Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Innovation, finance and the probability to export

This paper examines the effect that innovation and variables able to capture firms’ access to finance exert on the probability of European SMEs to become newly exporting companies or exit from foreign markets. To accomplish such a task, we employ firm-level data and statements provided by the ECB SAFE for the years 2014-2016. By exploiting the panel dimension of our dataset, we show that product and process innovations increase the likelihood of a firm to turn from a non-exporter to exporter. Furthermore, firms that have used their obtained financing to develop and launch new products and services enjoy a higher likelihood to make the switch. Similarly, firms, which declared to have embarked in product and organizational innovation benefit from a lower likelihood to stop exporting and becoming exiters. Consistently with previous findings, firms that have used their obtained financing to develop and launch new products and services face a lower likelihood to become an export exiter. These effects hold after controlling for type of ownership, firm performance, as well as for the regulatory environment. Results turn to be robust to different specifications and endogeneity concerns.
Clinical Presentation of Acquired Hypothyroidism and Associated Disorders in Children and Adolescents at King Abdul-Aziz University Hospital in a Western Region of Saudi Arabia

Objective: We aimed to investigate the clinical manifestations and associations of acquired hypothyroidism in children at King Abdul-Aziz University Hospital (KAUH) in the western region of Saudi Arabia. Methods: A retrospective descriptive study was conducted in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from January 2010 to January 2015. The study included 265 children aged between one and 18 years old with a confirmed diagnosis of acquired hypothyroidism who attended the pediatric endocrine clinic at KAUH. Data were obtained by reviewing the medical records and laboratory investigations of the patients by using KAUH’s “phoenix” system. Results: Of the 265 children diagnosed with acquired hypothyroidism, the commonest clinical presentations were short stature (32.5%), loss of appetite (16.2%), weight gain (13.6%), fatigability (12.1%), constipation (9.8%), cold intolerance (5.3%), and goiter (2.6%). Vitamin D deficiency was the commonest associated disorder (present in 37% of patients) followed by type 1 diabetes mellitus (in 22.3%) and Down syndrome (in 8.3%). Conclusion: Isolated short stature was the most common presentation of acquired hypothyroidism. Pediatricians should be aware of the need to screen children who present with short stature for hypothyroidism. Vitamin D deficiency was the commonest disorder associated with acquired hypothyroidism. In our setting, vitamin D supplementation would be beneficial as a preventive measure.
Informational relevance of foreign currency transaction gains and losses for valuation purpose

Informational relevance of foreign currency transaction gains and losses for valuation purpose Lee Gun Jae Business Administration, Accounting The Graduate School Seoul National University Some argue that current accounting standards which require foreign currency transaction gains and losses to be included in net income create unnecessary volatility of net income. Empirical results using Korean data show that foreign currency transaction gains and losses exhibit the attributes related to transitory earnings with less information relevance for purposes of forecasting and valuation. Also, empirical analysis does not find the significant relationships between the transitory earnings attributes, which is not consistent with the prediction from the analytical model. It can be inferred from this evidence that the information relevance of foreign currency transaction gains and losses is not significantly different cross-sectionally across the firms. Additional test also reveals that the information relevance does not vary in the cross-section with a firm’s stock return sensitivity to the foreign exchange rate change. These results suggest that the informational irrelevancy of foreign currency transaction gains and losses are not conditional on the extent to which a firm is affected by exchange rate changes. keywords : foreign currency, valuation, forecasting Student Number : 2011-20545
Forecasting Using Time Varying Meta-Elliptical Distributions with a Study of Commodity Futures Prices

We propose a methodological approach to the forecast and evaluation of multivariate distributions with time varying parameters. For reasons related to feasible inference attention is restricted to meta-elliptical distributions. We use our approach for the study of a large data set of 16 commodity prices. Our approach leads to a theory for model validation avoiding common problems caused by disconintuities, time variation of parameters and nuisance parameters.
Hypertrophic Scar Management with a Flavonoid Fraction of Cyphomandra betacea

