Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Auditor Industry Specialization, Political Economy and Earnings Quality: Some Cross‐Country Evidence

Using cross‐country data, we evaluate the impact of investor protection on the association between earnings quality and audits by industry specialists. Our findings show that the positive association between industry specialist auditors and earnings quality as documented in the literature is affected by the political electoral system, which reflects investor protection rights in a country. We document that audits by industry specialists are associated with higher earnings quality in countries with the proportional electoral system, reflecting weak investor protection. Our results also confirm Kwon et al.'s findings that overall there is a positive association between earnings quality and audits by industry specialists in countries with weak legal enforcement. Our findings, however, indicate that Kwon et al.'s results are valid only for countries with weak investor protection reflected by the proportional electoral system and not for countries with strong investor protection reflected by the majoritarian electoral system. These findings thus suggest that higher earnings quality of firms audited by industry specialists across countries can especially be expected when investor protection is low and legal enforcement is also weak. In addition, our research suggests that future cross‐country studies could explicitly consider the role of the political electoral system of a country in evaluating corporate governance, management and accounting issues.
A New Set of Improved Value-at-Risk Backtests

We propose a new set of formal backtests for VaR-forecasts that significantly improve upon existing backtesting procedures. Our new test of unconditional coverage can be used for both one-sided and two-sided testing, which leads to a significantly increased power. Second, we stress the importance of testing the property of independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) VaR-exceedances and propose a simple approach that explicitly tests for the presence of clusters in VaR-violation processes. Results from a simulation study indicate that our tests significantly outperform competing backtests in several distinct settings.
Measuring Downside Portfolio Risk

Value at risk (VaR) is an approach used in risk management to measure downside risk. Not all VaRs, however, are created equal. Defining and accurately measuring market risk is a considerable task. VaR estimates depend on a number of inputs, including assumptions, data parameters, and methodology. Accordingly, comprehending the optimal use of various input and how they might impact the VaR forecast is necessary to avoid biasing portfolio risk estimates. The authors examine three equity portfolios of varying degrees of diversification, using twenty common VaR models developed through four VaR techniques to clearly demonstrate the ramifications of using inappropriate models. They find that particular characteristics of a portfolio must guide and determine which VaR model may be applied in order to extract accurate VaR estimates. Using the wrong VaR model will bias the behavior of portfolio managers and cause them to be exposed to much more risk than they desire.
Diurnal Regulation of the Early Growth Response 1 (Egr-1) Protein Expression by Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 4α (HNF4α) and Small Heterodimer Partner (SHP) Cross-talk in Liver Fibrosis*

Early growth response 1 (Egr-1) protein is a critical regulator of genes contributing to liver fibrosis; however, little is known about the upstream transcriptional factors that control its expression. Here we show that Egr-1 expression is tightly regulated by nuclear receptor signaling. Hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α (HNF4α) activated the Egr-1 promoter through three DR1 response elements as identified by trans-activation assays. Deletion of these response elements or knockdown of HNF4α using siRNA largely abrogated Egr-1 promoter activation. HNF4α activity, as well as its enrichment on the Egr-1 promoter, were markedly repressed by small heterodimer partner (SHP) co-expression. Egr-1 mRNA and protein were transiently induced by HNF4α. On the contrary, HNF4α siRNA reduced Egr-1 expression at both the mRNA and protein levels, and overexpression of SHP reversed these effects. Conversely, knockdown of SHP by siRNA elevated Egr-1 protein. Interestingly, Egr-1 mRNA exhibited diurnal fluctuation, which was synchronized to the cyclic expression of SHP and HNF4α after cells were released from serum shock. Unexpectedly, the levels of Egr-1 mRNA and protein were highly up-regulated in Hnf4α−/− mice. Both HNF4α and Egr-1 expression were dramatically increased in SHP−/− mice with bile duct ligation and in human cirrhotic livers, which was inversely correlated with diminished SHP expression. In conclusion, our study revealed control network for Egr-1 expression through a feedback loop between SHP and HNF4α.
Performance of Property Companies in Hong Kong – A Style Analysis Approach

