Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does Capital Structure Influence Company Profitability?

Abstract Every company has a different structure of balance sheet. Some of the companies have more liabilities than equity. Considering the industry or debt-to-equity ratio, the balance sheet structure affects the company profitability measured by DuPont system. The main objective of the paper is to analyze the structure of balance sheet and to identify some optimal levels in order to increase company profitability. The DuPont returns like ROA (return on assets) and ROE (return on equity) will be used to measure the company profitability, while the debt-to-equity ratio will be used as a measure (reflection) of capital structure. The samples consist on the most profitable non-financial companies ranked in Fortune Global 500. The companies will be grouped in clusters (based on industry or debt-to-equity ratio) in order to identify the signification of the correlation between the profit and the balance sheet structure. The main results of the paper refer to the company profitability that can be increased by using an optimal structure of liabilities and equity.
At the crossroads: Making the transition to hospice

Objective: Previous studies reveal that many terminally ill patients never receive hospice care. Among those who do receive hospice, many enroll very close to the time of death. Nationally, between 1992 and 1998, the median length of stay at hospice declined 27%, from 26 to 19 days. In our prior study of 206 patients diagnosed with terminal cancer and using hospice, we found that one-third enrolled with hospice within 1 week prior to death. Late hospice enrollment can have deleterious effects on patients and their family members. The aim of the present study was to characterize common experiences of patients and primary family caregivers as they transition to hospice, focusing on caregiver perceptions of factors that might contribute to delays in hospice enrollment. Methods: We conducted in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of 12 caregivers selected from a population of primary family caregivers of patients with terminal cancer who enrolled with hospice in Connecticut between September 2000 and September 2001. Respondents represented different ages, genders, and kinship relationships with patients. Respondents were asked about the patient's care trajectory, how they first learned about hospice, and their experiences as they transitioned to hospice. NUD*IST software was used for qualitative data coding and analysis. Results: Constant comparative analysis identified three themes common to the experience of transitioning to hospice: (1) caregivers' acceptance of the impending death, (2) challenges in negotiating the health care system across the continuum of care, and (3) changing patient–family dynamics. Significance of results: Identification of these themes from the caregivers' perspective generates hypotheses about potential delays in hospice and may ultimately be useful in the design of interventions that are consistent with caregivers' needs.
Comparing symbolic and substantive implementation of international standards – the case of ISO 14001 certification

ABSTRACT This study compares the effects of substantive implementation and symbolic implementation of the ISO 14001 standard on benefits realised for firms and their satisfaction with the certification. Specifically, we examine whether top management commitment is a precursor to both modes of implementation styles. Also, we compare firms’ benefits – environmental, economic and marketing – emanating from these two modes of implementation and whether they affect the satisfaction levels of firms with ISO 14001 certification. We test the research framework of this study using a dataset that was drawn from 328 firms in Australia and New Zealand. Our findings showed that top management commitment plays an important role as a driver for both symbolic and substantive forms of ISO 14001 implementation. Substantive implementation has wider and stronger effects on the benefits of ISO 14001 adoption than symbolic implementation. Finally, both economic and marketing benefits have a positive effect on the level of satisfaction while environmental benefit, surprisingly, does not.
The contribution of livestock to the economies of IGAD member states: Study findings, application of the methodology in Ethiopia and recommendations for further work

Without their enthusiasm and persistence this report would not have been possible. Equally, this report could not have been written without access to material on livestock production collected by MOFED and without MOFED's assistance in interpreting this data. Two individuals in MOFED merit special thanks – Mr. Fitaweke Metaferia in the National Accounts Department and Mr. Leulseged Dechsa, the Head of the National Accounts Department. Their explanation of the methods used to calculate Ethiopia's national accounts provided the framework for this report and their contribution is gratefully acknowledged. which this consultancy was introduced to livestock experts in Ethiopia, and various members of the LPF have been generous in sharing with me their knowledge on livestock and livestock research. I would especially like to recognize the assistance of Gijs Van't Klooster of FAO in Addis Ababa, and Herrie Hamedu Ali, the FAO Afar Field Office Coordinator. DISCLAIMER This paper on Ethiopia is part of a series of Working Papers on The Contribution of Livestock to the Economies of IGAD Member States planned by the InterGovernmental Authority on Development's Livestock Policy Initiative (IGAD LPI). The purpose of these papers is to provide support to Livestock Policy Hubs in the Member States to use study outcomes in their engagements with PRSPs processes in their respective countries (Ethiopia's Plan for Accelerated and Sustained Development to End Poverty-PASDEP) to advocate and ensure that the representation of livestock in these national strategy documents is commensurate with its important contribution to economic growth, poverty reduction and food. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of either the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations or the InterGovernmental Authority on Development concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or its authorities concerning the delimitations of its frontiers or boundaries. The opinions expressed in this paper are solely those of the author and do not constitute in any way the position of the FAO, IGAD, the Livestock Policy Initiative nor the governments studied. This study was undertaken in close collaboration with the National Accounts Department (NAD) of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MOFED) of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia. NAD has provided constructive review and comments on the study. While the majority of these comments were incorporated, there were however areas where opinions differ. These mainly …
Energy Substitution Effect on China’s Heavy Industry: Perspectives of a Translog Production Function and Ridge Regression