Cyphomandra betacea (Solanaceae) grows wild in India. The ethanolic fraction of the fruits of C. betacea has a rich content of the bioflavonoid quercetin, which has antihistaminic and antiproliferative activities. A study was carried out to evaluate the preventive and curative properties of a flavonoid fraction of C. betacea containing 3.47% quercetin on an animal model of hypertrophic scarring. Four circular excisional wounds were produced on each ear of 10 rabbits. Sample cream containing the flavonoid fraction of the ripe fruits of C. betacea was applied to one wound immediately and then three times a day thereafter for four weeks as a preventive treatment and three times a day for eight weeks on one hypertrophic scar as a curative treatment. Placebo cream was used on two of the other wounds and one wound was left untreated. Hypertrophic scars developed in all untreated and placebo-treated wounds after four weeks and 60% of sampletreated wounds healed with hypertrophic scars. The level of histamine and hydroxyproline increased significantly in placebo-treated wounds in the preventive group and their levels in sample-treated wounds decreased significantly. In the curative group all the hypertrophic scars were flattened after eight weeks’ treatment with sample and the histamine level was decreased significantly in sampletreated scars with a slight decrease in hydroxyproline level compared to placebo-treated scars. Due to its antihistamine activity, this flavonoid fraction could be used as a preventive or adjuvant curative treatment for hypertrophic scars. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Cooking as a source of indoor air pollution in rural areas of Tanzania

This study was concerned with the assessment of the contribution of cooking fuelwood, charcoal and kerosene to indoor air pollution in households in Msangani, Chahua and Kazimzumbwi villages in the Coast Region, Tanzania. It has also assessed the performance of Single Compartment Model in predicting indoor pollution levels under Tanzania conditions. The methods used in this study were household survey, measurements, and observation. The pollutants measured were Carbon monoxide (CO), Sulphur dioxide (SO2) and Nitrogen oxides (NOX) using a combustion analyzer CA-6200-CALc manufacured by RAECO of USA, and Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) using a filter and vacuum pump. It was observed that 97.3% of the 112 families surveyed utilized simple “three stones” fires for cooking. Other observed cooking facilities in the study areas were charcoal stoves and kerosene stoves. The overall pattern shows that the population in the three villages spent about 76.8% of their time indoors. The hourly indoor average SPM levels during cooking period ranged from 13571 mg/m3 to 305798 mg/m3. Compared with SPM levels recorded in similar studies, these values were much higher, and may contribute to health problems observed in the study areas. The CO concentrations before cooking, for households that use fuel wood, exceeded the WHO hourly standard of 30 mg/m3 in 69.4 % of the surveyed households, while the concentrations for those households using charcoal and kerosene were zero. The overall average CO concentrations in mg/m3 at all households during cooking were 325 ± 211 and 148 ± 44 when fuelwood and charcoal biomass were used respectively. The measured values of CO were above the recommended WHO guidelines with an hourly objective value of 30 mg/m3. A Single Compartment Model provided a satisfactory approximation of the measured CO concentrations with an average ratio of measured/modelled CO concentration at 1.1± 0.3. The study recommends improvement to the ventilation system including the provision of an adequate number of windows and installation of chimneys for removal of combustion pollutants from indoor environment. © 2009 International Formulae Group. All rights reserved. Key words : Biomass; cooking; fuelwood; indoor air pollution.
Chemical and microbiological studies on Kenyan and Gabali Egyptian tea

