were clinically related to stroke, whereas HAART therapy showed a neutral effect. Conclusion Stroke represents a relatively common complication in young, HAART-treated HIV patients. Apart from traditional cardiovascular risk factors, HIV-RNA viral load may help to target and manage patients at risk.
Gatekeepers to consumer markets: the role of retailers in international trade

This study explores how recent developments in the retail sector affect trade in consumer goods. It focuses on three developments in the retail sector: (i) internationalization; (ii) market structure; and (iii) the growing market share of retailers' private labels. Using gravity model estimation techniques it is found that the foreign operations of a retailer are positively related to imports from the host to the home country of the retailer. Imports are negatively related to ownership concentration, while the market share of private labels is negatively related to imports of food and positively related to imports of non-food consumer goods. For both product categories private labels shift sourcing towards poor countries. The trade response to trade liberalization is higher both at the extensive and intensive margin in countries with lower retail concentration.
OFDM peak power reduction with simple amplitude predistortion

In this paper, we propose a new peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) reduction algorithm for OFDM transmission. The algorithm is based on simple amplitude predistortion of a subset of the input symbol blocks, the predistorted symbols being selected according to a metric which measures their contribution to the output signal samples of large. magnitude. This metric-based algorithm is simple, highly flexible, and can be implemented as a one-shot process, although its performance can be further improved by iterating the process one or more times
Primary and secondary bone tumours in the cat.

Both primary and secondary bone tumours are rare in cats. Of the twenty-four cases of primary bone tumour, benign or malignant, in the cats of our study, the most common tumour was osteosarcoma (fifteen cats). The osteosarcomas tended to occur in aged female domestic short-hair cats; nine of the fifteen originated in the long bones of the extremities and three involved the skull. Four juxtacortical osteosarcomas, three chondro-sarcomas, and one example each of oesteoma and osteoid osteoma were found. The four juxtacortical osteosarcomas developed in relation to cranial bones, a location not recorded previously in cats. Of the five tumour-like lesions of bone simulating primary tumours, three were aneurysmal bone cysts and two were fibrous dysplasias. Of the twenty-nine cats with soft tissue tumours or tumour-like lesions involving bone, eleven had fibrosarcoma, eight had squamous cell carcinoma, three had lymphosarcoma, two had rhabdomyosarcoma, and one example of each was malignant melanoma, haemangiosarcoma, reticulum-cell sarcoma, meningioma and myositis ossificans. Osteoid osteoma, fibrous dysplasia and myositis ossificans were not previously recorded in the cat.
Network resource stocks and flows: how do alliance portfolios affect the value of new alliance formations?

We examine how new network resources accessed through alliance formations interact with network resources present in a firm's alliance portfolio. We test our theoretical model using event study methodology and data from the global air transportation industry. We find that the market rewards firms forming alliances that contribute resources that can be synergistically combined with firms' own resources as well as with network resources accessed through their alliance portfolios. Our results also indicate that the market penalizes firms entering into alliances that create resource combinations that are substitutes to resource combinations deployed by existing alliance partners. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
VALIDATION OF SURVEY DATA ON INCOME AND EMPLOYMENT: THE ISMIE EXPERIENCE

