Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Earnings Smoothing Management Philosophy of BHCs in the SFAS - 133 Framework

Purpose- The main purpose of this paper is to examine whether or not Bank Holding Companies (BHCs) took advantage of SFAS’s 133 differential treatment of the changes in the fair value of cash flow hedges to smooth earnings. Design/methodology/approach- The author used a causal-comparative research design featuring an investigation on the Income Smoothing effects of BHCs’ corporate use of derivatives designated as cash flow hedges and discretionary accruals one year after the 2008 amendment of SFAS 133. Findings- The results of this research showed that SFAS133-Accounting Hedgers had smoother earnings than SFAS133-Compliant Hedgers due to derivative use but did not take advantage of the differential treatment of cash flow hedges to manipulate earnings. This study suggests that hedge accounting rules under SFAS 133 fully determined the hedging behavior of SFAS-Accounting Hedgers . To ascertain the implementation of effective hedges SFAS-Accounting Hedgers captured the benefits of hedge accounting while compromised the economic benefits of hedging in an attempt to manage any associated accounting volatility and smooth earnings. Research limitations/implications- This study extends prior research on corporate risk management activities of BHCs and impacts social change by presenting new evidence on the effects of SFAS 133 cash-flow hedges on earnings smoothing. Practical implications- The evidence suggests that corporate governance mechanisms affect earnings management since BHCs withhold discretion with respect to the realization of gains and losses from derivative instruments designated as cash flow hedges. This is an indication that BHCs with an intent to achieve smoother earnings as a leading corporate risk management strategy, have a comparative advantage compared to non-financial institutions to apply hedge accounting since they regularly use derivatives and are more experienced with the implementation of SFAS 133. Originality/value- Although prior studies typically considered derivatives and accruals as substitute proxies in managing reported earnings, the paper’s results suggest that the most significant determinant of earnings smoothing is derivative use for SFAS-Accounting Hedgers and information asymmetry for SFAS133- Compliant Hedgers .
Anthropometric and Physical Qualities of International Level Female Rugby Sevens Athletes Based on Playing Position

Abstract Agar-Newman, DJ, Goodale, TL, and Klimstra, MD. Anthropometric and Physical Qualities of International Level Female Rugby Sevens Athletes Based on Playing Position. J Strength Cond Res 31(5): 1346–1352, 2017—The purpose of this study was to profile international level female sevens athletes and determine whether anthropometric and physical qualities are able to differentiate between backs and forwards. Twenty-four subjects with a mean (±SD) age of 22.8 ± 4.0 years and body weight of 69.4 ± 5.2 kg were sampled from a national team training program, ranked in the top 3 on the IRB Women's Sevens World Series. Anthropometric (height, body mass, and sum of 7 skinfolds) and performance measures (power clean, front squat, bench press, neutral grip pull-up, 40-m sprint, and 1,600-m run) were collected across the 2013–2014 centralized period and compared across playing position. The 13 backs (mean age ± SD = 21.3 ± 3.5 years) and 11 forwards (mean age ± SD = 24.5 ± 4.0 years) had significant differences in body mass (66.40 ± 3.48 vs. 72.87 ± 4.79 kg) and initial sprint momentum (366.8 ± 19.8 vs. 399.2 ± 22.4 kg·m·s−1). However no other measures showed positional differences. The lack of positional differences in female rugby sevens may be due to the multifarious physical requirements of a sevens athlete, leading to a generic athletic profile, or perhaps due to a lack of selective pressure. Also, it is conceivable that the anthropometric and physical qualities measured in this study lacked the necessary precision or failed to capture the unique attributes of each position. In conclusion, this is the first investigation profiling international level female sevens athletes. The normative data presented within this article highlight the physical requirements of female sevens athletes for strength and conditioning practitioners. In addition, the lack of positional differences discovered should impact the training program design.
A Cognitive Model for Generalization during Sequential Learning

