Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Out of the pits : traders and technology from Chicago to London

In "Out of the Pits", Caitlin Zaloom shows how traders, brokers, and global financial markets have adapted to the digital age. Drawing on her firsthand experiences as a clerk and a trader, as well as her unusual access to key sites of global finance, she explains how changes at the world's leading financial exchanges have transformed economic cultures and the craft of speculation; how people and places are responding to the digital transition; how traders are remaking themselves to compete in the contemporary marketplace; and how brokers, business managers, and software designers are collaborating to build new markets. A penetrating and richly detailed account of how cities, culture, and technology shape everyday life in the global economy, "Out of the Pits" will be required reading for anyone who has ever wondered how financial markets work.
The Hedging Effect of Corporate Debt

Despite the common perception that levered firms are riskier, a review of empirical studies and past theoretical works is presented to discuss the hypotheses that i) corporate debt does not increase the overall risk of the firm; ii) corporate debt reduces the risk and return of equity; iii) equity investors can use corporate debt to lower their return and risk – hedging use of firm’s debt – or to increase their return and risk – speculative use of firm’s debt. Modigliani and Miller Proposition I is further confirmed under different assumptions while a different explanation of Proposition II formula is proposed.
A novel evolutionary preprocessing method based on over-sampling and under-sampling for imbalanced datasets

Imbalanced datasets are commonly encountered in real-world classification problems. However, many machine learning algorithms are originally designed for well-balanced datasets. Re-sampling has become an important step to preprocess imbalanced dataset. It aims at balancing the datasets by increasing the sample size of the smaller class or decreasing the sample size of the larger class, which are known as over-sampling and under-sampling respectively. In this paper, a novel sampling strategy based on both over-sampling and under-sampling is proposed, in which the new samples of the smaller class are created by the Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique (SMOTE). The improvement of the datasets is done by the evolutionary computational method of CHC that works on both the minority class and majority class samples. The result is a hybrid data preprocessing method that combines both over-sampling and under-sampling techniques to re-sample datasets. The evaluation is done by applying the learning algorithm C4.5 to obtain a classification model from the re-sampled datasets. Experimental results reported that the proposed approach can decrease the over-sampling rate about 50% with only around 3% discrepancy on the accuracy.
Management Information System: Managing the Digital Firm

Buku ini membahas mengenai sistem informasi manajemen. Bagian 1 membahas tentang organisasi, manajemen, dan jaringan. Bagian ke dua mengkaji tentang infrastruktur teknologi informasi. Kemudian, bagian ketiga membahas tentang kunci sistem-sitem aplikasi. Kemudian diakhir, buku ini membahas tentang membangun dan pengelolaan sistem.
What Market Researchers Should Know about Mobile Surveys

Nielsen Survey completions on mobile devices have been increasing rapidly . This important shift is something market researchers should definitely consider when designing and conducting self-administered online surveys . This article briefly summarises existing research and empirical results from mobile surveys . Based on the specific findings discussed, market researchers should be better aware of what to expect when fielding surveys completed by mobile respondents, whether this is intended or not . Bringing the findings together and discussing more broadly, for online surveys, market researchers should consider consciously and deliberately accommodating both mobile and PC respondents . Thus far, the research on mobile surveys indicates that consumers want the choice and ability to take surveys when they want, where they want and on the device of their choosing . It is to be hoped that market researchers are listening and become willing to accommodate survey respondents in terms of device and, by extension, time and location .
The impact of employees' customer orientation and service orientation behaviours on customers' service evaluation

In this paper the authors conceptualize and test the effects of service employees’ customer orientation and service orientation behaviors within an extended service evaluation model encompassing service quality, service encounter quality, perceived value and customer satisfaction. The context is 271 Indian retail customers. Data analysis incorporates confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. We find that Findings indicate that: 1) customer orientation is positively related to service orientation, customers’ perceptions of service encounter quality and service quality; 2) service orientation influences customers’ perceptions of service encounter quality and service quality; 3) customers’ perceptions of service encounter quality influence customers’ perceptions of service quality and customer satisfaction; 4) customers’ perceptions of service quality influence value perceptions; 5) service quality influences customer satisfaction; and 6) customer satisfaction influences customers’ behavioral intentions. The importance of these findings for practitioners and academics, research limitations and future research avenues are subsequently discussed.
Risk Premium Puzzle in Real Estate: Are real estate investors overly risk averse?

