Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Corporate Governance, Dividend Status, Ownership Structure, and the Performance of Greek Seasoned Equity Offerings

Abstract We examine the short-term and long-term share-price behaviour surrounding the announcement of seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) by firms listed on the Athens Stock Exchange. (ASE) The idiosyncrasies of the ASE make for an interesting investigation of SEO announcements in relation to the effect of corporate governance mechanisms, ownership structure, and dividend-paying status. We examine changes in leverage and systematic risk, as well as the long-term share price and operating performance of those firms involved in a SEO. We report significant share-price appreciations on SEO announcement day. We find a share-price rally before the announcement of SEOs and subsequent share-price reversals. Our results suggest that corporate governance structures, dividend status, and ownership concentration enhance the information content of SEOs. Finally, we report evidence that the long-term operating performance and the capital structure of firms announcing a SEO deteriorates for up to two years following the announcement.
Taxing Food and Beverages: Theory, Evidence, and Policy

We developed a theoretical framework to examine the effect of a change in sales or excise tax on food and beverage demand after considering that consumers may have imperfect tax knowledge, are sometimes inattentive to sales tax, may not be informed of a sales tax change, and pay no sales tax on eligible food or beverages if using food stamps. We conducted simulations to assess how much the sales tax elasticity of demand should be adjusted downward from the price elasticity of demand and quantified the advantage of using an excise tax as an anti-obesity policy. Copyright 2013, Oxford University Press.
Therapeutic effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in Parkinson's disease: Analysis of [11C] raclopride PET study

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has been used as a potential therapeutic tool in Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the therapeutic value and/or the placebo effect of rTMS on PD remain to be elucidated. To investigate the therapeutic value and/or placebo effect of rTMS in PD, we compared the motor section of unified PD rating scale (UPDRS III) and the amount of extracellular dopamine concentration using [11C] raclopride PET before and after two sessions of rTMS in 9 PD patients. During a consecutive 2 days while off‐medication, two series of 15 trains of 5 Hz‐frequency rTMS (intensity, 90% of the resting motor threshold) were applied to the hand area of more severely symptomatic motor cortex (MC). After unilateral rTMS of MC, mean raclopride binding potentials (BPs) were reduced not only in putaminal and caudate areas on the stimulated side (−4.9% and −6.5%, respectively) (P > 0.05) but also in putaminal and caudate areas of nonstimulated hemispheres (−6.6%, P > 0.05 and −12.1%, P = 0.049, respectively). UPDRS III scores were significantly decreased (35.0 ± 14.1 to 32.0 ± 13.4, P = 0.049). A reduction of raclopride BP in nonstimulated ventral striatum by unilateral rTMS supports the placebo response during rTMS. © 2007 Movement Disorder Society
Linking Gene Expression to Function: Metabolic Flexibility in the Normal and Diseased Heart

Abstract: Metabolism transfers energy from substrates to ATP. As a “metabolic omnivore,” the normal heart adapts to changes in the environment by switching from one substrate to another. We propose that this flexibility is lost in the maladapted, diseased heart. Both adaptation and maladaptation are the results of metabolic signals that regulate transcription of key cardiac regulatory genes. We propose that metabolic remodeling precedes, initiates, and sustains functional and structural remodeling. The process of metabolic remodeling then becomes a target for pharmacological intervention restoring metabolic flexibility and normal contractile function of the heart.
Hub-and-Spoke Conspiracies: The Vertical Expression of a Horizontal Desire?

An increasing number of horizontal agreements involve both competitors and their common suppliers (or retailers). As vertical agreements, indirect horizontal agreements can help reduce coordination failures, but they also have the capacity to dampen competition. The negative welfare effect of these agreements generally dominates when undertakings try and raise prices.Competition authorities generally distinguish alleged infringements between competitors active on the same relevant market (horizontal information exchanges or agreements) and those between undertakings and their suppliers or their customers (vertical agreements). A rising number of infringements mix elements of vertical and horizontal concerted practices, because they are horizontal in nature, but involve competitors and their suppliers (or retailers). They are referred to as hub-and-spoke exchanges (or A-B-C exchanges), where the spokes are active on the same product market and interact indirectly through the hub.From an economics perspective, there is not always an indisputable motive to classify hub-and-spoke agreements as mainly vertical with an horizontal effect, or mainly horizontal with the involvement of a supplier. In the European Union, the legal standards for horizontal and vertical infringements differ significantly. While the Commission’s Guidelines on Vertical Restraints characterize vertical minimum resale price maintenance agreements as hardcore restrictions, relying on the presumption that such agreements have an anticompetitive effect, the legal test for indirect horizontal concerted practices developed by the UK Courts is more demanding. It requires that competition authorities prove that the spokes and the hub transmit the information with an anticompetitive intent.
Phenotypic and functional analysis of the mesenchymal stromal cell compartment in the thymus