Return-based style analysis is applied to identify the style benchmarks of 12 property companies in Hong Kong from 1984 through 2001, and their performance is then assessed. Unlike style analysis of mutual funds, the cash component is not constrained to be non-negative so as to reflect their debt-financed capital structures. The other feature of style analysis of property companies is the inclusion of direct property returns in the implied portfolio. This is achieved by transaction-based monthly property price indices over the period of observation. Our results suggest that the implied portfolio is able to explain an important part of the variation in the property companies’ returns. Although non-property investment has been the major component of the implied portfolio, the proportion of direct properties has increased over time. Therefore, property companies are becoming a closer substitute for direct property investment. One of the implications of the results is that investors can avoid the high transaction costs of direct property investment, but at the same time enjoy the liquidity and diversification benefits through investing in the shares of property companies. Our results also suggest that the performance of most property companies is not significantly different from the performance of the underlying implied portfolio before transaction cost is taken into account. This implies that the overall performance of a property company is mainly attributable to investment style characterized by the implied portfolio rather than management skills.
An Experiment in Computational Discrimination of English Word Senses

A number of researchers in text processing have independently observed that people can consistently determine in which of several given senses a word is being used in text, simply by examining the half dozen or so words just before and just after the word in focus. The question arises whether the same task can be accomplished by mechanical means. Experimental results are presented which suggest an affirmative answer to this query. Three separate methods of discriminating English word senses are compared information-theoretically. Findings include a strong indication of the power of domain-specific content analysis of text, as opposed to domain-general approaches.
Neuroprotective Effects of Total Steroid Saponins on Cerebral Ischemia Injuries in an Animal Model of Focal Ischemia/Reperfusion

Abstract Total steroid saponins isolated from Dioscorea zingiberensis are a unique traditional Chinese medicine known for its potential usage in various types of diseases. However, there is little evidence about its neuroprotective effect in transient focal ischemia-reperfusion cerebral injury. Therefore, the current study was carried out to investigate the effect of total steroid saponins on neuroprotection and its potential mechanisms in the rat ischemia-reperfusion model by middle cerebral artery occlusion for 90 min. The rats were each treated with total steroid saponins (30 mg/kg, 10 mg/kg, and 3 mg/kg) or nimodipine (20 mg/kg) daily for 6 days before middle cerebral artery occlusion. Then, the neurological deficit score, cerebral infarct volume, and brain water content were measured at 24 h after reperfusion. Meanwhile, the histopathological changes and AQP-4 protein activities were examined in hippocampal CA1 and the cortex of ipsilateral ischemic cerebral hemisphere by hematoxylin-eosin staining and immunohistochemistry, respectively. The indices of oxidative stress in the serum were also obtained, and NF-κB and ERK 1/2 protein expressions in the injured brain were evaluated by Western blotting. The results indicated that the pre-treatment with these drugs not only significantly reduced cerebral infarct volume, brain water content and improved neurological deficit score, but also restored neuronal morphology and decreased the AQP-4 positive cells in CA1 and the cortex. Moreover, it markedly restored the level of oxidant stress markers (CAT, SOD, MDA, NO and iNOS) to their normal range in serum. In addition, the increased NF-κB and ERK 1/2 protein expressions were alleviated as compared with the ischemia-reperfusion group. These findings demonstrate that total steroid saponins exhibit promising neuroprotection effects against the transient focal ischemia-reperfusion cerebral injury in the rat experimental model and the underlying mechanisms might be mediated through inhibition of anti-edema as well as anti-oxidative effects by inactivation of NF-κB and ERK 1/2 signalling pathway.
Automatic generated recommendation for movie trailers

Trailer generation is an important part of movie industry. Editing trailers manually is both time consuming and labor intensive. In this paper, we present an automatic scheme to select candidate movie clips for generating movie trailers. The candidates are well classified and ordered, allowing human editors to choose different types of clips systematically. We analyze professional trailers to guide the training process. The system leverages multimedia analysis techniques to generate candidates for movie trailers. Experiments have shown that clips chosen by the system can significantly outperform randomly picked clips.
Schultz, Denison, and the Contribution of "Eds" to National Income Growth

N 1961, as part of his pioneering work on education as an investment, T. W. Schultz estimated that education accounted for 21-40 per cent of national income growth in the United States over the period 1929--56; increases in education per member of the employed labor force accounted for 17-33 per cent of income growth over the same period.1 In 1962, Edward Denison published a study that attempted to assess the roles of a long list of factors contributing (positively or negatively) to national income growth in this country from 1907 to 1929 and from 1929 to 1957, and to project the growth potentials from these various sources over the period 1957-80. For the interval 1929-57 he credited increased education per member of the employed labor force with 23 per cent of the national income growth rate, a figure that falls between the 17 and 33 per cent estimates reached by Schultz.2 Both of these studies are being widely quoted and misquoted, and all too often misused, around the world. Meanwhile
Interaction of a fluorescent derivative of paclitaxel (Taxol) with microtubules and tubulin-colchicine.

