Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sum of the parts stock return forecasting: international evidence

This article examines the issue of stock returns forecasting and in particular extends the analysis of the recently introduced sum of the parts modelling technique. The sum of the parts technique undertakes a first-stage regression analysis where the predictor variables themselves are estimated and the fitted values from these equations are then used in the forecast model. We conduct a series of one-step ahead recursive forecasts using the above methodology and compare that to the usual predictive regression approach for 11 markets, and a variety of forecast metrics and tests. Across the full range of markets and forecast measures, our results suggest that no single model dominates. Notably, while the sum of the parts approach often reports a lower Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Root Mean-Squared Error (RMSE), it is rarely significantly lower than competing forecasts. Similar results are found on the basis of both regression and sign based tests. Thus, across the range of markets the new approach meets with only limited success in providing better forecasts, although it rarely performs significantly worse. Furthermore, in specific markets, the sum of the parts approach does perform well. Notably for Italy, the UK, US and Korea, this approach outperforms the alternate models on all or nearly all measures. Thus, in terms of guiding researchers on the appropriate forecast model, the sum of the parts approach is interesting and does suggest some forecast improvement. However, that is only for specific markets. Hence, in choosing which forecast method to adopt there remains the trade-off between the simplicity of the predictive regression approach and the sum of the parts approach, which is more involved but on occasion more accurate, although not universally so.
Suboptimal anticoagulant management in patients after hospital initiation of warfarin.

In 2000, the authors commenced a randomised, controlled trial to improve the risk of bleeding associated with warfarin. The 68 patients randomised to usual care were managed by their general practitioner in the normal way. This provided an opportunity to examine anticoagulation management in current routine clinical practice. They received an extra visit 8 days after discharge to measure anticoagulant control. (non- author abstract)
Endogenous timing game with non-monotonic reaction functions.

The aim of this paper is to generalize the endogenous timing game proposed by Hamilton and Slutsky (1990) to cases where the reaction functions are non-motononic, as for instance in the literature on contest. Following the taxonomy of social dilemma provided by Eaton (2004) we consider several pos- sible situations depending on the nature of interactions (plain complementarity or plain substituability and strategic complementarity or strategic substitutability). Under the assumptions of the existence and the uniqueness of the Nash and Stackelberg equilibria, we highlight the presence of a ﬁrst-mover advantage or a second-mover incentive only depending on the nature of cross-eﬀects in players' payoﬀ functions and the slopes of their reaction functions at the Nash equilibrium of the static game. These properties allow us to determine rigorously the Subgame Perfect Nash Equilibrium (SPNE) in the ten studied situations. We establish under which conditions on the nature of interactions a leader emerges at the SPNE
Nonspecificity of binding of gamma-secretase modulators to the amyloid precursor protein.

Evidence that certain gamma-secretase modulators (GSMs) target the 99-residue C-terminal domain (C99) of the amyloid precursor protein, a substrate of gamma-secretase, but not the protease complex itself has been presented [Kukar, T. L. , et al. (2008) Nature 453, 925-929]. Here, NMR results demonstrate a lack of specific binding of these GSMs to monodisperse C99 in LMPG micelles. In addition, results indicate that C99 was likely to have been aggregated in some of the key experiments of the previous work and that binding of GSMs to these C99 aggregates is also of a nonspecific nature.
WORKING PAPER SERIES* DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS ALFRED LERNER COLLEGE OF BUSINESS & ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE WORKING PAPER NO. 2008-17 A REGIME SWITCHING ANALYSIS OF EXCHANGE RATE PASS-THROUGH

We investigate changes in the pricing policies of exporters, including changes in the exchange rate pass-through elasticity, and changes in the elasticities of variables that affect the firm’s markup. We set up a theoretical model of optimal export pricing in order to illustrate how changes in the pass-through elasticity can emerge together with changes in other elasticities in the pricing policy. Based on our theoretical formulation, we empirically study changes in all the elasticities that define the pricing policy as opposed to focusing only on the exchange rate pass-through. In the empirical model, we assume that in every period exporters get to set prices by following either a “high pass-through” or a “low passthrough” pricing policy. The transition from one policy to the other is governed by a Markov process whose transition probabilities depend on economic fundamentals. We estimate the model using data we have collected on 35 lines of imported cars to the US, from seven exporting countries, for the 1980-2004 period. We find that the “low pass-through” regime is characterized by: a low exchange rate pass-through; a low response to misalignments in the firm’s relative price; a low volatility of technology and preference shocks; and a higher duration than the high pass-through regime. Monetary stability and the market structure are significant factors behind the switching of pricing policies. Ceteris paribus, monetary stability measured as the cross-country inflation differential explains abut 22% of the year-to-year variation in the exchange rate pass-through coefficient; when measured by the volatility of the exchange rate, it explains 37%. Market concentration measured by the Herfindahl index explains about 40%.
Neutrophils as inflammatory and immune effectors in photodynamic therapy-treated mouse SCCVII tumours