Traditional artificial neural network models of learning suffer from catastrophic interference. They are commonly trained to perform only one specific task, and, when trained on a new task, they forget the original task completely. It has been shown that the foundational neurocomputational principles embodied by the Leabra cognitive modeling framework, specifically fast lateral inhibition and a local synaptic plasticity model that incorporates both correlational and error-based components, are sufficient to largely overcome this limitation during the sequential learning of multiple motor skills. Evidence has also provided that Leabra is able to generalize the subsequences of motor skills, when doing so is appropriate. In this paper, we provide a detailed analysis of the extent of generalization possible with Leabra during sequential learning of multiple tasks. For comparison, we measure the generalization exhibited by the backpropagation of error learning algorithm. Furthermore, we demonstrate the applicability of sequential learning to a pair of movement tasks using a simulated robotic arm.
Joint Cell Selection and Activation for Green Communications in Ultra-Dense Heterogeneous Networks

In this paper, we jointly perform the cell selection and activation (CSA) to maximize the network energy efficiency (EE) under users' long-term rate constraints for green communications in ultra-dense heterogeneous networks (UD-HetNets). The finally formulated problem is in a mixed-integer fractional form and hard to tackle. We first transform it into a parametric subtractive form, by which we reach its solution through a three-layer iterative algorithm. The first layer searches the EE parameter using a bisection method; the second layer alternately optimizes the CSA indices; the third layer solves the CSA problems using a dual decomposition method and a fixed point iteration respectively. At last, we give some complexity and convergence analyses for the designed algorithm, and investigate the impacts of different network parameters on system performance. The simulation results show that the cell activation (CA) introduced in the cell selection (CS) is good option to reduce the energy consumption and mitigate interference.
Effects of Technology Readiness on User Perceptions and Use Intention of Mobile Social Commerce

This research was implemented by using TRAM model. An existing research (Ok 2011) which dealt with technology readiness and social commerce at once had only asked consumers’ attitude on ‘general technology’. This research, however, has specifically focused on Social Network Service and mobile social commerce. Research hypotheses and research model were developed and tested by using 610 consumer survey data. It was found that individual’s positive/negative technology readiness has a direct influence positively/negatively on perceived ease of use and perceived trust respectively. Also their positive and negative technology readiness has an indirect influence positively/negatively on perceived usefulness. Thus someone’s positive and negative attitude on SNS has a different direction towards the perception of mobile social commerce. Perception on mobile social commerce depends on their attitude (positive or negative) concerning SNS. Managerial implications and limitations of the study were also discussed.
The PowerPC 620 microprocessor: a high performance superscalar RISC microprocessor

The PowerPC 620 RISC microprocessor is the first chip for the application server and technical workstation product line within the PowerPC family. It utilizes a high performance microarchitecture with many advanced superscalar features to exploit instruction level parallelism. It is the first 64-bit implementation of the PowerPC architecture supporting both 32- and 64-bit application software, and is compatible with the PowerPC 601, PowerPC 603, and PowerPC 604 microprocessors.
Glial fibrillary acidic protein is a major target of glycoxidative and lipoxidative damage in Pick's disease

Pick's disease is a subset of fronto‐temporal dementia characterised by severe atrophy of the temporal and frontal lobes due to marked neuronal loss accompanied by astrocytic gliosis enriched in glial acidic protein. The remaining neurones have intracytoplasmic inclusions composed of hyperphosphorylated tau, called Pick bodies, in addition to hyperphosphorylated tau in astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. Gel electrophoresis and western blotting using markers of glycoxidation (advanced glycation end products, N‐carboxyethyl‐lysine and N‐carboxymethyl‐lysine: AGE, CEL, CML, respectively) and lipoxidation (4‐hydroxy‐2‐nonenal: HNE, and malondialdehyde‐lysine: MDAL) were used in the frontal and occipital cortex in three Pick's disease cases and three age‐matched controls. In Pick's disease, increased AGE, CML, CEL, HNE and MDAL bands of about 50 kDa were observed in the frontal cortex (but not in the occipital cortex) in association with increased density of glial acidic protein bands. Bi‐dimensional gel electrophoresis and western blotting also disclosed increased amounts and numbers of glial acidic protein isoforms in the frontal cortex in Pick's disease. Moreover, redox proteomics showed glycoxidation, as revealed with anti‐CEL antibodies and lipoxidation using anti‐HNE antibodies, of at least three glial acidic protein isoforms. The present results demonstrate that glial acidic protein is a target of oxidative damage in the frontal cortex in Pick's disease.
Identification and Characterization of Persistent Human Erythrovirus Infection in Blood Donor Samples