he present study was designed to compare the quality of Gabali Egyptian tea and Kenyan tea locally cultivated in Egypt. Gabali, black and green Kenyan teas were laboratory processed, then analyzed chemically and microbiologically for their quality evaluation. Representative results show that all samples of the 3 types were contaminated with aerobic mesophilic plate counts of the tea types varied from 6.1x10 3 to 2.2x10 8 cfu/g, spore-forming bacteria 1.1x10 2 to 1.6x10 4 cfu/g, coliforms (MPN) 0.361. 5 x10 1 cell/g, molds 2.3x10 2 to 3.0x10 4 and yeasts 1.2x10 2 to 5.8x10 3 cfu/g, in which gabali tea was the highest and black Kenyan tea was the lowest microbial count. Pathogenic bacteria were not in detectable level. The black Kenyan tea had the highest antibacterial activity followed by the green Kenyan tea with all solvents, but extraction of Gabali tea had antibacterial activity only by distilled water and water reflux. Total aflatoxin in concentration range of 6.1, 9.8 and >50 μg/kg in black and green Kenyan tea and Gabali tea, respectively. Phytochemical analysis of the tea samples revealed the presence of tannin in high level in black Kenyan tea (14.33%). Considering the results obtained, only black and green Kenyan tea had acceptable levels for all microbial factors in comparison with the Egyptian standards. It was concluded that Gabali tea may be high risk product and therefore, more studies are necessary to find methods of decontamination.
Further Evidence on Defence Spending and Economic Growth in NATO Countries

The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the causal relationships between defence spending and economic growth using the Toda–Yamamoto approach to Granger causality test in the case of selected NATO countries for the period of 1949-2006. NATO countries spend biggest proportion of defence spending in the world. Granger causality test on defence-growth issue employed by number of scholars but this paper is firstly used Toda–Yamamoto approach to granger causality to analyze relationship between defence spending and growth. The results show that unidirectional causality exists in seven NATO countries while for five countries no causal relationships were found. On the other hand, Turkey differs from other countries in that the relationship is bilateral.
Effect of foliar application of naphthalene acetic acid and plant thinning on sugar contents of melon (Cucumis melo) fruit cv. Khatooni

Total soluble solid (TSS) content is commercially used as fruit quality index because of its high positive correlation with sugar content. In the present study, The effect of foliar application of naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) with different concentrations (0, 25, 50, and 100 mg.L) at 4 true leaf and fruit set stages and plant training (pruning and thinning) on TSS and soluble sugar (i.e. sucrose, glucose and fructose) contents of fruit were evaluated in melon (Cucumis melo L.) cv. Khatooni. Results showed that NAA treatments significantly increased TSS and soluble sugar contents. The highest TSS and soluble sugar contents were observed in 100 mg.L NAA. In contrast, TSS and soluble sugar contents were decreased significantly by plant thinning. In mature fruits, an obvious gradient of TSS and soluble sugar contents was detected, ascending from pedicel to middle and umbilicus part of mesocarp. Also sucrose was dominant sugar in ripening fruit. Results of this work suggest that application of 100 mg.L NAA at fruit set could be used to increase TSS and soluble sugar contents of melon cv. Khatooni.
Rheological properties of Seven Different Yams (Dioscorea species) within the Yam Germplasm

This study was designed to characterize the most cultivated and consumed yam (Dioscorea) cultivars within the Ghanaian yam germplasm based on their rheological properties in order to assess their potential alternative food and industrial processing applications. Matured yam varieties grown and harvested under the same climatic and edaphic factors were obtained from the Roots and Tuber Conservatory Division of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute, Bunso Ghana. Samples were processed into flour and the pasting characteristics along the length of each variety were determined using Brabender Visco-amylograph (Brabender Instrument Inc. Duisburg, West Germany) equipped with a 700 cmg sensitivity cartridge. Significant differences (p<0.05) existed among the yam varieties for their pasting characteristics. However, no significant differences were observed in the pasting profile along the tail (T), middle (M) and head (H) regions of each tuber. Pastes from flours of D. rotundata had high maximum and final viscosities (333.5-384.5 BU and 343.5-404.0 BU respectively). Breakdown viscosity was low (<10 BU) in all the studied varieties, except D. dumetorum (54-71 BU). The findings from this research will be relevant to yam producers and processors in programmes aimed at developing new food/industrial processing applications using Ghanaian yams.
Zinc in the Sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy

From ESO VLT/FLAMES/GIRAFFE spectra, abundance measurements of Zn have been made in $\approx$100 individual red giant branch (RGB) stars in the Sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy. This is the largest sample of individual Zn abundance measurements within a stellar system beyond the Milky Way. In the observed metallicity range, $-2.7\leq\text{[Fe/H]}\leq-0.9$, the general trend of Zn abundances in Sculptor is similar to that of $\alpha$-elements. That is, super-solar abundance ratios of [Zn/Fe] at low metallicities, which decrease with increasing [Fe/H], eventually reaching subsolar values. However, at the higher metallicities in Sculptor, $\text{[Fe/H]}\gtrsim-1.8$, we find a significant scatter, $-0.8\lesssim\text{[Zn/Fe]}\lesssim+0.4$, which is not seen in any $\alpha$-element. Our results are consistent with previous observations of a limited number of stars in Sculptor and in other dwarf galaxies. These results suggest that zinc has a complex nucleosynthetic origin, behaving neither completely like an $\alpha$- nor an iron-peak element.
SUGGESTIONS IN TEACHER-STUDENT CONFERENCES

In this paper, we present a preliminary study to explore whether highly advanced L2 speakers realize the speech act of suggestion in the same way as native speakers and the reasons behind their pragmatic choices. We compared suggestions provided by three non-native speaking English Composition instructors and three native speaking Composition instructors when they hold conferences with their American students to discuss how to improve the students’ drafts. The data consists of audiotaped conferences between the participating instructors and their students and the final interview data from the three NNS instructors. This preliminary study indicated that although all the instructors provided more direct than indirect suggestions, the non-native speaking instructors were more direct than the native speaking instructors.
Histological Investigations on Infection of Grape Roots and Shoots by "Phaeoacremonium" spp.

Tissue-cultured grapevines cv. Cabernet Sauvignon were used to determine whether injury is a prerequisite to penetration of shoot and root tissue by Phaeoacremonium spp. and to ascertain the path of invasion inside the host. Uninjured and injured roots and shoots were inoculated with P. inflatipes and P. aleophilum at approximately 106 spores ml-1. Isolation and scanning electron microscopy observations showed that Phaeoacremonium spp. was capable of penetrating uninjured roots and shoots. Light microscopy observations of paraffin embedded sections showed that rapid spread of the fungus in roots was through the vascular tissues and intercellular spaces of the cortex. In the shoots, spread of the fungus was initially through the intercellular spaces of the epidermis, cortex, and pith; rapid spread apparently occurred in the intercellular spaces of the pith. Spores were seen in the pith area as well as in the xylem. Remote from the point of inoculation, hyphae were seen in the epidermis, cortex, pith, and vascular tissues without noticeable change in appearance of the invaded cells. Symptoms of the disease were observed in some plants 2 months after inoculation but isolations made in symptomless plants after 2 weeks showed the presence of the fungus in all parts of the plant.
Asset Pricing with Heterogeneous Consumers

Empirical difficulties encountered by representative-consumer models are resolved in an economy with heterogeneity in the form of uninsurable, persistent, and heteroscedastic labor income shocks. Given the joint process of arbitrage-free asset prices, dividends, and aggregate income, satisfying a certain joint restriction, it is shown that this process is supported in the equilibrium of an economy with judiciously modeled income heterogeneity. The Euler equations of consumption in a representative-agent economy are replaced by a set of Euler equations that depend not only on the per capita consumption growth but also on the cross-sectional variance of the individual consumers' consumption growth.
Osteometry and Morphology of the Human Fibula: A South African Study