Neutrophils have become recognised as important contributors to the effectiveness of tumour eradication by photodynamic therapy (PDT). In this study, we have used the mouse SCCVII squamous cell carcinoma model to investigate the activity of neutrophils in tumours treated by PDT. Tumour levels of neutrophilic myeloperoxidase (MPO) demonstrated not only a massive and sustained sequestration of these cells in PDT-treated tumours but also revealed their activated state evidenced by the presence of released MPO. Among the adhesion molecules expressed on tumour vascular endothelium, ICAM-1 appears to be of primary importance in the invasion of neutrophils into PDT-treated tumours, because its functional blocking with monoclonal antibodies reduced the tumour cure rate. A marked upregulation of its ligands CD11b/CD18 and CD11c/CD18 found on neutrophils associated with PDT-treated tumours supports this assumption. To evaluate the role of inflammatory cytokines regulating neutrophil activity, neutralising antibodies were given to mice before PDT treatment. The results suggest that IL-1ß activity is critical for the therapeutic outcome, since its neutralisation diminished the cure rates of PDT-treated tumours. No significant effect was observed with anti-IL-6 and anti-TNF-a treatment. Further flow cytometry-based examination of neutrophils found in PDT-treated tumours revealed that these cells express MHC class II molecules, which suggests their engagement as antigen-presenting cells and involvement in the development of antitumour immune response.
State responses to the TRA86 revenue windfalls: A new test of the flypaper effect

In our U.S. federal system, the income tax structures used by the three levels of government are interrelated in complicated ways. Many states link various components of their income tax codes to the federal income tax code; state and local income taxes are deductible at the federal level; and several states permit federal income taxes to be deducted at the state level. Consequently, changes in the federal tax system, such as those embodied in the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA86), are likely to have significant ramifications for lower levels of government. In some cases, policymakers may propose federal tax reforms specifically to change state and local behavior. For example, the proposal to eliminate the federal deductibility of state and local taxes was justified in part as a way to put downward pressure on state and local spending. However, many of the consequences of federal tax reform for subnational governments are probably more appropriately viewed as unintended, although sometimes predictable, by-products of the federal action. This paper focuses on one set of the potential unintended effects of TRA86 on state governments, namely, those associated with the so-called windfall gains (or, in some cases, losses) that occurred because many state tax structures are linked by definition to various components of the federal tax code. TRA86 both broadened the base of the federal personal income tax and lowered marginal tax rates. Base broadening by itself would have raised federal income taxes; the combined effect of base broadening and rate reduction was to reduce federal personal income taxes by about 10 percent. ' This broadening of the base of the federal personal income tax "automatically" increased state tax revenues in any state that tied its tax base to the federal base. As discussed further below, the magnitude of these windfall gains (or losses) varied across states according to the mechanisms through which the state code is linked to the federal code; in many states, such windfalls accounted for a significant portion of state income tax revenues.
Aversion to Daytime Illumination in Patients with Congenital Achromatopsia

The aversion to daytime illumination in patients with congenital achromatopsia is not well understood. In the present study, we used a magnitude estimation procedure to compare the perceived brightness for 5 congenital achromats and for seven normal subjects. Contrary to the patients' beliefs, results suggest patients' brightness estimates are similar to those of normal subjects.
Genetic, Structural, and Antigenic Analyses of Glycan Diversity in the O-Linked Protein Glycosylation Systems of Human Neisseria Species

ABSTRACT Bacterial capsular polysaccharides and lipopolysaccharides are well-established ligands of innate and adaptive immune effectors and often exhibit structural and antigenic variability. Although many surface-localized glycoproteins have been identified in bacterial pathogens and symbionts, it not clear if and how selection impacts associated glycoform structure. Here, a systematic approach was devised to correlate gene repertoire with protein-associated glycoform structure in Neisseria species important to human health and disease. By manipulating the protein glycosylation (pgl) gene content and assessing the glycan structure by mass spectrometry and reactivity with monoclonal antibodies, it was established that protein-associated glycans are antigenically variable and that at least nine distinct glycoforms can be expressed in vitro. These studies also revealed that in addition to Neisseria gonorrhoeae strain N400, one other gonococcal strain and isolates of Neisseria meningitidis and Neisseria lactamica exhibit broad-spectrum O-linked protein glycosylation. Although a strong correlation between pgl gene content, glycoform expression, and serological profile was observed, there were significant exceptions, particularly with regard to levels of microheterogeneity. This work provides a technological platform for molecular serotyping of neisserial protein glycans and for elucidating pgl gene evolution.
Changes in Gut Capacity with Lactation and Cold Exposure in a Species with Low Rates of Energy Use, the Pine Vole (Microtus pinetorum)

