Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Earnings Quality on Cost of Equity to improve the Investment Decisions: An applied study on the Saudi Stock Market

Companies want to signal the quality of their financial reporting to stakeholders. Therefore, should care about the quality of their disclosed information. One of the indicators of such quality is the quality of disclosed Earnings. Companies aim to mitigate the imprecision risk that may be embedded in thier financial reporting by disclosing accurate earnings. Controlling such risk may have an impact on the future cash flow and consequently on the cost of companies’ equity.
Evaluation of the Effects of Drying Methods on Phytochemicals in Thevetia neriifolia Parts as a Potential Rodenticide

Synthetic rodenticides are effective and rapid in controlling rats; however, they are toxic to nontarget species including humans, as well as the environment. Thevetia neriifolia (Pers.) K. Schum different parts however, reportedly have toxic effects on rodents. Effects of fresh, air and sun-drying methods on phyto-constituents of flowers, leaves, root, seed and stem bark and its potentiality in the control of rodents were therefore, investigated in this study. Analyses showed the presence of free agyclones: Thevetin A (1.88 mg/g) and B (1.64 mg/g), cardiac glycosides (1.49 mg/g), alkaloid (1.36%) and digitoxin (1.32 mg/g) in highest concentrations. Phenols (6.90x10 mg/g), (2.21x 10 mg/g) from flavonoids, Tannins (1.13x10 mg/g) and steroids (6.70x10 mg/g) were in moderate concentrations while antraquinone (0.70x10 mg/g) was the lowest. Antraquinone was also not detected in flower parts. Sun-dried parts had highest concentrations of Thevetin A (1.47 mg/g), cardiac glycosides (1.39 mg/g) and Thevetin B (1.27 mg/g), followed by air–drying Original Research Article Fayinminnu et al.; BJI, 17(2): 1-11, 2017; Article no.BJI. 29739 2 for cardiac glycoside (1.33 mg/g) and Thevetin A. fresh for Thevetins A (1.25 mg/g), and B (1.10 mg/g), and cardiac glycoside (0.93 mg/g) and tannins, respectively while antraquinone and terpenes were undetected. Higher phytochemicals content were in leaf followed by stem bark, then air-drying due to interaction of sun-drying methods and parts of plant. Free aglycones, Thevetins A and B, cardiac glycosides, digitoxin, oleadrin, tannins, phenols and steroids in Thevetia neriifolia plant parts were not affected by different drying methods. Therefore, the relatively high cardiac glycosides and free aglycone in different parts of Thevetia neriifolia may be exploited for natural rodenticidal purpose.
Effect of spin-coating cycle on the properties of TiO2 thin film and performance of DSSC

TiO2 thin films based dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) were prepared by sol-gel spin-coating method. The number of spin-coating was varied, 1,2,3,5 and 7 times to get various thicknesses of TiO2 thin film on the ITO substrate. The phase structure of anatase exists in all samples at the diffraction angle of 25.36 o corresponding with the crystal plane (101). From FESEM observation, the morphological shape of all samples is agglomerate nanoparticle. The sample with higher number of spin coating has pores with its size becomes bigger at the highest spin coating number. The thickness of TiO2 film increases with the increase of spin coating number. The absorption window increases with the spin coating number. The DSSC with 7 times spin coating number demonstrates the best power conversion efficiency (η) which is 0.70% due to the broadest absorption window and lowest Rb and Rct.
Projections of effects of climate change on the spatial distribution of two harmful algal genera in three regions of the globe: a coupled oceanographic-biogeochemical model analysis

Harmful algal blooms (HABs), those proliferations of algae that can cause fish kills, contaminate seafood with toxins, form unsightly scums, or detrimentally alter ecosystem function have been increasing in frequency, magnitude, and duration worldwide. Here, using a global modeling approach, we show, for three regionsof the globe, the potential effects of nutrient loading and climate change for two HAB genera, pelagic Prorocentrum and Karenia, each with differing physiological characteristics for growth. The projections (end of century, 2090-2100) are based on climate change resulting from the A1B scenario of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Institut Pierre Simon Laplace Climate Model (IPCC, IPSL-CM4), applied in a coupled oceanographic-biogeochemical model, combined with a suite of assumed physiological “rules” for genera-specific bloom development. Based on these models, an expansion in area and/or number of months annually conducive to development of these HABs along the NW European Shelf-Baltic Sea system and NE Asia was projected for both HAB genera, but no expansion (Prorocentrum spp.), or actual contraction in area and months conducive for blooms (Karenia spp.), was projected in the SE Asian domain. The implications of these projections, especially for Northern Europe, are shifts in vulnerability of coastal systems to HAB events, increased regional HAB impacts to aquaculture, increased risks to human health and ecosystems, and economic consequences of these events due to losses to fisheries and ecosystem services.
Intermediate ions as a strong indicator of new particle formation bursts in a boreal forest