Shilling (2003) first raised the question of real estate risk premium puzzle after observing large deviations between the historical ex-ante and ex-post rates of return in real estate. The excess ex-ante returns over the ex-post returns reflect unexpected capital losses in real estate. Shilling (2003) found preliminary evidence that the unexpected losses could be due to unrealized expected rent growth. This paper seeks to test the hypothesis that investors are overly risk averse in their return expectations, and their ex-ante risk premiums are out of sync with the actual market fundamentals. We first generate forward ex-ante returns from Korpacz real estate survey data using Campbell-Shiller VAR framework. The conditional ex-ante returns are then included in multi-variate regressions to test whether the first and second moments of ex-atne returns increase the predictability of the ex-post returns and variances. The test results show that only industry sector exante return and the associated conditional variance significantly explain variations in the first and second moments in ex-post returns. Investors’ expectations in apartment, office and retail markets were decoupled with the ex-post market performance. The hypothesis that real estate investors are overly risk averse in formulating their expectations with respects to future returns in the real estate markets is thus not rejected. The investors’ expectations did not seem to matter in the actual realization of the first and second moments of price changes in real estate. 1 Department of Finance, DePaul University, shilling@depaul.edu 2 Department of Real Estate, National University of Singapore, rststf@nus.edu. sg We wish to thank Pricewaterhouse Coopers and National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF) for the empirical data. We would also like to thank David Ho and Luke Li for their kind assistance with the data. Errors, if any, remain the sole responsibility of the authors.
Low prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection in Canadian children: a cross-sectional analysis.

BACKGROUND The incidence and prevalence rates of childhood Helicobacter pylori infection vary greatly by nation, with infection rates of 8.9% to 72.8% reported in developed and developing countries, respectively. To date, few studies have assessed the prevalence of H pylori in Canadian children, with studies limited to Aboriginal communities and single tertiary care centres from Ontario and Quebec. OBJECTIVES To determine the prevalence of H pylori in consecutive children referred to three Canadian tertiary care academic centres for upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy due to upper GI symptoms, and to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the carbon-13-labelled urea breath test, the rapid urease test and the H pylori stool monoclonal antigen test. RESULTS Two hundred four patients were recruited. The prevalence of H pylori was 7.1%. Of the H pylori-positive patients, 41.7% were male, with a mean age of 10.3 years. Ethnic minorities accounted for 42% of the H pylori-positive patients. Consistent with previous observations, the sensitivity and specificity of the carbon-13-labelled urea breath test were 1.0 and 0.98, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of the rapid urease test were 1.0 and 0.99, respectively. Stool samples were collected from 34 patients from one centre, with a sensitivity and specificity of 1.0 and 0.68, respectively. No defining symptoms of H pylori infection were evident and no peptic ulcer disease was demonstrated. CONCLUSION H pylori infection rates in Canadian children with upper GI symptoms are low, and are lower than those reported for other developed countries. Further studies are required in Canada to determine the prevalence in the general population and specifically in the populations at risk.
The effect of priming on germination and enzyme activity of sesame ( Sesamum indicum L. ) seeds after accelerated aging

Maximum germination percentage achieves immediately after harvesting and gradually de#creases with storage time. Aging is one of the key factors in plant yield loss especially in vegetables. Seed aging is the main problem of seed storage. Application of accelerated aging treatment is used to assess seed vigor and quality. Seed priming enhances seed germination performance after aging. An experiment was conduct in order to investigate the activity of catalase and ascorbate peroxidase during accelerated aging and repair during priming treatment of sesame (
Monitoring of recruitment and derecruitment by electrical impedance tomography in a model of acute lung injury

ObjectiveTo evaluate a noninvasive system for obtaining information about alveolar recruitment and derecruitment in a model of acute lung injury. DesignProspective experimental study. SettingAnimal research laboratory. SubjectsNine anesthetized pigs. InterventionsElectrical impedance tomography measurements were performed. Electrical impedance tomography is an imaging technique that can register the ventilation-induced impedance changes in different parts of the lung. In nine anesthetized pigs, repeated lung lavages were performed until a Pao2 of <80 mm Hg was reached. Thereafter, the lungs were recruited according to two different recruitment protocols: the open lung approach and the open lung concept. Five time points for measurements were chosen: healthy (reference), lavage (atelectasis), recruitment, derecruitment, and maintain recruited (final). Measurements and Main ResultsAfter lavage, there was a significant increase in the impedance ratio, defined as the ventilation-induced impedance changes of the anterior part of the lung divided by that of the posterior part (from 1.75 ± 0.63 to 4.51 ± 2.22;p < .05). The impedance ratio decreased significantly after performing the recruitment protocol (from 4.51 ± 2.22 to 1.18 ± 0.51). During both recruitment procedures, a steep increase in baseline impedance change was seen. Furthermore, during derecruitment, a decrease in the slope in baseline impedance change was seen in the posterior part of the lung, whereas the anterior part showed no change. ConclusionElectrical impedance tomography is a technique that can show impedance changes resembling recruitment and derecruitment of alveoli in the anterior and posterior parts of the lung. Therefore, electrical impedance tomography may help in determining the optimal mechanical ventilation in a patient with acute lung injury.
Relief of postural post dural puncture headache by an epidural blood patch 12 months after dural puncture

