Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Salient accounting value drivers and equity re-turns : Evidence from US industries

Past literatures suggest the presence of ubiquitous disquiet among corporate financial managers, financial analysts and portfolio managers that changes in certain accounting variable's results in changes in stock prices, irrespective of whether future cash flow's subsume these changes in salient accounting variables. Using an empirical rational inquiry, this paper attempts to test whether there is any relationship between salient accounting variables and equity returns for five major US industries (Manufacturing, Services, Wholesale, Constructions and Retail) from the period 1996 to 2015, and as a result, may contribute to accretion or loss in stockholders’ wealth. To account for divergent industry-specific revenue generating process and the existing fluidity in industry-specific application of accounting standards, this study thus disaggregates sample data by industry. The industry approach implies that the effect of salient accounting variables on equity prices may be described as a conflation of industry-specific characteristics and capital market synergies. Consistent with this notion, this study finds that salient accounting variables which are used to measure operating performance, growth opportunities, investment management and profitability have the significant impact on equity returns. However, and most importantly, the study finds that the impact of the salient accounting variables varies from one industry to another. As such, this study is particularly useful for equity market participants in the identification of industry related, market-relevant accounting variables, which may be used to guide future financial policies.
Quantifying Economic Damages from Climate Change

Climate scientists have spent billions of dollars and eons of supercomputer time studying how increased concentrations of greenhouse gases and changes in the reflectivity of the earth’s surface affect dimensions of the climate system relevant to human society: surface temperature, precipitation, humidity, and sea levels. Recent incarnations of physical climate models have become sophisticated enough to be able to simulate intensities and frequencies of some extreme events, like tropical storms, under different warming scenarios. In a stark juxtaposition, the efforts involved in and the public resources targeted at understanding how these physical changes translate into economic impacts are disproportionately smaller, with most of the major models being developed and maintained with little to no public funding support. The goal of this paper is first to shed light on how (mostly) economists have gone about calculating the “social cost of carbon” for regulatory purposes and to provide an overview of the past and currently used estimates. In the second part, I will focus on where empirical economists may have the highest value added in this enterprise: specifically, the calibration and estimation of economic damage functions, which map weather patterns transformed by climate change into economic benefits and damages. A broad variety of econometric methods have recently been used to parameterize the dose (climate) response (economic outcome) functions. The paper seeks to provide an accessible and comprehensive overview of how economists think about parameterizing damage functions and quantifying the economic damages of climate change.
A Novel Design of Broadband Metamaterial Absorber Based on Sine-Curved-Surface Substrates

A cross-band dual-layer metamaterial absorber with properties of broad bandwidth is presented in this paper. Different from the previous methods to broaden the absorption width, this letter proposes a novel design of the structure of dielectric substrates with sine-curved shape surfaces. The proposed structure consists of two layers of dielectric substrate which exhibits as periodic sine-curved shape. Several closed ring resonators (CRRs) wrap on the top curved-surfaces of both the layers of the dielectric substrate in a unit cell. This approach for expanding absorption bandwidth is confirmed by numerical simulations in which the multiband absorbers can couple to a wideband absorber. With the parametric optimization method, the bandwidth-enhanced absorptions occur across C and X band. Comparing the absorption performances of the proposed structure with planar substrate situation by simulated results, we find the bandwidth of the sine-curved-surface absorber is widened. The full width at half maxima (FWHM) bandwidth is greater than 4GHz and the absorption peak is over 95% in the whole frequency range. This specific periodic curved surface structure provides a new idea for widening bandwidth of metamaterial absorbers.
Results of a Multidisciplinary Pain Management Program: A 6‐ and 12‐Month Follow‐up Study

&NA; The aim of this study was to evaluate an 8‐week multidisciplinary pain management program offered to patients suffering from chronic pain. The study initially included 88 participants, and 61 of the sample completed a follow‐up program conducted at 6 and 12 months after the initial programs. The pain mangement program was based on a cognitive behavioral approach with active patient participation in learning new coping skills. The intervention consisted of supervised dialog, physical activity and education. The main goals were change of focus from pain and disability to resources and functional coping strategies. It was hypothesized that the positive changes gained at posttest registration after an 8‐week program on coping, health‐related quality of life, and pain intensity would be maintained during follow‐up sessions. The results indicated that these hypotheses were mainly supported and further pain reduction, decreased emotion‐focused coping, better social functioning, and overall physical and mental health gains were observed. The participants who did not complete the follow‐up program did not differ from the patients who completed the program on background variables investigated. The study also supported the claim that professional nurses are competent to lead such programs and to evaluate treatment results. Clinical and research implications are discussed.
FREQUENCY OF DEPRESSION AMONG PATIENTS WITH ACUTE CORONARY SYNDROME, EASTERN REGION, SAUDI ARABIA