Secondary aerosol formation from gas-phase precursors is a frequent phenomenon occurring in a boreal environment. Traditionally, this process is identified visually from observational data on total and ion number size distributions. Here, we introduce a new, objective classification method for the new particle formation events based on measured intermediate-ion concentrations. The intermediate-ion concentration is a suitable indicator of new particle formation, because it is linked to the atmospheric new particle formation. The concentration of intermediate ions is typically very low (below 5 cm–3) when there is no new particle formation or precipitation events occurring. In this study, we analysed concentrations of negative intermediate ions at the Station for Measuring Ecosystem Atmosphere Relations (SMEAR II) in Hyytiälä, Finland, during the years 2003–2013. We found that the half-hour median concentration of negative intermediate ions in sizes 2–4 nm was > 20 cm–3 during 77.5% of event days classified by traditional method. The corresponding value was 92.3% in the case of 2–7 nm negative ions. In addition, the intermediate-ion concentration varied seasonally in a similar manner as the number of event days, peaking in the spring. A typical diurnal variation of the intermediate-ion concentration resembled that of the particle concentration during the event days. We developed here a new method for classifying new particle formation events based on intermediate-ion concentrations. The new method is complementary to the traditional event analysis and it can also be used as an automatic way of determining new particle formation events from large data sets.
Please, talk about it

Many consumers post on-line reviews, affecting the average evaluation of products and services. Yet, little is known about the importance of the number of reviews for consumer decision making. We conducted an on-line experiment (n=168) to assess the joint impact of the average evaluation, a measure of quality, and the number of reviews, a measure of popularity, on hotel preference. The results show that consumers’ preference increases with the number of reviews, independently of the average evaluation being high or low. This is not what one would expect from an informational point of view, and review websites fail to take this pattern into account. This novel result is mediated by demographics: young people, and in particular young males, are less affected by popularity, relying more on quality. We suggest the adoption of appropriate ranking mechanisms to fit consumer preferences.
Rational Dividend Addiction in Banking

Banks cut dividends with great reluctance, as if addicted to them. Their apparent addiction is a major cause of concern for regulators because it could endanger the whole banking system. However, banks may be rational in maintaining elevated dividends if agency costs are high and dividends substitute for shareholder monitoring. Banks may rely on persistent dividend policies to uphold a reputation among investors, especially during crises, when issuing equity becomes likelier. In support of this hypothesis, we find that during and after the financial crisis, dividend persistence increases with the severity of agency costs to which banks are subject; it decreases in the presence of concentrated shareholders, except when stress is acute. By contrast, share repurchases also substitute for shareholder monitoring but trigger no addiction. Abstract Banks cut dividends with great reluctance, as if addicted to them. Their apparent addiction is a major cause of concern for regulators because it could endanger the whole banking system. However, banks may be rational in maintaining elevated dividends if agency costs are high and dividends substitute for shareholder monitoring. Banks may rely on persistent dividend policies to uphold a reputation among investors, especially during crises, when issuing equity becomes likelier. In support of this hypothesis, we ﬁnd that during and after the ﬁnancial crisis, dividend persistence increases with the severity of agency costs to which banks are subject; it decreases in the presence of concentrated shareholders, except when stress is acute. By contrast, share repurchases also substitute for shareholder monitoring but trigger no addiction. (above 5%, 10%, or 20%) of their highest prior dividend over the period, and 0 when they only pay a small fraction (respec-tively below 5%, 10%, or 20%) of that dividend or omit altogether. In the case of the dividend omission regressions, the results are also robust to estimating ﬁxed eﬀect logistic regressions instead of random eﬀect probit regressions. In the case of the dividend cut regressions, the limited variability of shareholder concentration and Bank Holding Company status over time for any given bank makes ﬁxed eﬀects logistic regressions inappropriate as robustness checks. Additional robustness tests as as to the omission of any inﬂuence of the CPP program. Other unreported regressions, in which banks that failed during the crisis are removed from the sample, also conﬁrm that our conclusions are robust to forceful regulatory actions at failing banks.
Behind the use of medical facilities, the influence of subjective geographic proximity: a quantitative measuring

The recent interest in Organization Studies towards spatial issues tends to neglect analyzing users, consumers or citizens experiences of proximity. Focusing on this perspective helps to better adapt organizations to their expectations as well as actual or future practices. Our paper addresses this gap by analyzing how inhabitants in an urban area experience proximity to reach the hospital when they have the choice between two similar facilities located at similar distance. Quantifying individual patterns in a situation of comparable choice offers the opportunity to measure the relevant variables that ultimately play a role in users daily experience of proximity. Our research is based on a real case exploiting mass data in an urban area. We reveal that subjective proximity depends from two main variables: poverty conditions and the boundaries defining people’s activities. This research provides managerial contributions in the field of health economy as well as theoretical contributions on the extent to which space matters for users in public activities, revisiting the role of proximities, between subjectivity, contexts and boundaries.
METHANE FERMENTATION OF CHICKEN MANURE UNDER CONDITIONS OF REDUCED CONCENTRATION OF INHIBITORS