A fluorescent derivative of paclitaxel, 2-debenzoyl-2-(m-aminobenzoyl)paclitaxel (2-AB-PT), has been prepared. 2-AB-PT induces microtubule assembly in vitro, but is about 3-fold less potent than paclitaxel itself. The absorption and emission characteristics of 2-AB-PT were analyzed as a function of solvent. It was found that both spectra were perturbed by specific solvent effects when the solvent contained a hydrogen bond donor. The absorption and fluorescence spectra of 2-AB-PT bound to microtubules could not be mimicked by a single solvent, but the absorption and emission maxima of the tubulin-bound species could be duplicated by a solvent mixture of DMSO and water. These results indicate that the fluorophore binding site on the microtubule is in an environment of intermediate polarity that is accessible to a hydrogen bond donor in the vicinity of the m-amino group. In addition, tubulin fluorescence is quenched in the 2-AB-PT/microtubule complex, and energy transfer from tubulin to 2-AB-PT is apparent. These results indicate that substituents on the C-2 position of paclitaxel associate with tubulin when bound to the microtubule. 2-AB-PT binding to microtubules was quantitatively analyzed by fluorescence titrations. Two classes of binding sites for 2-AB-PT on microtubules were found. The high affinity site has an apparent association constant (K1app) of 2.0 (+/- 0.9) x 10(7) M-1 and an apparent binding stoichiometry (n1app) of 0.8 (+/- 0.1) sites/tubulin dimer in the microtubule. The apparent association constant for the lower affinity site is about 100-fold less than that of the higher affinity site (K2app = 2.1 (+/- 0.7) x 10(5) M-1), and the stoichiometry of the lower affinity site or class of sites (n2app) was found to be 1.3 +/- 0.1. Paclitaxel blocked 2-AB-PT binding to the high affinity site. No binding of 2-AB-PT to unassembled tubulin was observed, but the emission spectrum of 2-AB-PT in the presence of the tubulin-colchicine complex resembled the emission spectrum of the ligand bound to microtubules. It was previously shown that paclitaxel can induce GTPase activity in the tubulin-colchicine complex, indicating that paclitaxel can bind to unassembled tubulin in its complex with colchicine [Carlier, M. -F. , & Pantaloni, D. (1983) Biochemistry 22, 4814-4822]. Rigorous characterization of the aggregation state of the protein under these conditions demonstrates that 2-AB-PT is also capable of binding to the tubulin-colchicine complex.
The Global Food System and Nodes of Power

Much attention has been paid to the emergence of a globally integrated food system in recent decades, where a few firms dominate in certain agriculture and food sectors, from inputs for food production to where farmers sell their raw agricultural products, to where consumers shop for groceries. Production centered notions of power, dominant in earlier analyzes of the industrialization of the agri-food system, have been challenged in recent years by the emergence of new actors - actors focused on the demand side of the system, led by the transnationalization of retail. Strategies based on food quality and considerations on their conditions of production unleashed a dynamic in which social movements, NGOs, and the politicized consumer began to overshadow the historic actors of agribusiness (examples of which we have discussed above). More recently, however, food inflation is firmly placing an upper limit on quality considerations and supply conditions are restored to center stage as market dynamics swing to the emerging economies. New sets of relationships in this system have hardened into new structures for the food system. Traditional controllers of supply both upstream and downstream see their power and their profits enhanced. At the same time, strategic importance of control over natural resources - land and the necessary minerals for productive land use - has stimulated a wave of new entrants: emerging economy governments, investment funds and new private actors to challenge the historic incumbents of agribusiness. The reality of power in the form of control over physical and technological assets has been forcefully reasserted. However, power is also still accumulated in different nodes among these global production networks. In this paper prepared for Oxfam America, we document and define eight critical issue areas where power is accumulating: a) in the shift from public to private governance; b) the closing off of access to markets; c) the rise of intellectual property regimes; d) the changes in access to capital; e) the control over necessary logistics; f) the informalization of labor in the global system; g) the rise of marketing and branding; and h) the shift from public to private decision-making about food. Throughout it all, we focus on the implications for farmers, consumers and communities of the food system in which we are embedded, and suggest potential leveraging points for changing agriculture and food to a more sustainable, equitable system.
Weighted non-negative sparse low-rank representation classification