This report derives from the project "Improving survey measurement of income and employment (ISMIE)" which investigates measurement error in survey data on income and employment, using a UK sub-sample of the European Household Community Panel (ECHP). In this paper we describe the process of collecting validation data and the outcomes of the process. Validation data were obtained from two sources: employers' records and government benefit data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The former provided information on occupation and employment status, gross and net pay, membership of company pension schemes and industry sector. The latter provided histories of benefit receipt and tax credits, for example, child, disability, housing and unemployment benefits, pensions and income support. In the survey interview, respondents were asked for written permission both to obtain their DWP records and to contact their employer. They were also asked to provide information that would facilitate the process of obtaining the validation data: National Insurance number (NINO) and employer contact details. Subsequently, DWP records were extracted using a non-hierarchical matching strategy, based on different combinations of identifying variables obtained in the survey (NINO, sex, date of birth, name and postcode), and a survey of employers was carried out (mail, with telephone follow-up). The representativeness of the validation samples obtained depends on the co-operation of both survey respondents and providers of validation data, as well as errors in the matching process. We report permission rates, proportions providing matching items, match rates for the DWP data and response rates to the employer survey. We identify correlates of these measures of success at each stage of the validation process in terms of substantive characteristics of the survey respondents. Variation by subgroups is identified and implications for the representativeness of the validation sample are discussed.
Objective preoperative estimation of the ability of primary closure on anterolateral thigh free flap donor site: Circumference and area ratios of deep tissue to thigh

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to consider the relationship between the ratio of deep tissue including muscle to thigh at donor sites and the possibility of performing primary closure of donor site. Methods: The subjects were 74 patients who had harvesting of anterolateral thigh (ALT) free flap from June 2005 to June 2011. Primary closure was possible for 65 but not possible for 9. All received CT angiography of lower extremity before their operations. We measured circumference and cross‐sectional area of thigh and deep tissue including muscle at the reference point. Using the measured data, we examined the ratio of circumference as well as cross‐sectional area of deep tissue including muscles to thighs. Results: For whom primary closure was possible, the ratio of deep tissue including muscle's circumference to thigh's at the reference point was 0.83 ± 0.07 on average, and the ratio of cross‐sectional area was 0.68 ± 0.11. For whom primary closure was not possible, the ratio of circumference was 0.89 ± 0.06 on average, and the cross‐section areas was 0.8 ± 0.07. The average width of flap for those with primary closure was 64.9 mm and without primary closure was 84.4 mm. There was statistical significance in ratios of circumference and cross‐sectional area between primary closure and without primary closure. Conclusion: Primary closure of donor site when performing ALT free flap gets increasingly difficult as the ratio of deep tissue including muscle in the thighs increased. Such information prior to the procedure will be helpful in determining flap design and finalizing the operation plan. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microsurgery, 2013.
Pregnanediol excretion in normal children and in children with various endocrine disorders, including congenital adrenal hyperplasia.

THE urinary excretion of pregnanediol has for many years been used as an index of progesterone production in the body. Although progesterone may not be the sole metabolic precursor of pregnanediol—administration of desoxycorticosterone has been shown to cause an increase in pregnanediol excretion—the urinary levels of pregnanediol have been found to bear such a close relation to physiologic events and clinical findings as to leave no doubt that they must be a faithful reflection of progesterone secretion. This is the more surprising when it is considered that, even in late pregnancy, progesterone can barely be detected in blood, and not at all in urine. At this time large quantities of pregnanediol are being excreted. Judging by the conversion of exogenous progesterone, the production of endogenous progesterone should be nearly ten times the urinary excretion of pregnanediol. It is therefore likely that once progesterone is set free in the organism, its existence is so evanescent that the direct measureme.
Subjective cognitive complaint in healthy older adults: Identification of major domains and relation to objective performance

ABSTRACT This study analyzed complaints across a range of memory domains in middle-aged and older adults, as well as assessed their relationship with objective cognitive performance and personal characteristics. A total of 115 community-dwelling, healthy adults between the ages of 45 and 87 completed the Self-Evaluation Questionnaire (QAM) and were tested with a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. A principal component analysis identified seven dimensions of complaint. Difficulty inhibiting internal and external sources of interference when learning or remembering something was the main area of complaint and it was correlated with word-list recall and Digit Symbol. We identified complaints related to a set of memory failures that appear to be more detrimental to autonomy and safety. These were correlated with a measure of functional autonomy and might, therefore, indicate more severe difficulties. Overall, this study provides indications regarding the main domains of memory complaints and identifies which complaints are most reflective of objective cognitive problems.