The study investigates the effect of inhibitors withdrawal on chicken manure methanogenesis. We offer a new approach to the withdrawal of ammonium nitrogen from the liquid phase by adsorption of ammonia from the gas phase by non-volatile sorbent, located directly in the reactor, but being not in contact with the substrate. The efficiency of this method is shown both at the example of solutions which simulate the substrate with a high concentration of inhibitor and directly methane fermentation of chicken manure in semi-continuous mode. В статье исследовано влияние извлечения ингибиторов на метаноге нез куриного помета. Предложен новый подход к удалению аммонийного азота из жидкой фазы путем сорбции аммиака из газовой фазы нелетучим сорбентом, который находится непосредственно в реакторе, но не контактирует с субстратом. Эффективность данного метода показана как на растворах, которые моделируют субстрат с высокой концентрацией ингибитора, так и при непосредственно метановой ферментации куриного помета в полунепрерывном режиме.
Gastrointestinal Tract Changes in the Malnourished Child

Malnutrition may be considered as an effect and a cause of underdevelopment (1). The environment in which children become malnourished includes adverse factors that compromise their health, such as heavy microbiological contamination of the environment, unfavorable social and economic conditions, etc., all of which result in a more effective operation of the fecal-oral cycle (2). It is important to keep this concept in mind, because it is likely that the studies of the morphologic and functional changes of the small intestine of malnourished children may have been performed in subjects in whom current or recent enteral or systemic infections of variable severity and duration have been present. Repeated enteral infection and the continuous passage of microorganisms along the gastrointestinal tract lead to changes of gut structure and function, "chronic environmental enteropathy," that persist as long as the individual lives in the unfavorable environment and take months to improve after moving to a clean environment (3,4). Chronic environmental enteropathy is a well-known condition among adults living in the less developed countries, where it probably starts very early in life. In fact, passage of enteropathogens begins shortly after delivery, even if the infant lives under what may be considered as the best socioeconomic conditions for that country. When feces of 225 Chilean newborns were repeatedly cultured during the first week of life, 21% of the children excreted an enteropathogen, and this was independent of their socioeconomic status (5). The gastrointestinal tract has many characteristics that make it particularly susceptible to the effect of nutrient deprivation: it is lined by highly differentiated epithelial cells, which have a high turnover rate (6), it handles large volumes of fluids and nutrients, and it must act as a barrier against foreign molecules (7). It also maintains a very complex equilibrium with the resident flora (8). Malnutrition affects all these characteristics at the local and systemic levels, and this explains the derangements of gastrointestinal function that have been described for many years.
Involvement of nitric oxide signaling mechanisms underlying opioid tolerance

This work focuses on the study of neuropharmacological mechanisms underlying opioid tolerance, in particular, the involvement of NO signalling pathways. Opioids are potent drugs used for pain relief. However, their therapeutic potential is limited as their long-term use leads to the development of tolerance to their analgesic effects. Opioid tolerance is a complex phenomenon and the underlying mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. Understanding the ways in which tolerance can be attenuated would be a significant advantage in the therapeutic use of these agents. The noradrenergic nucleus locus coeruleus (LC) contains a high-density of MORs and it has been extensively used as a model to explore the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying opioid tolerance. In this regard, there is substantial evidence showing the involvement of mu-opioid receptor (MOR) desensitization in the development of tolerance.The signaling messenger nitric oxide (NO) has been widely recognized to play pivotal roles in the regulation of multiple physiologic and pathophysiological processes. It is produced from L-arginine by the enzymatic action of NO synthase (NOS). The main target of NO is the enzyme soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC), which catalyzes the formation of 3'5'-cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP). This second messenger activates a number of effectors, such as the cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG). NO also reacts with oxygen derivatives to produce reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS), such as the powerful oxidant molecule peroxynitrite. NO modulates opioid actions, as it was found to be involved in Met5-enkephalin (ME)-induced MOR desensitization in vitro and in the neuronal adaptations occurring in vivo during morphine tolerance. We carried out four studies to explore the role of NO and its downstream signaling pathways (sGC/cGMP and ROS) in the adaptations triggered by different opioid agonists both in vitro and in vivo.
Rampant Homoplasy in Complex Characters: Repetitive Convergent Evolution of Amphibian Feeding Structures