ABSTRACT The presence of human erythrovirus DNA in 2,440 blood donations from the United Kingdom and sub-Saharan Africa (Ghana, Malawi, and South Africa) was screened. Sensitive qualitative and real-time quantitative PCR assays revealed a higher prevalence of persistent infection with the simultaneous presence of immunoglobulin G (IgG) and viral DNA (0.55 to 1.3%) than previously reported. This condition was characterized by a low viral load (median, 558 IU/ml; range, 42 to 135,000 IU/ml), antibody-complexed virus, free specific IgG, and potentially infectious free virus. Human erythrovirus genotype 1 (formerly parvovirus B19) was prevalent in the United Kingdom, Malawi, and South Africa. In contrast, only human erythrovirus genotype 3 (erythrovirus variant V9) was prevalent in Ghana. Genotype 3 had considerable genetic diversity, clustering in two probable subtypes. Genotype 1-based antibody assays failed to detect 38.5% of Ghanaian samples containing antibodies to genotype 3 virus but did not fail to detect cases of persistent infection. This study indicates a potential African origin of genotype 3 human erythrovirus and considerable shortcomings in the tools currently used to diagnose erythrovirus infection.
MRI of acute bone bruises: timing of the appearance of findings in a swine model.

OBJECTIVE We developed an animal model of bone injury to determine the timing of the MR appearance of bone bruises and to follow these changes over time. MATERIALS AND METHODS We performed serial MRI of 16 knees of eight swine with one nontraumatized knee as a control and 15 knees traumatized by direct patellar impact injuries using a force-calibrated device. All knees were imaged on a 1.5-T scanner using an 8-channel phased-array coil with T1-weighted, fat-saturated T2-weighted and STIR sequences. Scanning was performed at 1, 6, 12, and 30 hours after impact injury. Two radiologists independently reviewed each MR examination to identify MR signal intensity changes in the patellae and adjacent femoral condyles. RESULTS In the 15 traumatized knees, bone bruises were noted in 93% of the patellae on T1-weighted images and in 87% of the patellae on fluid-sensitive MR images at 1 hour after injury and in 100% of the patellae at 6 hours. T1-weighted images were insensitive for detection of bone bruises in the femoral condyles. Bone bruises in the femoral condyles were seen on fluid-sensitive MR sequences as early as 1 hour after injury, with an increasing frequency over the 30-hour period. CONCLUSION Bone bruises can be seen as soon as 1 hour after trauma but may not be seen until 30 hours after trauma. Fluid-sensitive (fat-saturated, T2-weighted, and STIR) MR sequences are more sensitive than T1-weighted images in the detection of bone bruises.
Two Methods of Automatic Evaluation of Speech Signal Enhancement Recorded in the Open-Air MRI Environment

Abstract The paper focuses on two methods of evaluation of successfulness of speech signal enhancement recorded in the open-air magnetic resonance imager during phonation for the 3D human vocal tract modeling. The first approach enables to obtain a comparison based on statistical analysis by ANOVA and hypothesis tests. The second method is based on classification by Gaussian mixture models (GMM). The performed experiments have confirmed that the proposed ANOVA and GMM classifiers for automatic evaluation of the speech quality are functional and produce fully comparable results with the standard evaluation based on the listening test method.
Allelic loss and gain, but not genomic instability, as the major somatic mutation in primary hepatocellular carcinoma

