Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Labor Protection, Leverage, and Wage

The literature documents a relation between financial leverage and employee pay, in which employees demand a high wage to compensate for the high unemployment risk caused by firms’ high leverage. We investigate how an exogenous labor protection law affects the above relation. We show that the adoption of the law alleviates firms’ pressure from raising wages, given the improvement of job security brought by the law; and financially constrained or distressed firms particularly benefited from the law. Our results suggest that all else equal, labor protection law helps firms control their labor costs via improving the job security of employees. JEL classification: G32, J31, J63, K31
Comparison of Diff erent Order and Heterogeneous ResidualVariances Legendre Polynomials in Random Regression Models

In this study, it was aimed to estimate covariance function, covariance components, permanent environmental eff ect, additive genetic eff ect and heritability values, and comparison of models with diff erent order and heterogeneous residual variances Legendre Polynomials in the first lactation Turkish Holstein cows more than 10 test day milk yields. For this aim, 7340 test day records of 386 Holstein Friesian cows in the first lactation raised in private dairy farm calving from 2013 to 2018 in Kırşehir-Turkey were used. The six Legendre polynomial models by random regression described as L(2,2), L(3,3), L(4,4), L(5,5), L(6,6) and L(7,7) were evaluated using first lactation test day records. Heterogeneous residual variances (RV) were modeled by considering five sub-classes. Analyzes were performed using the WOMBAT statistical package. In comparison of the models, -2LogL, Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), Bayes Information Criterion (BIC) and RV were used. Also, the compatibility of random regression models was examined in terms of eigenvalues of covariance matrices. The values of -2LogL (between 28334.16 and 26610.07), AIC (between 28356.16 and 26732.07) and BIC values (between 28432.05 and 27129.21) obtained from the study result decreased as the model order increased. As a result, it was determined that the 3rd degree Legendre polynomial model can provide sufficient compliance. However, when looking at the values for -2LogL, AIC and RV, it was determined that the L(7,7) model fits well according to other models.
Have We Explained the Accrual Anomaly? An Evaluation Based on the Decomposition Method1

Using the decomposition method proposed by Hou and Loh (2016), we evaluate several current explanations in the literature for the accrual anomaly. Our empirical results show that cash-based operating profitability (CbOP) best explains the accrual anomaly, with an explanatory power of about 50%. Overall, explanatory indicators based on alternative risk factors account for approximately 80% of the accrual anomaly, whereas indicators based on limits to arbitrage explain less than 20%; the unexplained residual fraction is negligible. Our findings suggest that the current explanatory indicators have well explained the accrual anomaly and the efficient market framework is favored to explain this anomaly.
When the context backfires: Experimental evidence on Reciprocity

In a randomized field experiment in Ecuador, we tested whether triggering the norm of reciprocity increases participation in a business training program. The sample included 793 microentrepreneurs in the provinces of Pichincha and Guayas in Ecuador who were randomly assigned to either receive or not receive a premium chocolate with their invitation to participate. Bank officers personally delivered the invitations/chocolate gift. Surprisingly, we find a negative and significant effect of 8.3 percentage points of the chocolate gift on participation rates. We argue that an unexpected, temporary change in the context triggered a negative response from the entrepreneurs to the gift, which changed the direction of the expected result; thus, the intervention induced negative rather than positive reciprocity. JEL Classification: C93; D91; O12; I38
Awareness Level of Cancer Warning Signs and its Determinants among University Students in UAE

Cancer is considered as a threatening disease affecting individuals all over the world and it is among the top three causes of death in UAE as recorded by the Ministry of Health. Young generations including university students are not immune to cancer particularly nowadays where the risk factors of cancer are common in our daily life. The purpose of this research is to display an insight into the awareness of nonmedically educated U.A. E undergraduates about cancer warning signs and prevention factors. This cross-section survey-based study researched 356 undergraduate students (40.8% Male and 58.8% Female) as a representative sample of the university population of UAE, who were questioned about their awareness towards cancer. Because anyone may be susceptible to have cancer, sufficient cancer awareness regarding prevention by lifestyle modification should be strongly acknowledged.
Metamorphic olivine records external fluid infiltration during serpentinite dehydration