Interspecific differences in the adaptive capacity of the gut may contribute to interspecific differences in rate of energy use and life‐history traits. We tested the hypothesis that changes in gut capacity when energy demands are elevated are similar in species with low average rates of energy use compared with a species with higher average rates of energy use. We measured changes in gut capacity in Microtus pinetorum, a species with low average rates of energy use, and compared these with published data of changes in gut capacity of other rodent species with higher average rates of energy use. We quantified food ingestion, daily metabolic rate, resting metabolic rate, and gut organ masses, lengths, and functional volumes in nonre‐producing, lactating, and cold‐exposed females. Cold‐exposed females had significantly higher, and lactating females moderately higher, mass‐independent daily metabolic rates than control females. No significant changes in the mass or length of the intestinal organs occurred with cold exposure. Length, but not mass, of the gut was significantly greater in lactating females and functional volume was greater in cold‐exposed females, compared with control females, independent of body mass. These changes in gut capacity were much less extensive than those reported for other rodent species. Interspecific differences in gut capacity were not attributable to differences in rates of ingestion and energy need among species. A large adaptive capacity of the gut or maintenance of a large reserve capacity may be a requirement for high rates of energy use and may contribute to the positive interspecific correlations that exist between rates of growth and reproduction and energy use for maintenance metabolism.
Manager organizational commitment: a question of support or image?

This paper draws from two separate but complementary theories, namely social exchange theory and social identity theory, as a means of understanding the organizational antecedents of organizational commitment. Its purpose is to study the connections between the characteristics of work in the organization (a source of perceived organizational support), the characteristics of the organization (reflected in perceived external prestige), organizational commitment and turnover intentions. We test our assumption using a sample of 249 managers and a longitudinal design. The results show that perceived organizational support and perceived prestige are differently influenced by the characteristics of and in the organization. This suggests that the characteristics of the firm, reflected in the notion of perceived external prestige, play a complementary role to the characteristics of work in the organization, reflected in perceived organizational support, in shaping organizational commitment and turnover intentions.
Predicting Indonesian Journalists' Use of Public Relations-Generated News Material

Abstract The news media are the main channel for public relations practitioners to get messages across to their publics. In recent years, little research was conducted on predicting journalists' use of public relations news material. As the largest Southeast Asian and the world's most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia presents a complex media and public relations environment. This study found fundamental tenets in journalism, however, which remain the most important factors in predicting the use and acceptance of public relations-generated news materials. At the same time, however, business interests have highly significant effect on journalists. Informal relations can also influence their use.
Metrics for Managing Research and Development in the Context of the Product Family

The paper proposes methods to measure the performance of research and development in new product development. We frame these measures in the context of evolving product families in the technology-based firm. Our goal is to more clearly understand the dynamics of platform renewal and derivative product generation and their consequences for long-term success. We explore the utility of the proposed methods with data gathered from a large measurement systems manufacturer. We find that the methods and measures can help management assess the technological and market leverage achieved from the firm's present and past product platforms. This provides a foundation for transforming single-product, single-period planning processes into a multi-product, multi-period form that embraces the product family and the renewal of product architecture. The research also shows the need to integrate data from engineering, manufacturing, and sales organizations to produce information for managing the growth of the firm's product families.
The Impact of Investment Operations on Portfolio Performance

This research summarizes intriguing evidence on the impact of an asset manager’s overall investment operations on individual portfolio performance. This exploratory analysis of operational data associated with 61 institutional portfolios across 14 managers (over the October 1999–August 2009 period) suggests that robust investment operations can mitigate potential outflows of excess return within a portfolio ranging from 51–242 basis points (relative to the benchmark and gross of fees). The dissipation of returns stems from implementation shortfalls associated with a broad spectrum of activities performed within investment operations. The author’s inquiry was motivated by the insufficiency of existing approaches that evaluate “ops” simply through the lens of expenses, workflows, and best-practices adoption while ignoring the more central question of how overall operational efficiency contributes directly to performance of the firm’s portfolios.
Computerized tomography-assisted calculation of sinus augmentation volume.