T cells are key cellular components of the adaptive immune system that play a critical role in our defense against pathogens and cancer but also contribute to pathology in the setting of chronic inflammation and autoimmunity. The thymus constitutes the body's major T cell production site, where bone marrow-derived progenitors migrate in a co-ordinated fashion through anatomically distinct cortical and medullary regions that are composed of epithelial and mesenchymal stromal elements. The interaction of cortical (cTEC) and medullary (mTEC) thymic epithelial cells (TEC) with migrating thymocytes is of fundamental importance in driving thymocyte differentiation and their selection towards generation of an immunocompetent but self-tolerant T cell repertoire. While the ontogeny, phenotype and functionality of TEC subsets has been extensively studied, far less is known regarding the thymic mesenchymal cell (TMC) compartment. The vitamin A metabolite, retinoic acid (RA) is a potent regulator of cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis that impacts on gene transcription by acting as a trans-activating ligand for a family of transcription factors called RA receptors (RARs). RA-dependent RAR-mediated events (also called RA signaling) have been widely implicated in organ development and epithelial tissue homeostasis but the putative role of endogenous RA signals in regulating TEC and/or thymocyte homeostasis has remained unknown. In this thesis, using comprehensive phenotypic, genetic lineage tracing and microarray analyses we demonstrate that postnatal TMCs comprise two phenotypically distinct and functionally specialized neural crest-derived, gp38+ and gp38- TMC subsets. We characterize gp38- TMC as mural cells with classical pericyte and vascular smooth muscle cell functions that intimately associate with and support thymic vascular endothelium. In contrast, gp38+ TMC were central producers of a range of factors implicated in regulating TEC homeostasis. Our data also provide an initial description of the neural crest cell maturation pathway towards mature gp38+ and gp38- TMC during thymic ontogeny. Using gene expression, biochemical and functional analyses, we further identify gp38+ TMCs together with a subset of mTECs as the major cell populations capable of RA production in the post-natal thymus. In functional experiments involving FTOC, we show that mesenchymal cell-derived RA plays an important role in regulating cTEC numbers and provide initial evidence for a direct role of RA responses in TEC in regulating cTEC homeostasis in vivo. In addition to its direct role in regulating TEC compartments, we demonstrate the presence of endogenous RA sensing by developing thymocytes, and further provide initial data suggesting a key and direct role for RA in thymocyte development in vivo. Collectively, our results significantly broaden the current understanding of TMC heterogeneity, ontogeny and function, and provide valuable insights to the current understanding of vitamin A metabolism and the functionality of RA in the thymus.
A Nonlinear State-Space Model of a Combined Cardiovascular System and a Rotary Pump

A nonlinear lumped parameter model of the cardiovascular system coupled with a rotary blood pump is presented. The blood pump is a mechanical assist device typically interposed from the left ventricle to the aorta in patients with heart failure. The cardiovascular part of the model (consisting of the left heart atrium and ventricle), and the systemic circulatory system are implemented as an RLC circuit with two diodes. The diodes represent the mitral and aortic valves in the left heart. The cardiovascular model has been validated with clinical data from a patient suffering from cardiomyopathy. The pump model is a first order differential equation relating pressure difference across the pump to flow rate and pump speed. The combined cardiovascular-pump model has been represented as a fifth order nonlinear dynamical system in state space form with pump speed as the control variable. This model was used to simulate the hemodynamic variables to different values of afterload and a linearly increasing (ramp) pump speed. Because of its small dimensionality, the model is suitable for both parameter identification and the application of modern control theory.
Do Corporate Reforms Increase Performance of Analysts’ Recommendations? Evidence from an Emerging Market

What happens to analysts' performance when security market reforms bring corporate transparency in emerging markets but the governance of market intermediaries (mainly stock brokers) is weak? Using analysts' recommendation and subsequent stock market returns from Pakistan, we find that analysts' performance deteriorated significantly after the corporate reforms. This declining trend continued even after the introduction of corporate governance code in 2002. Earlier evidence suggests that market intermediaries such as stock brokers were involved in pumping and dumping of stocks in Pakistan. One may attribute this decline in analysts' performance with the stock price manipulations by these brokers who bent the laws of supply and demand in their favour by injecting or withdrawing liquidity from the market. These actions may have diminished the informational content of the analysts' recommendations leading to the lower value of recommendations. We propose that the governance of the market intermediaries should be an issue of profound interest during the corporate reform process in the emerging markets.
Training needs assessment: where we are and where we should go