We used boron (B) isotope systematics of co-existing olivine and serpentine to study deep fluid flow in subduction zones. Metamorphic olivine produced by serpentine dehydration at sub-arc conditions from high pressure ophiolites in the Western Alps contains significant concentrations of B (2 – 30 μ g/g) with a high δ 11 B values ( þ 9 to þ 28 ‰ ), whilst co-existing serpentine has 2 – 50 μ g/g B with δ 11 B = þ 6 to þ 24 ‰ . Boron isotope fractionation between olivine and its precursor serpentine ( Δ 11 B ol-srp = δ 11 B ol – δ 11 B srp ) is highly variable, which indicates significant isotopic disequilibrium between these minerals. Importantly, samples with B-enriched olivine have low Δ 11 B ol-srp (down to − 9 ‰ ), evidence that olivine grew in the presence of a mixture of serpentine-derived fluids and external fluids with δ 11 B of ca . þ 6 to þ 15 ‰ . The composition of these external fluids is consistent with those from subducting sediments and altered oceanic crust at 50 – 80 km depth, and at least 15 – 45 % fluid addition. Our work shows that large scale slab fluid infiltration and fluid-mobile element transport accompanies serpentinite dehydration in subduction zones.
Cancer of the Penis: Clinical Features and Therapeutic Modalities in Senegalese Hospitals

Background: Penile cancer is a rare malignancy in Senegal. This rarity is probably related to the fact that circumcision, which has a protective effect, is a common practice in childhood. Some of the known risk factors include uncircumcised status, chronic inflammatory conditions, and a history of condyloma acuminata, smoking, and possibly human papillomavirus exposure. It is a pathology in adults with a maximum incidence after the age of 50. In our practice penile cancer is most often diagnosed at an advanced stage or only a radical and mutilating treatment may be proposed. Aims: To describe the clinical and therapeutic features of penis cancer in Senegal. Patients and methods: we carried out a retrospective, descriptive, bicentric study, collecting the records of patients with penis cancer in the Urology-Andrology department of the Aristide Le Dantec University hospital and the military hospital of Ouakam between January 2010 and December 2019. Results: fourteen cases of penile cancer were diagnosed. The mean age was 53.2 years with extremes of 29 and 84 years, the average consultation time was 21 months. All patients were circumcised in childhood. The tumor was limited to the glans in 2 cases and involved the entire penis in 5 cases. Six patients had bilateral inguinal adenopathies. The histological type was squamous cell carcinoma in all cases with a predominance of grade 2 (8 cases). Patients were classified as cT3 (7 cases), cT2 (5 cases), cT4 (1 case) and cT1 (1 case). Treatment consisted of partial amputation of the penis (5 cases), emasculation and perineal urethrostomy (4 cases) total amputation and perineal urethrostomy (2 cases). Three patients had refused total penis amputation. The average length of follow-up was 26 months (4 and 72 months), 3 lymph nodes recurrences and 2 local recurrences were observed. Two patients died among the operated patients. Conclusion: Cancer of the penis is rare in Senegal. The delay in diagnosis explains the frequency of advanced forms which can only be treated by radical surgery.
A Gamified Classroom with Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Students using Quizziz

Education has been evolving in the past centuries and it is taking a gradual change in the education industry. In meeting the needs and the changing behavior of the current students, mobile devices and technologies have been the important element in education. The current study has implemented a gamification web application (Quizziz) into two groups of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students, and also to observe their engagement and eventually their quiz results for Human Computer Interaction (HCI) subject for five lectures were recorded. In total, 47 students were participated in this study. The lecturer gave short lectures to students beforehand and followed by giving them simple quizzes through Quizziz. With leaderboard and points as a gamification benchmark, the performance of the students was tracked for 4 class session to evaluate the effectiveness of gamified classroom.
Food safety perceptions and practices of selected UK fresh produce farms

Introduction Evidence to date suggests that the incidence of foodborne outbreaks from the UK fresh produce sector is very low. It is interesting to note how the fresh produce farms practice their pre-harvest activities to ensure that safe produce enter the food chain. Objective The study aims to determine the perceptions of fresh produce farmers towards farm food safety. The current farm food safety practices among voluntary participating farms are also identified and discussed. Methods A survey of current farm food safety perceptions (n = 44 fresh produce farms) and practices were conducted. Twelve fresh produce farms (out of the 44) participated in detailed discussions relating to their current farm food safety practices. Results The present study is one of the few research works that focused on farm food safety management practices. The findings in this study suggested that the vast majority of the participating fresh produce growers generally have good perceptions and practices in farm food safety. Conclusion This reiterates the fact that the studied farms practiced good agricultural practices which lead to continuous safety and quality assurance of the crops.
Evaluating the Accrual Anomaly with the Decomposition Method

Using the decomposition method proposed by Hou and Loh (2016), we evaluate several current explanations for the accrual anomaly. The results of multivariate analysis show that cash-based operating profitability (CbOP) best explains the accrual anomaly, with an explanatory power of about 50%. Risk-based explanations account for approximately 90% of the accrual anomaly, whereas the contributions of explanations based on arbitrage costs are quite limited, and the unexplained residual fraction is negligible. Our findings suggest that the existing indicators explain most of the accrual anomaly and the risk-based explanations are preferable. JEL classification: G12; G14; M41
The Cadoxen Swelling Test for the Evaluation of Cross-linking of Cotton