To identify genetic abnormalities in primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), we performed microsatellite analysis (MSA) on 60 Chinese HCC specimens. Utilizing a semi‐quantitative MSA and 292 highly polymorphic markers spanning all 22 autosomes, we found that somatic allelic imbalance (AI) occurred frequently in HCC. To evaluate the nature of the AI, comparative genomic hybridization was performed on 20 HCC specimens. The combined use of these two methods revealed frequent allelic loss on 17p, 9p21–p23, 4q, 16q21–q23.3, 13q, 8p21–p23, and 6q24–q27, whereas there was frequent allelic gain on 1q, 17q, and 8q24. The region with the highest incidence of genomic imbalance was 17p13 (65%), followed by 9p21–p23 (55%), 4q (35–51%), 16q21–q23.3 (52%), 17p12 (49%), 13q (39–46%), 8p21–p23 (41–45%), 8q24 (41%), and 1q32 (40%). In addition, aberrations of 19p13.3, 16p13.3, 13q33–q34, 9q13–31, and 7q were reported for the first time. The presence of a close correlation of 17p13 deletion with abnormalities of some other loci implies that 17p13 could play a crucial role in oncogenesis. Interestingly, microsatellite instability was rarely seen in our patients, in contrast to that observed in European HCC samples. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Molecular Architecture of the Bipartite Fusion Loops of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Glycoprotein G, a Class III Viral Fusion Protein*

The glycoprotein of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV G) mediates fusion of the viral envelope with the host cell, with the conformational changes that mediate VSV G fusion activation occurring in a reversible, low pH-dependent manner. Based on its novel structure, VSV G has been classified as class III viral fusion protein, having a predicted bipartite fusion domain comprising residues Trp-72, Tyr-73, Tyr-116, and Ala-117 that interacts with the host cell membrane to initiate the fusion reaction. Here, we carried out a systematic mutagenesis study of the predicted VSV G fusion loops, to investigate the functional role of the fusion domain. Using assays of low pH-induced cell-cell fusion and infection studies of mutant VSV G incorporated into viral particles, we show a fundamental role for the bipartite fusion domain. We show that Trp-72 is a critical residue for VSV G-mediated membrane fusion. Trp-72 could only tolerate mutation to a phenylalanine residue, which allowed only limited fusion. Tyr-73 and Tyr-116 could be mutated to other aromatic residues without major effect but could not tolerate any other substitution. Ala-117 was a less critical residue, with only charged residues unable to allow fusion activation. These data represent a functional analysis of predicted bipartite fusion loops of VSV G, a founder member of the class III family of viral fusion proteins.
Developing the right features: the role and impact of customer and product data in software product development

Software product development companies are increasingly striving to become data-driven. The access to customer feedback and product data has been, with products increasingly becoming connected to the Internet, demonetized. Systematically collecting the feedback and efficiently using it in product development, however, are challenges that large-scale software development companies face today when being faced by large amounts of available data. In this thesis, we explore the collection, use and impact of customer feedback on software product development. We base our work on a 2-year longitudinal multiple-case study research with case companies in the software-intensive domain, and complement it with a systematic review of the literature. In our work, we identify and confirm that large-software companies today collect vast amounts of feedback data, however, struggle to effectively use it. And due to this situation, there is a risk of prioritizing the development of features that may not deliver value to customers. Our contribution to this problem is threefold. First, we present a comprehensive and systematic review of activities and techniques used to collect customer feedback and product data in software product development. Next, we show that the impact of customer feedback evolves over time, but due to the lack of sharing of the collected data, companies do not fully benefit from this feedback. Finally, we provide an improvement framework for practitioners and researchers to use the collected feedback data in order to differentiate between different feature types and to model feature value during the lifecycle. With our contributions, we aim to bring soft-
Phase-Sensitive Parametric Signal Processing in Optical Communications

This thesis covers the analysis of several schemes for parametric processing in fiberoptic communication systems, focusing mainly on phase-sensitive processing. Vector phase-sensitive amplifiers are characterized and phase regeneration of a dualpolarization (DP)-binary phase-shift keying signal (BPSK) signal is experimentally demonstrated. Theoretically, the requirements for achieving polarization-independent phase-sensitive amplification of both single and dual polarization signals in a general scenario are also analyzed in this work. This part of the thesis is concluded by experimentally demonstrating mitigation of fiber nonlinearities in an installed link by performing mid-span spectral inversion with a vector parametric amplifier. This thesis also covers the analysis of polarization-assisted phase-sensitive processors to achieve quadrature decomposition. Using a vector amplifier, decomposition of a quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) signal into two BPSK signals is experimentally demonstrated. A polarization-assisted phase-sensitive processor based on a polarization-diverse implementation is used for achieving quadrature decomposition of a 16 quadrature-amplitude modulation (16-QAM) into two 4 pulse-amplitude modulation (4-PAM) signals . The final part of this thesis proposes and demonstrates the concept of selfhomodyne superchannel by comb regeneration. By transmitting two unmodulated carriers, self-homodyne detection of 24×DP-32-QAM signals is demonstrated by alloptical comb regeneration based on Brillouin amplification and a parametric comb in a proof-of-principle experiment. Compared to conventional self-homodyne schemes, comb regeneration reduces the complexity and limits the spectral overhead in selfhomodyne receivers.
Using index of ventilation to assess response to treatment for acute pulmonary exacerbation in children with cystic fibrosis