A 20‐year‐old previously healthy male presented at the pain clinic with chronic headache of about one year duration. Clinical examination revealed no pathological manifestations. During the consultation the patient was drinking Coca‐Cola. On direct questioning he told that drinking Coca‐Cola gave partial relief from the headache, and that the headache started after he had received two spinal anaesthetics for treatment of a lower leg fracture. Postural post dural puncture headache was now suspected and an epidural blood patch performed. Despite an interval of nearly 12 months since the dural punctures, a single epidural blood patch completely relieved the headache. This case history demonstrates that an epidural blood patch should be tried if a chronic post dural puncture headache is suspected.
Short Covering Trades

Short sellers are known to have private information about security prices. Empirical evidence of short selling, however, is based on only half of short sellers’ trading activity; specifically, the opening of the position. Using disclosed large-short-position data from the Japanese stock market, we provide the first detailed evidence of covering trades and find a positive reaction to short covering that only partially reverses. Although these results are consistent with substantial transaction costs for closing large short positions, they also reveal that some short sellers are privately informed about positive future events and have timing ability in covering positions.
Corporate Social Responsibility in Supply Chains of Information and Communication Technology Companies

The topic of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in supply chains is steadily emerging in the last couple of years across various sectors and especially in the information and communication technology (ICT) industry. The current research investigates consumers’ perceptions and attitudes towards CSR in supply chains of ICT companies. The study relies on data collected from four in-depth focus groups that included 23 West European students. It provides valuable insights for scholars and professionals. The findings indicate the complex and controversial nature of the analyzed topic. Furthermore, CSR in supply chains is determined by consumers as an important factor that will shape the future development of the ICT sector.
Social networking sites: a novel portal for communication

Background: The internet has transformed many spheres of society. Most notably the advent of social networking websites, such as MySpace, Bebo and Facebook, have attracted many millions of users worldwide. There are over 350 such sites in operation across the internet. There is a paucity of data in the adult literature examining the medical usage of this interesting facet of modern life. Aims: To ascertain whether Facebook has user groups that are connected with common medical conditions, and to classify the user groups that were identified as well as enumerating the number of individual users contained therein. Methods: We conducted a search of the entire Facebook website between December 2007 and January 2009. We used medical and lay nomenclature for the most prevalent non-communicable diseases as identified from the World Health Organisation Burden of Disease publication to identify whether they were represented among individual Facebook users and user groups. Results: We identified 290 962 individual users who were part of 757 groups. Patient groups accounted for 47.4%, patient/carer support groups 28.1%, fund raising groups 18.6%, and others 5.8%. Notably, there were other groups containing representations from the scientific research community in addition to educational resources. The groups with the most individual members pertained to malignant neoplasms and cardiovascular disease (141 458 users) consistent with their worldwide prevalence. Conclusions: Facebook is providing a readily accessible portal for patients, carers and healthcare professionals to share their experiences of investigation, diagnosis and management of disease. Furthermore, this technology is being used for research, education and fundraising. Further research is warranted to explore the further potential of this new technology.
Why Do Firms Issue Secured Debt?

We empirically examine theories of secured debt. Credit risk and asset volatility increase with secured debt issuance, and the strength of this association is unrelated to contemporaneous investment. Hand-collected data reveals most secured debt is secured on all assets of the firm and rarely originates from collateralizing unsecured debt. A difference-in-differences analysis shows that shocks to the likelihood of debt overhang have no impact on the mix of secured and unsecured debt issued. Most secured debt is issued to bond against expropriating lenders rather than as described in theories related to debt overhang, facilitation of risk-shifting, and monitoring.
Extending the lifespan and efficacies of immune cells used in adoptive transfer for cancer immunotherapies–A review

Cells used in adoptive cell-transfer immunotherapies against cancer include dendritic cells (DCs), natural-killer cells, and CD8+ T-cells. These cells may have limited efficacy due to their lifespan, activity, and immunosuppressive effects of tumor cells. Therefore, increasing longevity and activity of these cells may boost their efficacy. Four cytokines that can extend immune effector-cell longevity are IL-2, IL-7, IL-21, and IL-15. This review will discuss current knowledge on effector-cell lifespans and the mechanisms by which IL-2, IL-7, IL-15, and IL-21 can extend effector-cell longevity. We will also discuss how lifespan and efficacy of these cells can be regulated to allow optimal clinical benefits.
Clinical Guidelines for the Physical Care of Mental Health Consumers: A Comprehensive Assessment and Monitoring Package for Mental Health and Primary Care Clinicians