A translog production function model with input factors including energy, capital, and labor is established for China’s heavy industry. Using the ridge regression method, the output elasticity of each input factor and the substitution elasticity between input factors are analyzed. The empirical results show that the output elasticity of energy, capital and labor are all positive, while the output elasticities of energy and capital are relatively higher, indicating that China’s heavy industry is energy- and capital-intensive. Simultaneously, all the input factors are substitutes, with the substitution between labor and energy having the highest degree of responsiveness. The substitution elasticity between labor and energy is decreasing, while the substitution elasticities of capital for energy and labor are increasing. More capital input can help to improve energy efficiency and thus accomplish the goal of energy conservation in China’s heavy industry.
[Gender identity disorder and sexual orientation].

Caro Editor, O transtorno de identidade de genero (TIG) - ou transsexualismo - caracteriza-se por uma forte identificacao com o genero oposto, por um desconforto persistente com o proprio sexo e por um sentimento de inadequacao no papel social deste sexo. Trata-se de uma condicao que causa um sofrimento psicologico clinicamente significativo e prejuizos no funcionamento social, ocupacional ou em outras areas importantes da vida de um individuo
Modelling illiquidity spillovers with Hawkes processes: an application to the sovereign bond market

Modelling the dynamics of (il)liquidity across assets is an important yet complicated task, especially when considering significant deteriorations of liquidity conditions. Here, we propose a peak-over-threshold method to identify abrupt liquidity drops from limit order book data and we model the time-series of these illiquidity events across multiple assets as a multivariate Hawkes process. This allows us to quantify both the self-excitation of extreme changes of liquidity in the same asset (illiquidity spirals) and the cross-excitation across different assets (illiquidity spillovers). Applying the method to the MTS sovereign bond market, we find significant evidence for both illiquidity spillovers and spirals. The proportion of shocks explained by illiquidity spillovers roughly doubles from 2011 to 2015, suggesting an increased synchronization of extreme illiquidity across assets.
Resource partitioning and strategies in markets for technology

By bridging literature on resource partitioning and markets for technology, this article proposes that companies that pursue a broad (focused) product strategy buy more (less) technology in the market but sign fewer (more) deals as technology suppliers. Furthermore, an alignment between product and technology market strategies increases firms’ survival chances: Companies that pursue a broad (focused) product strategy are more likely to prosper when they buy (sell) technology in the market. To test these contentions, the authors consider a population of 736 firms that entered the security software industry between 1989 and 2002.
Performance of modified anaerobic inclining-baffled reactor treating recycled paper mill effluent: effects of influent chemical oxygen demand concentration and hydraulic retention time

ABSTRACT The performance of modified anaerobic inclining-baffled reactor (MAI-BR) treating recycled paper mill effluent (RPME) was investigated by varying the influent chemical oxygen demand (CODin) concentration from 1000 to 4000 mg/L, and the hydraulic retention time (HRT) from 3 to 1 day, corresponding to an organic loading rate increase from 0.33 to 4 g COD/L day. Throughout 126 days of operation, a maximum removal efficiency of up to 96% of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and 99% of biological oxygen demand, methane (CH4) yield of 0.259 L CH4/g COD, and a stable effluent pH of 6.5 were achieved. Furthermore, the compartmental performance showed that most of the organic substrates were removed in the initial two compartments, resulting in low pH and alkalinity levels and a high concentration of volatile fatty acids. Overall, the results showed that the MAI-BR successfully treated RPME, and the performance was affected by the variation of HRT more than the CODin.
The effect of fish and omega-3 LCPUFA intake on low birth weight in Indian pregnant women.