PURPOSE This study was intended to calculate the augmentation volume for a sinus lift procedure based on cross-sectional computerized tomography (CT) scans for 2 different augmentation heights. MATERIALS AND METHODS Based on area calculations of cross-sectional CT scans, the volume of additional bone needed was calculated for 44 sinus lift procedures. The amount of bone volume needed to raise the sinus floor to heights of both 12 and 17 mm was calculated. RESULTS To achieve a sinus floor height of 12 mm, it was necessary to increase the height by a mean of 7.2+/-2.1 mm (range, 3.0 to 10.5 mm), depending on the residual ridge height; to achieve a height of 17 mm, a mean of 12.4+/-2.0 mm (range, 8.5 to 15.5 mm) was required (P < .01). The calculated augmentation volume for an augmentation height of 12 mm was 1.7+/-. 9 cm3; for an augmentation height of 17 mm, the volume required was 3.6+/-1.5 cm3. Increasing the height of the sinus lift by 5 mm, ie, from 12 mm to 17 mm augmentation height, increased the augmentation volume by 100%. A significant correlation was found between augmentation height and the calculated sinus lift augmentation volume (r = 0. 78, P < .01). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION Detailed preoperative knowledge of sinus lift augmentation volume is helpful as a predictive value in deciding on a donor site for harvesting autogenous bone and on the ratio of bone to bone substitute to use. Calculation of the augmentation size can help determine the surgical approach and thus perioperative treatment and the costs of the surgery for both patients and clinicians.
A General Mean-Variance Approximation to Expected Utility for Short Holding Periods

The mean-variance model is precisely consistent with the expected utility hypothesis only in the special cases of normally distributed security returns or quadratic utility functions. There is little evidence, however, that security returns follow normal distributions (see [13] for references) and quadratic preferences can be shown to generate implausible results, exhibiting increasing absolute risk aversion in the Pratt [ll]–Arrow [1, 2] sense and displaying negative marginal utility after some finite wealth level. In addition, Hakansson [4] has shown that single–period, mean-variance-efficient portfolios can have disastrous consequences over time—even when return distributions are stationary. Such criticisms of the mean-variance approach within the Von Neumann-Morgenstern framework have prompted several writers to suggest that investors maximize the expected value of utility functions with more “realistic” properties, while others have criticized the single-period focus of the model. One popular alternative utility function is the logarithmic function which exhibits decreasing absolute risk aversion and (conveniently) leads to myopic decision processes through time (i.e., investors treat each period as if it were the last, basing investment decisions on that period's wealth and return distributions only [8, 4]). (Other utility functions with constant relative risk aversion—such as the power function—also imply myopic decision rules within a multiperiod setting.)
Employee organizational commitment: the influence of cultural and organizational factors in the Australian manufacturing industry

The importance of enhancing employee organizational commitment (EOC) is highlighted by the extensive literature revealing its positive impact on employees' job performance, reducing absenteeism and turnover rates, and improving employees' adaptability to organizational change. This study provides an insight into how EOC levels can be enhanced by examining the contextual factors that can influence EOC. Specifically, the study examines the association between cultural, organizational, and demographic factors with the level of EOC in the Australian manufacturing industry. Data were collected by a survey questionnaire from a random sample of 500 managers with the results revealing that two cultural factors (outcome orientation and stability) and three organizational factors (organizational size, perceived organizational support and job satisfaction) were found to be significantly associated with the level of EOC. Further analysis provides a preliminary insight into how to enhance the EOC of specific managers with different cultural and organizational factors found to be associated with the EOC of managers at different levels in the organizational hierarchy. The findings have important implications for practitioners attempting to improve the level of EOC of their employees with the subsequent enhancements in the level of EOC likely to contribute to improvements in productivity and growth in the Australian manufacturing industry.
The Search for Informed Traders in the Totals Betting Market for National Basketball Association Games

A recent article on line changes in the point spread betting market for National Basketball Association games found evidence that trading incorporates information into price. This article examines a closely related but previously unexamined betting market—the betting market for the total points scored in a game. The authors find that closing totals lines are more accurate forecasts of total points scored than are opening totals lines. It is shown that line changes move betting lines in the correct direction and by the appropriate magnitude to eliminate biases in opening totals lines. Line changes in this betting market, like those in the point spread betting market, cause prices to more accurately reflect fundamental values.