A partir de estudios recientes se ha considerado al colgajo de fibula como punto de referencia para la reconstruccion y el tratamiento de lesiones y heridas compuestas. Debido a su ubicacion postero-lateral en la pierna, la aplicacion del colgajo de fibula se considera esteticamente ventajoso ya que la cicatriz del sector donante puede ser disimulada facilmente. Anatomicamente, en la fibula se puede reconocer una diafisis y dos extremos. Este estudio tuvo como objetivo investigar la morfologia del foramen nutricio y la osteometria relativa de la fibula. Se realizo una evaluacion osteometrica y morfologica de 104 fibulas humanas secas, pertenecientes a hombres y mujeres de grupos de poblacion de raza negra y caucasica, nativos de Sudafrica (rango de edad: 15-81 anos). Se observo la presencia de foramenes nutricios individuales, dobles y en numero de seis. Se identificaron un total de 15 sitios diferentes de ubicacion del foramen nutricio en relacion con las superficies, margenes y demas componentes de la fibula. Otros parametros osteometricos como longitud media de la fibula (mm) fueron: 374,85±2,01 en hombres y 345,49±1,86 en mujeres, 363,60±2,38 en Negros y 380,42±3,01 en Caucasicos, y el diametro de los foramenes nuticios (mm) fueron 1,00±0,34 en hombres y 0,96±0,42 en mujeres, 0,98±0,37 en Negros y 1,11±0,27 en Caucasico, respectivamente. Debido a la falta de datos osteometricos respecto a la desestabilizacion y la posterior reconstruccion de la articulacion talocrural, se cuantificaron los lados relativos y los angulos de la faceta triangular irregular del talus. Debido a la correlacion de los respectivos parametros de la fibula con la edad, sexo y razas, el foco de este estudio fue extenso en comparacion con los estudios anteriores. Las diferencias estadisticamente significativas para la edad, el sexo y la raza pueden sugerir una estandarizacion en Sudafrica de esos factores demograficos con los parametros pertenecientes a la fibula. Por otra parte, la ubicacion de los foramenes nutricios dentro del eje de la fibula puede ayudar con la el desarrollo de sistemas de clasificacion simples para la recoleccion de los injertos de fibula.
Assessing the disability inclusiveness of university buildings in Hong Kong

Tended to view disability inclusion as merely another mandate, building and construction practitioners have yet to recognize its value in social sustainability. In academia, similarly, it has received less attention than other building performance attributes such as environmental friendliness and indoor air quality. With rights to access now acknowledged as basic human rights, there is demand for a tool to assess building disability inclusiveness, indicating the extent to which building considerations include persons with disabilities (PWDs). This paper proposes a Building Inclusiveness Assessment Score (BIAS) to fill the existing gap. The BIAS framework comprises two hierarchies of inclusion attributes identified from literature, guides, and standards of barrier-free access and universal design. The final product consists of two building disability inclusiveness assessment tools: the Physical Disability Inclusion Sub-score (PDIS) and the Visual Impairment Inclusion Sub-score (VIIS). These are simple, quantitative, objective tools for assessing buildings. We performed a Monte Carlo simulation to validate the assessment protocols. Following the validation, we assessed 48 university buildings at four universities in Hong Kong to illustrate the real-life application of the tools.
Performance Appraisal Research: A Critical Review of Work on “The Social Context and Politics of Appraisal”

This paper reviews existing literatures on the analysis of performance appraisal (PA) paying special attention to those which try to take into account the “social context” of appraisal systems and processes. The special place of political action within these processes is underlined and the different levels at which politics need to be considered in research are outlined. Research on politics is considered and shown to lack an adequate consideration of the social relations involved in the reciprocal interactions between PA tools and processes and users interpretation and manipulation of them.
RP-HPLC METHOD FOR SIMULTANEOUS ESTIMATION OF ESOMEPRAZOLE MAGNESIUM AND DOMPERIDONE IN A TABLET DOSAGE FORM

A simple, sensitive and validated isocratic reverse phase high performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of esomeprazole and domperidone in tablet dosage form. The chromatographic separation was achieved on a hyperchrome C-18 (4.6 150 mm, 5μ particle size) analytical column using a mixture of acetonitrile: phosphate buffer (pH 5.0) in the ratio of 60:40 (v/v) used as the mobile phase, at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min and detector wavelength at 290 nm. The validation of the proposed method was carried out for specificity, linearity, accuracy, precision, limit of detection, limit of quantitation and robustness. Linearity of method was found to be in concentration range 10-50 μg/ml for esomeprazole and 5-25 μg/ml for domperidone with correlation coefficient greater than 0.9999. The retention time of domperidone and esomeprazole was found to be 2.92 and 3.91 min respectively. The method is suitable for the estimation of both the components simultaneously in pharmaceutical tablet formulations.