BACKGROUND Inadequate consumption of fish could be a risk factor for low birth weight (LBW). This study assessed fish intake and omega-3 LCPUFA intake and status for their association with LBW in a cohort of urban, south Indian pregnant women. SUBJECTS/METHODS In a prospective cohort study, data on maternal fish intake and omega-3 LCPUFA intake and status of 676 women were obtained at baseline (first trimester), the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. Infant birth weight was measured immediately following hospital delivery. The dropout rate was 7.6%. RESULTS Fifty-six percent of the study women consumed fish with low daily median intakes (3.4, 4.1 and 3.8 g day(-1) at the three trimesters, respectively). Consequently, the median intakes of EPA and DHA during pregnancy were also low at 2.1 and 10.1 mg day(-1), respectively. EPA and DHA intakes were associated with their status in erythrocyte membrane phospholipids during pregnancy (r=0.40 and 0.36, r=0.34 and 0.32 and r=0.37 and 0.41, at the three trimesters, respectively, all P<0.001). Women who did not eat fish during the third trimester had a significantly higher risk of LBW (OR: 2.49, P=0.019). Similarly, low EPA intake during the third trimester had an association with a higher risk of LBW (OR: 2.75, P=0.011). CONCLUSIONS Among low fish-eating pregnant women, fish intake in the third trimester was closely associated with birth weight. Supplementation with omega-3 LCPUFA during pregnancy may have important implications for fetal development in India.
Shape discrimination in age-related macular degeneration.

PURPOSE Recent studies suggest that a global shape-discrimination task is sensitive to neural undersampling and/or irregular sampling, but is not affected by normal aging. In this study, the ability of patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) to perform the shape-discrimination task was examined. METHODS Twenty patients with AMD (age range, 66-81 years) were selected on the basis of Snellen visual acuity of 20/50 or better in at least one eye and prior clinical documentation. A control group consisted of 10 older subjects (age range, 61-93 years) with normal findings in a fundus examination. Radial frequency (RF) patterns were used as stimuli. A spatial paradigm and a temporal two-alternative, forced-choice (2AFC) staircase paradigm were used. In each trial, two RF patterns (one deformed and one undeformed) were presented, and patients were asked to identify the deformed pattern. The peak spatial frequency of RF patterns was 5 cyc/deg; the radial modulation frequency was 8 cyc/360 degrees; mean radii were 0.5 degrees, 1 degrees, 2.0 degrees, or 2.5 degrees; and stimulus contrast was 80%. Thresholds for detecting the deformation were estimated by a maximum-likelihood fitting procedure. RESULTS Thirty-five of 40 eyes with AMD had 20/50 or better acuity. Among them, 29 eyes had early AMD (drusen, hyperpigmentation, hypopigmentation), 5 had extrafoveal geographic atrophy, and 1 had exudative AMD. With the spatial 2AFC, 91% (32/35) of eyes with AMD showed significant elevation of the threshold for detecting radial deformation of RF patterns when compared with normal control eyes. With the temporal 2AFC, 97% (31/32) of eyes with AMD showed significant threshold elevations, and the degree of the deficit in the shape discrimination did not correlate significantly with visual acuity loss (r = 0.3, P = 0.094). Comparison of the severity of AMD with shape-discrimination performance revealed that the average detection threshold of the eyes with extrafoveal geographic atrophy was significantly higher than that of the eyes with drusen only (P < 0.01), even though average acuity showed no significant difference. CONCLUSIONS Patients with AMD had significant deficits in performing the global shape-discrimination task. The dissociation of shape discrimination with visual acuity suggests that the shape-discrimination task may provide distinguishable information about the integrity of the photoreceptor mosaic in AMD.
Factors Associated with Exclusive Breast-feeding in Japan: for Activities to Support Child-rearing with Breast-feeding

BACKGROUND Benefits of breast-feeding are not only limited to nutrition and sanitation in developing countries but also extend to cost-saving health care and alleviation of anxiety related to childrearing in developed countries. This study aims to elucidate factors associated with exclusive breast-feeding in Japan and use this information to achieve child-rearing support worldwide by promoting breast-feeding. METHODS This cross-sectional study used data from a survey conducted by Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of the Japanese government, the First Longitudinal Survey of Babies in 21st Century. All subjects were infants (n = 53,575) born in Japan in 2001 between January 10 and 17 and between July 10 and 17. According to the data, the exclusive breast-feeding rate in Japan during the first 6 months of life was 21.0%. We examined the factors associated with exclusive breast-feeding using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. RESULTS Among the factors examined, the adjusted odds ratio (OR) for exclusive breast-feeding was low for late childbearing, low birth weight infants, multiple births, smoking parents, living with grandparents, and feeling burdened by childrearing. The adjusted OR was high for factors that included sufficient childcare leave and consultation about childrearing with the spouse, a birth attendant and/or nurse, and a peer in a child-rearing circle. CONCLUSIONS Exclusive breast-feeding is associated not only with medical factors but also with social factors. This study clarifies the necessity of social support to reduce the child rearing burden and a political system to promote paternal participation in childrearing and to improve the childcare leave system.
Protection of human HepG2 cells against oxidative stress by the flavonoid epicatechin