Were the Great Transitions in the history of life unique events in which a lineage of organisms evolved from a primitive to a more derived condition? Or during these transitions did separate but related lineages make similar transitions from a more primitive configuration independently? If so, how often might these independent similar transitions have taken place? Homoplasy, the independent evolution of similarity in a given phenotype in different taxa, has long been a central issue in evolutionary biology (see M. Wake, this volume). Arising from convergence, parallelism, or reversal to ancestral states, homoplasy has the potential to frustrate attempts to generate robust phylogenetic hypotheses and can lead to incorrect scenarios for the evolution of functional and biomechanical systems. In many cases, researchers have proceeded on the assumption that homoplastic features are overwhelmed by true phylogenetic signal, for example, in cladistic analyses. However, in some taxa the balance between signal and what might be called “noise” (i.e., homoplastic traits) is so close that cladistic analyses yield problematic results, especially in cases in which an entire clade is characterized by homoplastic traits. In clades in which many lineages, sharing only a remote common ancestor, have 22
Data-Driven Modeling and Quality Control of Variable Duration Batch Processes with Discrete Inputs

Batch process reactors are often used for products where quality is of paramount importance. To this end, this work addresses the problem of direct, data-driven, quality control for batch processes. Specifically, previous results using subspace identification for modeling dynamic evolution and making quality predictions are extended with two key novel contributions: first, a method is proposed to account for midbatch ingredient additions in both the modeling and control stages. Second, a novel model predictive control scheme is proposed that includes batch duration as a decision variable. The efficacy of the proposed modeling and control approaches are demonstrated using a simulation study of a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) reactor. Closed loop simulation results show that the proposed controller is able to reject disturbances in feed stock and drive the number-average molecular weight, weight-average molecular weight, and conversion to their respective set-points. Specifically, mean absolute percentag.
The Implication of Teenage Pregnancies in Eswatini: A Trend and Spatial Analysis

This study assesses the extent of teenage pregnancy in Eswatini with a focus on public schools in the constituencies and region. In addition, the study examines which regions are affected by teenage pregnancies and adopts a Generalised Ordered Logit Model to determine the likelihood of teenage pregnancies across the regions in Eswatini. The study locates the Hhohho and Manzini regions as high teenage pregnancy areas and further identifies mothers in Lubombo and Shiselweni as more vulnerable to repeat births. Not surprisingly, the study finds that teenage pregnancies occur in Eswatini’s poverty-stricken areas where there are low economic activities and the households are experiencing low incomes. These are places such as Madlangempisi, Ngwempisi, Sigwe, and Lomahasha. Teenage pregnancies occur when learners are idle during school holidays. The government is advised to consider intensifying policies and programmes geared towards reducing or eradicating teenage pregnancies in Eswatini. Such policies should deliberately target rural areas and focus on creating employment opportunities to relieve households from low incomes.
Global Value Chains as a Constraint on Sovereignty: Evidence from Investor–State Dispute Settlement

That economic integration constrains state sovereignty has been a longstanding concern and the subject of much study. We assess the validity of this concern in the context of two very particular components of contemporary economic globalization: global value chain (GVC) integration and Investor–State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). First, we document that host states have abandoned nearly 24 percent of regulations disputed by private investors in ISDS between 1987 and 2017. This behavior is puzzling because ISDS only requires host states to provide monetary compensation to investor-claimants and not the abandonment of disputed regulations. We theorize that host states are more likely to abandon a disputed regulation when the claimant has a greater potential to disrupt GVCs in the host economy. We then employ the non-parametric difference-in-differences estimator by Imai, Kim, and Wang (2021) and find that ISDS filings cause substantial decreases in GVC trade. Following this result, we provide descriptive statistics and qualitative evidence that support our core theoretical proposition that multinational corporations (MNCs) with the potential to disrupt GVC integration are more likely to see host states changing regulations in their favor. Our argument and evidence suggest that GVC integration can grow an MNC’s power to such an extent that the host state abandons a regulation that the MNC disputes.
When Machine Behavior Targets Future Voters: The Use of Social Bots to Test Narratives for Political Campaigns in Brazil

In 2018, the election of Jair Bolsonaro for the Brazilian presidency was associated with dubious propaganda strategies implemented through social media. The purpose of this article is to understand the early development of key communication strategies of his presidential campaign since 2016. We used a combination of observational, discourse, and content analysis based on digital trace data to investigate how Bolsonaro had been testing his campaign targets and segmentation, as well as cultivating bot accounts and botnets on Twitter during the 2016 Rio de Janeiro municipal election. Our research suggests that the automation of different supporter profiles to target potential voter identities and the experimental dissemination of divisive narratives ensured the effectiveness of his communication persuasion. This finding contributes to the growing body of knowledge regarding his controversial online efforts, adding to the urgent research agenda on Brazil’s democratic setback.