A test method is described based on the cellulose swelling agent cadoxen, a complex compound of cadmium and ethylene diamine. On centrifuging swollen fiber samples under standard conditions, the amount of imbibed cadoxen is shown to be related to the degree of cross-linking. Correlations with wrinkle recovery and wash/wear performance are shown, and it is suggested that the test is useful in evaluating the efficiency of cross-linking finishes.
Influence of inductance on the arc evolution in AgMeO electrical contacts

Three consecutive stages of arc evolution (anodic loss stage, compensation stage and cathodic loss stage) with influence of inductance on the phenomena in opening AgCdO contacts are considered. The mathematical model is based on the measured arc and voltage dynamics and differential equations for electrical circuit, heat equations for electrodes and arc, power balance on anode and cathode surfaces and equations for near-electrode zones. It describes non-stationary temperature fields in anode, cathode and arc column with transition from the metallic arc phase to the gaseous one. The dependence of bridge and arc duration on inductance is discussed theoretically and verified by experimental data. The duration of gaseous arc phase is found dependently on the value of the inductive time constant, while duration of metallic phase depends on inductance weakly. It is shown that dynamics and direction of material transfer during arcing are conditioned by redistribution of cathode and anode temperature and evaporation losses in the course of arc evolution. They depend also on the value of opening velocity.
The Effect of Organizational Culture on Job Performance: The Intervening Role of Organizational Commitment

Purpose–Though extensive research work has been done by organizational researchers about organizational culture and job performance in general, there is huge theoretical and empirical research gap about the specific cultural orientation that affects performance within Ghana’s rural banking framework. This paper addresses the gap in literature by using the Competing Value Framework (CVF) organizational cultural typology to identify which cultural orientation influence job performance in Ghana’s Rural Banking Sector as well as the mediating role of organizational commitment within the organizational culture and job performance relationship Design/methodology/approach –This study designed a model that had organizational culture as the independent variable, organizational commitment as a mediator variable, and job performance as the dependent variable. The study employed a quantitative survey and sampled responses from601 staffs from seven rural banks in the western region of Ghana. Findings –The empirical results from hierarchical multiple linear regressions revealed that organizational culture(clan, market and adhocracy) had positive effects on job performance but hierarchy culture had no effect. Also, organizational culture had positive effect on organizational commitment whilst organizational commitment positively predicted job performance. The outcome of the study further shown that organizational commitment acts as a mediator in the relationship between organizational culture and job performance. Originality/value –This research work is essential for administrative and management practices especially within the rural banking concept whilst the conceptual framework presents a different perspective on the effect of organizational culture on employee job performance.
The Effectiveness of IT Usage in Accounting Education

 Abstract — Output of learning at the college, influenced by the input and the learning process. Quality of input is the quality of students who enter as a student, while the quality of the process is the quality of the educational process in college. IT utilization is proposed as one tool that can enhance learning and ease of understanding, especially in the teaching of accounting. The study was conducted on the learning process of accounting, ie the introductory accounting courses, which provide basic competencies that must be mastered by the students to understand the material of intermediate and advanced accounting. Experiments were conducted to test the effect of interaction between the quality of the input with the quality of teaching to learning outcomes, as indicated by academic achievement. The results provide empirical evidence that the use of IT in the teaching method of accounting moderate the influence of the quality of input to output, that is student achievement, while the lecturer does not become moderating variable. The research also found that in a group that uses accounting game software, continuance intention to use accounting game software influenced by perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived enjoyment. Thus, this study provides empirical evidence that supports the theory of Technology Acceptance Model.
REPEATABILITY OF A DIGITAL IMAGING TECHNOLOGY FOR DENTAL PLAQUE QUANTITATION (QRAYCAM PRO) IN CURRENT, FORMER AND NEVER SMOKERS STUDY PROTOCOL

Although the detrimental health effects of smoking on human health are well described, the impact of smoking on dental plaque build-up lacks consistent records. This is because dental research on periodontal health has primarily relied on subjective indices with poor discriminatory power. Novel digital imaging techniques for the objective quantitation of dental plaque are now available. Quantitative Light-Induced Fluorescence (QLF) technology has been used in several studies for digital quantification and monitoring of dental plaque. The objective of the study is to quantitate and compare short- and long-term repeatability of dental plaque among current, former, and never smokers by using a high resolution, auto-focus, hand-held QLF scanner (QRayCam Pro; Inspektor Research Systems BV, Amsterdam, NL). Demonstration of good reproducibility of QLF technology with clear discrimination for dental plaque quantitation among current, former, and never smokers will pave the way to future application of this test for both medical and regulatory research applied not only to combustion-free tobacco products (e.g. e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, oral tobacco/nicotine products, etc.) and smoking cessation medications, but also to consume care product for oral hygiene.
Integrative Omics Reveal Novel Protein Targets For Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Biomarker Discovery