The aim of this article is to systematically review Training Needs Assessment (TNA) scientific literature. Based on two research questions (where are we? where should we go? ), we hoped to evaluate the current state of scientific production on TNA and to point out some possible developments. The following databases were consulted: Web of Knowledge, Ovid, Proquest, Wiley Online Library, Emerald, PsycNet, CAPES Database and Scielo. Fifty-One articles were analyzed. The results show that: (a) there is little agreement on how to measure training needs; (b) most of the current TNA models and methods are reactive and do not consider contextual factors and multiple levels of analysis in a proactive way; (c) there are gaps in TNA and a need for theoretical definitions; (d) there is little concern with building theories and concepts related to TNA. Based on these findings, we point out that TNA practice and research should: (a) be based exclusively on measurable human competences gaps, in multiple possible levels of analysis; (b) not focus only on individual professional roles, but also on internal and external contextual factors that can be important in the future; (c) discuss and criticize in depth what work needs, training needs and training needs assessment mean; (d) elaborate and test TNA theories, concepts, models and methods.
Construction and properties of B-spline wavelet filters for multiscale edge detection

We offer a general framework for multiscale edge detection including both the extrema detection and the zero-crossing detection based on B-spline theory. Fast algorithms for multiscale decomposition and reconstruction are given. Especially the impulse and frequency responses of the corresponding decomposition and reconstruction filters are derived explicitly. These results also make contribution to the further application of stereo vision matching, denoising, etc.
Fifty Shades Flipped: Effects of Reading Erotica Depicting a Sexually Dominant Woman Compared to a Sexually Dominant Man

The present study examined the effects of reading submission- and dominance-themed erotica on attitudes toward women and rape, ideal partner preferences, and subjective sexual arousal. Heterosexual male (n = 241) and female (n = 240) participants read one of three erotic stories depicting male dominance, female dominance, or no dominance, or a fourth nonerotic control story. First, we found that after reading about a sexually dominant man, women reported increased benevolent sexism compared to men, and men reported increased rape myth acceptance compared to women. Second, men and women showed a similar level of preference for partner dominance after reading about a sexually dominant woman. This was in contrast to the typical pattern revealed in all other conditions, whereby women were more likely to favor dominant partners relative to men. Finally, we found no evidence to support the hypothesis that the story describing male dominance would be the most arousing. Rather, all three erotic stories were equally sexually arousing compared to the control condition, and men and women did not differ in the extent to which the erotic stories aroused them. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Comparison of symptomatic and asymptomatic atherosclerotic carotid plaque features with in vivo MR imaging.

PURPOSE To retrospectively determine if in vivo magnetic resonance (MR) imaging can simultaneously depict differences between symptomatic and asymptomatic carotid atherosclerotic plaque. MATERIALS AND METHODS Institutional review board approval and informed consent were obtained for this HIPAA-compliant study. Twenty-three patients (21 men, two women; mean age, 66.1 years +/- 11.0 [standard deviation]) with unilateral symptomatic carotid disease underwent 1.5-T time-of-flight MR angiography and 1.5-T T1-, intermediate-, and T2-weighted MR imaging. Both carotid arteries were reviewed. One observer recorded quantitative and morphologic information, which included measurement of the area of the lumen, artery wall, and main plaque components; fibrous cap status (thick, thin, or ruptured); American Heart Association (AHA) lesion type (types I-VIII); and location (juxtaluminal vs intraplaque) and type of hemorrhage. Plaques associated with neurologic symptoms and asymptomatic plaques were compared with Wilcoxon signed rank and McNemar tests. RESULTS Compared with asymptomatic plaques, symptomatic plaques had a higher incidence of fibrous cap rupture (P = .007), juxtaluminal hemorrhage or thrombus (P = .039), type I hemorrhage (P = .021), and complicated AHA type VI lesions (P = .004) and a lower incidence of uncomplicated AHA type IV and V lesions (P = .005). Symptomatic plaques also had larger hemorrhage (P = .003) and loose matrix (P = .014) areas and a smaller lumen area (P = .008). No significant differences between symptomatic and asymptomatic plaques were found for quantitative measurements of the lipid-rich necrotic core, calcification, and the vessel wall or for the occurrence of intraplaque hemorrhage or type II hemorrhage. CONCLUSION This study revealed significant differences between symptomatic and asymptomatic plaques in the same patient.
Comparative Analysis of Crack Propagation in Roots with Hand and Rotary Instrumentation of the Root Canal -An Ex-vivo Study.