Flavanols, such as epicatechin (EC), constitute an important part of the human diet; they can be found in green tea, grapes and cocoa and possess different biological activities such as antioxidant, anti‐inflammatory and anticarcinogenic. This study investigated the potential chemo‐protective effect of EC against oxidative stress induced by tert‐butylhydroperoxide (t‐BOOH) on human HepG2 cells. Cell viability by lactate dehydrogenase assay and markers of oxidative status: reduced glutathione (GSH), malondialdehyde (MDA), reactive oxygen species (ROS), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione reductase (GR) were evaluated. Pretreatment of cells with EC for 20 h prevented the enhanced cell damage and GPx and GR activities as well as the decrease in GSH induced by t‐BOOH. The increased ROS generation induced by t‐BOOH was also partly prevented by a pretreatment for 20 h with EC. In addition, pretreatment of cells with EC for 20 h recovered the t‐BOOH‐induced MDA concentration to control values. A pretreatment for 2 h with EC did not reduce cell damage but partly recovered GSH, reduced ROS levels and muffled the increase of GPx and GR after exposure to t‐BOOH. Treatment of HepG2 cells with concentrations of EC in the micromolar range confers a significant protection against oxidative stress. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A comparison of classification performance among the various combinations of motor imagery tasks for brain-computer interface

Motor imagery brain-computer interface (BCI) is a system that sends commands from human to external devices using brain activity patterns of imagination of a motor action without an actual movement. In this paper, we compared classification performance among the various combinations of motor imagery tasks, toward the multi-dimensional control of motor imagery BCI. We used EEG motor imagery dataset of 99 subjects. Common spatial patterns (CSP) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) were applied to extract features and to classify motor imagery tasks. 10×10 fold cross validation was used to evaluate classification accuracies through large dataset. For two-class discrimination, we compared the classification accuracy of the results between combinations: both feet and one hand, and both hand and one hand. From these results, using both feet motor imagery task showed 3% higher accuracy than using both hand motor imagery task (p<;0.01). For four-class discrimination, the compared result of classification between left/right/both hand/rest and left/right/both feet/rest showed that there was no significant difference between above combinations.
Innate Immune Activity Correlates with CD4 T Cell-Associated HIV-1 DNA Decline during Latency-Reversing Treatment with Panobinostat

ABSTRACT The pharmaceutical reactivation of dormant HIV-1 proviruses by histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) represents a possible strategy to reduce the reservoir of HIV-1-infected cells in individuals treated with suppressive combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). However, the effects of such latency-reversing agents on the viral reservoir size are likely to be influenced by host immune responses. Here, we analyzed the immune factors associated with changes in proviral HIV-1 DNA levels during treatment with the potent HDACi panobinostat in a human clinical trial involving 15 cART-treated HIV-1-infected patients. We observed that the magnitude, breadth, and cytokine secretion profile of HIV-1-specific CD8 T cell responses were unrelated to changes in HIV-1 DNA levels in CD4 T cells during panobinostat treatment. In contrast, the proportions of CD3− CD56+ total NK cells and CD16+ CD56dim NK cells were inversely correlated with HIV-1 DNA levels throughout the study, and changes in HIV-1 DNA levels during panobinostat treatment were negatively associated with the corresponding changes in CD69+ NK cells. Decreasing levels of HIV-1 DNA during latency-reversing treatment were also related to the proportions of plasmacytoid dendritic cells, to distinct expression patterns of interferon-stimulated genes, and to the expression of the IL28B CC genotype. Together, these data suggest that innate immune activity can critically modulate the effects of latency-reversing agents on the viral reservoir and may represent a target for future immunotherapeutic interventions in HIV-1 eradication studies. IMPORTANCE Currently available antiretroviral drugs are highly effective in suppressing HIV-1 replication, but the virus persists, despite treatment, in a latent form that does not actively express HIV-1 gene products. One approach to eliminate these cells, colloquially termed the “shock-and-kill” strategy, focuses on the use of latency-reversing agents that induce active viral gene expression in latently infected cells, followed by immune-mediated killing. Panobinostat, a histone deacetylase inhibitor, demonstrated potent activities in reversing HIV-1 latency in a recent pilot clinical trial and reduced HIV-1 DNA levels in a subset of patients. Interestingly, we found that innate immune factors, such as natural killer cells, plasmacytoid dendritic cells, and the expression patterns of interferon-stimulated genes, were most closely linked to a decline in the HIV-1 DNA level during treatment with panobinostat. These data suggest that innate immune activity may play an important role in reducing the residual reservoir of HIV-1-infected cells.