The use of alternative more sensitive measures has become a focus of research in CF. The utility of indexes of ventilation, Lung Clearance Index (LCI) and peak aerobic capacity (peak VO2), were studied as assessment tools in gauging response to intravenous (IV) therapy in acute pulmonary exacerbation, in comparison to the more commonly used index of forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1). The utility of a previously published clinical score was further explored.
Limit Theorems for Long-Memory Stochastic Volatility Models with Infinite Variance: Partial Sums and Sample Covariances

In this paper we extend the existing literature on the asymptotic behavior of the partial sums and the sample covariances of long-memory stochastic volatility models in the case of infinite variance. We also consider models with leverage, for which our results are entirely new in the infinite-variance case. Depending on the interplay between the tail behavior and the intensity of dependence, two types of convergence rates and limiting distributions can arise. In particular, we show that the asymptotic behavior of partial sums is the same for both long memory in stochastic volatility and models with leverage, whereas there is a crucial difference when sample covariances are considered.
Locally advanced nasopharyngeal cancer: long-term outcomes of radiation therapy.

PURPOSE To investigate the clinical manifestations and treatment outcomes in patients with stage T4M0 nasopharyngeal carcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS Findings in 179 patients (age range, 13-78 years) with American Joint Committee on Cancer stage T4M0 nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated from January 1983 to February 1992 with a minimum follow-up of at least 5 years were reviewed. Of the 179 patients, 166 (92.7%) had World Health Organization type II or III disease. Forty-one patients (22.9%) had no lymph nodal involvement; 138 patients (77.1%) had metastatic nodal involvement in the neck. All patients underwent radiation therapy; 39 patients also received different forms of chemotherapy. The radiation therapy doses were usually 70-74 Gy administered to the primary tumor over 7 or 8 weeks, 70-74 Gy to the neck region in patients with nodal involvement, or 50-60 Gy administered to the neck region over 5 or 6 weeks in patients without neck nodal involvement. RESULTS In 100 patients, radiation therapy failed in the primary tumor alone (n = 28), neck nodes alone (n = 5), and distant metastases alone (n = 43) or at a combination of sites (n = 24). The cumulative failure rates for the primary tumor, neck metastases, and distant metastases were 25.1% (n = 45), 14.0% (n = 25), and 33.0% (n = 59), respectively. The 5-year primary disease-free, distant disease-free, and overall survival rates were 68.7%, 56.5%, and 28.6%, respectively. Results of salvage treatment for relapse were unsatisfactory. CONCLUSION In about three-tenths of patients, T4M0 nasopharyngeal carcinoma can be cured with conventional high-dose radiation therapy.
Analyzing Mitogen‐Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) Activities in T Cells

The recognition of peptide antigens by T cells through their antigen receptors (T cell receptors, or TCR), together with the ligation of additional surface molecules called costimulatory receptors, rapidly induces interactive signaling pathways that lead to transcriptional initiation at genes such as that of the autocrine growth factor interleukin 2 (IL‐2). Activation of the ERK and JNK subfamilies of MAPK mediates some of these signals. This unit presents procedures for a solid‐phase kinase assay and immune‐complex kinase assay to measure JNK and ERK activities, respectively, in T cells that have been appropriately stimulated. Also described is a procedure for preparing GSThyphen;cJun/GSH‐Sepharose beads needed in the solid‐phase JNK protein kinase activity assay.