INTRODUCTION Success of any endodontic treatment depends on strict adherence to 'endodontic triad'. Preparation of root canal system is recognized as being one of the most important stages in root canal treatment. At times, we inevitably end up damaging root dentin which becomes a Gateway for infections like perforation, zipping, dentinal cracks and minute intricate fractures or even vertical root fractures, thereby resulting in failure of treatment. Several factors may be responsible for the formation of dentinal cracks like high concentration of sodium hypochlorite, compaction methods and various canal shaping methods. AIM To compare and evaluate the effects of root canal preparation techniques and instrumentation length on the development of apical root cracks. MATERIALS AND METHODS Seventy extracted premolars with straight roots were mounted on resin blocks with simulated periodontal ligaments, exposing 1-2 mm of the apex followed by sectioning of 1mm of root tip for better visualization under stereomicroscope. The teeth were divided into seven groups of 10 teeth each - a control group and six experimental groups. Subgroup A & B were instrumented with: Stainless Steel hand files (SS) up to Root Canal Length (RCL) & (RCL -1 mm) respectively; sub group C & D were instrumented using ProTaper Universal (PTU) up to RCL and (RCL -1mm) respectively; subgroup E & F were instrumented using ProTaper Next (PTN) up to RCL & (RCL -1 mm) respectively. Stereomicroscopic images of the instrumentation sequence were compared for each tooth. The data was analyzed statistically using descriptive analysis by 'Phi' and 'Cramers' test to find out statistical significance between the groups. The level of significance was set at p< 0.05 using SPSS software. RESULTS Stainless steel hand file group showed most cracks followed by ProTaper Universal & ProTaper Next though statistically not significant. Samples instrumented up to 1mm short of working length (RCL-1mm) showed lesser number of cracks. CONCLUSION All groups showed cracks formation, the stainless steel group being the highest. Working 1mm short of apex reduces the incidence of crack formation.
Modeling FDI based on a spatially augmented gravity model: Evidence for Central and Eastern European Countries

Based on a spatially augmented gravity model, the current paper isolates spatial interrelationships in foreign direct investment (FDI) to Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) not only across the destination but also across the origin country dimension of FDI. Results show that (i) spatial interrelationships across destination countries are present and are consistent with the predominance of vertical-complex FDI in total FDI; (ii) spatial correlation across origin countries is given in earlier years of transition, while spillover and competition effects cancel over the whole sample period; and (iii) agglomeration forces gain in importance for FDI to CEECs.
Abnormal associative encoding in orbitofrontal neurons in cocaine‐experienced rats during decision‐making

Recent evidence has linked exposure to addictive drugs to an inability to employ information about adverse consequences, or outcomes, to control behavior. For instance, addicts and drug‐experienced animals fail to adapt their behavior to avoid adverse outcomes in gambling and reversal tasks or after changes in the value of expected rewards. These deficits are similar to those caused by damage to the orbitofrontal cortex, suggesting that addictive drugs may cause long‐lasting changes in the representation of outcome associations in a circuit that includes the orbitofrontal cortex. Here we test this hypothesis by recording from orbitofrontal neurons in a discrimination task in rats previously exposed to cocaine (30 mg/kg i.p. for 14 days). We found that orbitofrontal neurons recorded in cocaine‐experienced rats failed to signal the adverse outcome at the time a decision was made in the task. The loss of this signal was associated with abnormal changes in response latencies on aversive trials. Furthermore, upon reversal of the cue–outcome associations, orbitofrontal neurons in cocaine‐treated rats with enduring reversal impairments failed to reverse their cue‐selectivity, while orbitofrontal neurons in cocaine‐treated rats with normal performance showed an increase in the plasticity of cue‐selective firing after reversal. These results provide direct neurophysiological evidence that exposure to cocaine can cause behaviorally relevant changes in the processing of associative information in a circuit that includes the orbitofrontal cortex.
Fractional Cointegration Analysis of Securitized Real Estate

This paper uses fractional cointegration analysis to examine whether long-run relations exist between securitized real estate returns and three sets of variables frequently used in the literature as the factors driving securitized real estate returns. That is, we examine whether such relationships are characterized by long memory (long-range dependence), short memory (short-range dependence), mean reversion (no long-run effects) or no mean reversion (no long-run equilibrium). The forecasting implications are also considered. Empirical analyses are conducted using data for the U.S., the U.K., and Australia. We find strong evidence of fractional cointegration between securitized real estate and the three sets of variables. Such relationships are mainly characterized by short memory although long memory is sometimes present. The use of fractional cointegration for forecasting purposes proves particularly useful since the start of the financial crisis.
Stock Ownership and Congressional Elections: The Political Economy of the Mutual Fund Revolution

"We find that higher stock ownership rates are linked to an upward shift in the Republican share of the House popular vote since the late 1980s, consistent with theories that property interests affect voting. To proxy for discontinuous stock ownership rates, we use equity mutual fund costs, which have fallen, are negatively correlated with stock ownership rates and the Republican vote share in the long run, and help explain short-run changes along with midterm elections, economic conditions, and presidential popularity. Findings suggest that the major parties' shares of the House popular vote will fluctuate around 50% until other factors trigger a political realignment. "("JEL "D72, G11) Copyright (c) 2007 Western Economic Association International.