In the calculation of rank minimization, the non-negative sparse low-rank representation classification (NSLRRC) regularizes nuclear norm's each singular value equally, but this limits its flexibility and ability to solve many practical problems, where the singular values with clear physical meanings ought to be treated differently. In this paper, a weighted non-negative sparse low-rank representation classification method (WNSLRRC) is proposed for robust face recognition. Our method adaptively assigns weights, which provides additional discriminating ability to the original non-negative sparse low-rank models for improved performance, on different singular values. Our method is able to assess the test sample and correct classification based on class-specific reconstruction residuals. Experimental results on public face databases testify the robustness and effectiveness of our method in face recognition. Those also show that our method outperforms other state-of-the-art methods.
Concave Losses for Robust Dictionary Learning

Traditional dictionary learning methods are based on quadratic convex loss function and thus are sensitive to outliers. In this paper, we propose a generic framework for robust dictionary learning based on concave losses. We provide results on composition of concave functions, notably regarding super-gradient computations, that are key for developing generic dictionary learning algorithms applicable to smooth and nonsmooth losses. In order to improve identification of outliers, we introduce an initialization heuristic based on undercom-plete dictionary learning. Experimental results using synthetic and real data demonstrate that our method is able to better detect outliers, and thus capable of generating better dictionaries, outperforming state-of-the-art methods such as K-SVD and LC-KSVD.
The separation of herpes virus-specific antigens by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.

Summary Virus-specific antigens in cells infected with herpes simplex virus were separated on a preparative scale by two-stage polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis. In the first stage, termed ‘electrofiltration’, the extract was electrophoresed through 3.5% gel to remove larger aggregates. Antigens in the resulting filtrate were then separated in the second stage by electrophoresis through 7% gel. The protein was recovered by sectioning the gel followed by overnight elution. Recoveries of about 70% were obtained from a 12 to 15 mg. load. Immunodiffusion and analytical electrophoresis both confirmed that separation had been achieved.
Users' perceptions of the need for cash flow statements — Australian evidence

Professional accounting bodies have endorsed claims of the need for cash flow information through their issuance of Standards on cash flow statements. Few empirical studies have tested the extent to which decision-makers actually use cash flow information. Whilst market-based studies have tested the reaction of the stock market to the release of cash flow information, they have not established the usefulness of cash flow information to financial statement users. Such a study is important not just for the signals it gives to regulators, but also by virtue of the importance those signals have for the preparers of accounting information. The academic and professional literature, identify four possible contributing factors of demand for cash flow information: (i) the limitations of conventional accrual accounting, (ii) dissatisfaction with the funds statement, (iii) relevance for users' decisions, and (iv) changes in the reporting environment. To determine the extent to which investors and creditors agreed with these factors in favour of publishing cash flow data, a survey was conducted of workers in the finance industry in Australia. The results support the claims made in the academic and professional literature as to the need for cash flow information. Cash flow statements have become important sources of information for users. They have not, however, replaced the conventional income statement and balance sheet. All three financial statements are considered to be complementary.
Identification of Intersubunit Domain Interactions within Eukaryotic Initiation Factor (eIF) 2B, the Nucleotide Exchange Factor for Translation Initiation*

Background: eIF2B is a critical translation factor and regulator of protein synthesis that is implicated in human disease. Results: Protein-protein interactions within the five-subunit eIF2B complex are identified. Conclusion: eIF2B complex formation requires extensive intersubunit domain interactions. Significance: The first experimental model is proposed for eIF2Bγ and -ϵ subunit interactions. In eukaryotic translation initiation, eIF2B is the guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) required for reactivation of the G protein eIF2 between rounds of protein synthesis initiation. eIF2B is unusually complex with five subunits (α–ϵ) necessary for GEF activity and its control by phosphorylation of eIF2α. In addition, inherited mutations in eIF2B cause a fatal leukoencephalopathy. Here we describe experiments examining domains of eIF2Bγ and ϵ that both share sequence and predicted tertiary structure similarity with a family of phospho-hexose sugar nucleotide pyrophosphorylases. Firstly, using a genetic approach, we find no evidence to support a significant role for a potential nucleotide-binding region within the pyrophosphorylase-like domain (PLD) of eIF2Bϵ for nucleotide exchange. These findings are at odds with one mechanism for nucleotide exchange proposed previously. By using a series of constructs and a co-expression and precipitation strategy, we find that the eIF2Bϵ and -γ PLDs and a shared second domain predicted to form a left-handed β helix are all critical for interprotein interactions between eIF2B subunits necessary for eIF2B complex formation. We have identified extensive interactions between the PLDs and left-handed β helix domains that form the eIF2Bγϵ subcomplex and propose a model for domain interactions between eIF2B subunits.