Objectives: People with a mental illness are more likely to experience poor physical health as compared to the general population. Currently, Australian mental health patients experience a relatively low level of physical health appraisal, prompting the development of the Clinical guidelines for the physical care of mental health consumers assessment and monitoring package. Method: The Clinical guidelines package takes an holistic approach, with a focus on the key dimensions of medication effects, lifestyle, existing or developing physical disorders, alcohol and illicit drug use, and psychosocial factors. Results: The package consists of a metabolic syndrome algorithm wall chart, a Clinician handbook, a Psychosocial assessment booklet, and a set of three screening forms. Conclusions: By taking a user-friendly, flexible, evidence-based approach, the resource can be used by all clinicians involved in the healthcare of people with a mental illness.
Are U.S. White-Collar Really at Risk of Service Offshoring?

This paper deals with recent concerns about potentially negative effects of service offshoring on U.S. white-collar workers. At this purpose, the paper uses highly disaggregated occupational data and develops a Flexible and Separable Translog model in which service offshoring is allowed to affect labor demand for both minor white-collar occupations and major white-collar groups. The model is estimated through Quasi-Maximum Likelihood to account for the presence of corner solutions. Results suggest that concerns about service offshoring are ill-founded: service offshoring stimulates labor demand for the white-collar and changes its skill distribution in favor of high-skilled occupations.
Comparative pharmacokinetics, distributions in tissue, and interactions with blood proteins of conventional and sterically stabilized liposomes containing 2',3'-dideoxyinosine

The pharmacokinetics and distribution in tissue of 2',3'-dideoxyinosine (ddI) encapsulated in sterically stabilized liposomes have been evaluated in rats. Most of the sterically stabilized liposomes concentrated in the spleen with a peak level at 24 h after their intravenous injection. An extended half-life in plasma was observed for sterically stabilized liposomes (14.5 h) compared with that of conventional liposomes (3.9 h). The systemic clearance of ddI incorporated in sterically stabilized liposomes was 180 times lower than that of the free drug. The levels of in vitro and in vivo protein binding on both conventional and sterically stabilized liposomes were also evaluated. Results suggest that the amount of proteins associated with liposomes might not be the only factor involved in the in vivo clearance of liposomes, as this process may also be influenced by the nature of the bound blood proteins.
New Proximal Point Algorithms for Convex Minimization

This paper introduces two new proximal point algorithms for minimizing a proper, lower-semicontinuous convex function $f: \mathbf{R}^n \to R \cup \{ \infty \}$. Under this minimal assumption on f, the first algorithm possesses the global convergence rate estimate $f(x_k ) - \min_{x \in \mathbf{R}^n } f(x) = O(1/(\sum_{j = 0}^{k - 1} {\sqrt \lambda_j } )^2 )$, where $\{ \lambda_k \}_{k = 0}^\infty $ are the proximal parameters. It is shown that this algorithm converges, and global convergence rate estimates for it are provided, even if minimizations are performed inexactly at each iteration. Both algorithms converge even if f has no minimizers or is unbounded from below. These algorithms and results are valid in infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces.
Rehospitalizations among psychiatric patients whose first admission was involuntary: a 10-year follow-up.

OBJECTIVES To examine the characteristics of patients whose first admission to Israel's psychiatric units was involuntary, and to identify a specific profile of the patients at increased risk for future readmissions. Our hypothesis was that when the first admission of a patient was involuntary, the number and duration of future hospitalizations would be greater. METHOD We used information extracted from the National Psychiatric Case Registry on all patients admitted for the first time during 1991 (N=2150) and on their follow-up over the next ten years. Chi-square statistics were used to test for significance differences in demographic and clinic variables between patients hospitalized voluntarily and those hospitalized involuntarily. Multiple regression analysis was performed to identify a specific profile of risk of recidivism during a ten-year period (1991-2000). RESULTS Compared with patients admitted voluntarily, those who were admitted involuntarily had a significantly greater number and duration of rehospitalizations. They were more likely be diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia while the voluntarily admitted patients were more likely be diagnosed as having an affective disorder. Risk factors for the number of readmissions included: young age, legal status (involuntary) of the first admission, as well as period of residence in the country. Risk factors affecting the duration of readmissions were single/widowed status, native born and a suicide attempt in the two months prior to the first admission. CONCLUSIONS Two distinct profiles for the number ofreadmissions and inpatient days were identified. A diagnosis of schizophrenia and selected demographic variables were better at predicting risk of recidivism than the involuntary legal status of the first admission.