Background: Large genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and other genetic studies have revealed genetic loci that are associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, the proteins responsible for COPD pathogenesis remain elusive. We used integrative-omics by combining genetics of lung function and COPD with genetics of proteome to identify proteins underlying lung function variation and COPD risk. Methods: We used summary statistics from the GWAS of human plasma proteome from the INTERVAL cohort (n=3,301) and integrated these data with lung function GWAS results from the UK Biobank cohorts (n=400,102) and COPD GWAS results from the ICGC cohort (35,735 cases and 222,076 controls). We performed in parallel: a proteome-wide Bayesian colocalization, and a proteome-wide Mendelian Randomization (MR) analyses. Next, we selected proteins that colocalized with lung function and/or COPD risk and explored their causal association with lung function and/or COPD using MR analysis (P<0.05). Results: We found 537, 607, and 250 proteins that colocalized with force expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), FEV1/forced vital capacity (FVC), or COPD risk, respectively. Of these, 1,051 were unique proteins. The sRAGE protein demonstrated the strongest colocalization with FEV1/FVC and COPD risk, while QSOX2, FAM3D and F177A proteins had the strongest associations with FEV1. Of these, 37 proteins that colocalized with lung function and/or COPD, also had a significant causal association. These included proteins such as PDE4D, QSOX2 and RGAP1, amongst others. Conclusion: Integrative-omics reveals new proteins related to lung function. These proteins may play important roles in the pathogenesis of COPD.
Knowledge of and Attitudes on Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare: A Provincial Survey Study of Medical Students

Background: There has been growing acknowledgement that undergraduate medical education (UME) must play a formal role in instructing future physicians on the promises and limitations of artificial intelligence (AI), as these tools are integrated into medical practice. Methods: We conducted an exploratory survey of medical students knowledge of AI, perceptions on the role of AI in medicine, and preferences surrounding the integration of AI competencies into medical education. The survey was completed by 321 medical students (13.4% response rate) at four medical schools in Ontario. Results: Medical students are generally optimistic regarding the capability of AI to carry out a variety of healthcare functions, from clinical to administrative, with reservations about specific task types such as personal counselling and empathetic care. They believe AI will raise novel ethical and social challenges. Students are concerned about how AI will affect the medical job market, with 25% responding that it was actively impacting their choice of specialty. Students agree that medical education must do more to prepare them for the impact of AI in medicine (79%), and the majority (68%) believe that this training should begin at the UME level. Conclusions: Medical students expect AI will be widely integrated into healthcare and are enthusiastic to obtain AI competencies in undergraduate medical education.
Modeling the impact of racial and ethnic disparities on COVID-19 epidemic dynamics

The impact of variable infection risk by race and ethnicity on the dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 spread is largely unknown. Here, we fit structured compartmental models to seroprevalence data from New York State and analyze how herd immunity thresholds (HITs), final sizes, and epidemic risk changes across racial and ethnic groups. A proportionate mixing model reduced the overall HIT, but more realistic levels of assortative mixing increased the threshold. Across all models, the burden of infection fell disproportionately on minority populations: in an assortative mixing model fit to Long Island census data, 80% of Hispanics or Latinos were infected when the HIT is reached compared to 33% of non-Hispanic whites. Our findings, which are meant to be illustrative and not best estimates, demonstrate how racial and ethnic disparities can impact epidemic trajectories and result in a disproportionate distribution of the burden of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
COVID-19 dynamics in an Ohio prison

Incarcerated individuals are a highly vulnerable population for infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Understanding the transmission of respiratory infections within prisons and between prisons and surrounding communities is a crucial component of pandemic preparedness and response. Here, we use mathematical and statistical models to analyze publicly available data on the spread of SARS-CoV-2 reported by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (ODRC). Results from mass testing conducted on April 16, 2020 were analyzed together with time of first reported SARS-CoV-2 infection among Marion Correctional Institution (MCI) inmates. Extremely rapid, widespread infection of MCI inmates was reported, with nearly 80% of inmates infected within 3 weeks of the first reported inmate case. The dynamical survival analysis (DSA) framework that we use allows the derivation of explicit likelihoods based on mathematical models of transmission. We find that these data are consistent with three non-exclusive possibilities: (i) a basic reproduction number >14 with a single initially infected inmate, (ii) an initial superspreading event resulting in several hundred initially infected inmates with a reproduction number of approximately three, or (iii) earlier undetected circulation of virus among inmates prior to April. All three scenarios attest to the vulnerabilities of prisoners to COVID-19, and the inability to distinguish among these possibilities highlights the need for improved infection surveillance and reporting in prisons.