Background: Three decades ago, Epidemiologists began to report a strong association between depression and cardiovascular disease - morbidity and mortality, and in the last decade, many large-scale studies have identified depression as an important risk factor for Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) and its morbidity and mortality. Objectives: To determine the frequency of clinical depression among patients admitted with Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) to the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) at King Fahd Hospital of the University (KFHU), and to find out if there is any relationship between depression and the traditional risk factors for CAD. Methods: One hundred and two patients admitted consecutively with ACS completed the self-rated Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) in their native language. The patients were classified into two groups: Group A comprising patients with no symptoms of depression and patients with subclinical or borderline depression, scored less than 21 points on BDI score scale; and Group B composed of those who scored 21 points and above. Various statistical tests were used whenever appropriate. Results: One hundred and two patients completed the BDI. Ninety-Two (90.2%) were males, with a mean age of 52.14±12.14 years. Of these, 37.3% were Saudis, 25.5% Non-Saudi Arabs, 31.4% from the Indian subcontinent and 5.9% were other Asians. Patients from the Indian Subcontinent were significantly younger than the Saudis (p<0.0001). The evidence of clinical depression was found in 20.6% of all patients, 13.2% of Saudi patients, 19.2% of Non-Saudi Arabs and 34.4% of those from the Indian subcontinent. There was a significant difference in the frequency of clinical depression between Saudi patients and the Indians (p=0.035). Smoking and dyslipidemia were the only strong predictors of clinical depression in our study. Conclusion: Depression is unquestionably associated with CAD. Its frequency in our patients with ACS was 20.6%, and the highest frequency was recorded among patients from the Indian subcontinent (34.4%). Smoking and dyslipidemia were the strongest independent risk factors for depression.
Fixed-point computing with variable fraction length for motion profile generation

This paper proposes a new fixed-point computing method for motion profile generation. When parameters have wide ranges, floating-point computing usually is used for accurate computation; however, this method increases execution time. In the proposed method, by considering input data, optimum fraction lengths are determined for different parameters. In this way, the fixed-point computing offers an accurate computation in a minimum execution time. Experimental results show the performance of the proposed method.
Antisaccade eye movement abnormalities in Tourette syndrome: evidence for cortico-striatal network dysfunction?

Saccadic eye movements are rapid eye movements which act to redirect the eyes from one object of interest to another. Accurately and objectively measurable, their underlying neuroanatomical mechanisms have been extensively studied. The antisaccade task allows the study of the frontocortico-striatal network involved in the voluntary control of saccadic eye movements. In this task, the subject is instructed to inhibit a reflex eye movement towards a peripheral target light and, instead, to generate a movement in the equal and opposite direction. An error occurs when the subject fails to suppress reflexive saccades towards the target. Significantly high error rates and increased latencies in the antisaccade task have been reported in disorders associated with dysfunction of the frontocortico-striatal network. Increased saccadic eye movement latencies and error rates have been reported in Tourette syndrome patients (n = 4) who were receiving antipsychotic medication. To investigate this further, we tested the antisaccade task on six male Tourette syndrome patients. The results were compared with 18 age- and sex-matched mentally and physically healthy, medication/alcohol-free controls. Antisaccade latencies were (mean ± SD; ms) 751.2 ± 186.7 for the Tourette syndrome group and 417 ± 75.3 for controls, and error rates were 59 ± 14.3 for the Tourette syndrome group and 11.9 ± 6.4 for controls, repectively. These significant results may further support dysfunction of the frontocortico-striatal network in Tourette syndrome.
Conditioned medium from keloid keratinocyte/keloid fibroblast coculture induces contraction of fibroblast‐populated collagen lattices

Background Keloid scars represent a pathological response to cutaneous injury. Overproliferation of fibroblasts and overproduction of collagen characterize these abnormal scars. The pathology of these scars remains poorly understood. The role of epithelial–mesenchymal interactions in keloid pathogenesis and scar contracture has recently been explored.
Understanding biofuel production systems from an economic and environmental perspective

15 Introduction . 15 Methods . 17 Process modeling . 17 Gen 1 dry mill corn ethanol production . 19 Gen 2 ethanol derived from corn stover . 20 Combined heat and power (CHP) plant design for co-located Gen 1 and Gen 2 plants . 22 Economic analysis . 23 Results and discussion . 27 Results . 27 Sensitivity analysis . 31 Conclusions . 34 References . 34 Abstract . 38 Introduction . 39 DEDICATION . ii. 38 Introduction . 39 DEDICATION . ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . vi CHAPTER
The epidemiology of major depressive disorder: results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R).

CONTEXT Uncertainties exist about prevalence and correlates of major depressive disorder (MDD). OBJECTIVE To present nationally representative data on prevalence and correlates of MDD by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) criteria, and on study patterns and correlates of treatment and treatment adequacy from the recently completed National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R). DESIGN Face-to-face household survey conducted from February 2001 to December 2002. SETTING The 48 contiguous United States. PARTICIPANTS Household residents ages 18 years or older (N = 9090) who responded to the NCS-R survey. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Prevalence and correlates of MDD using the World Health Organization's (WHO) Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI), 12-month severity with the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology Self-Report (QIDS-SR), the Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS), and the WHO disability assessment scale (WHO-DAS). Clinical reinterviews used the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. RESULTS The prevalence of CIDI MDD for lifetime was 16.2% (95% confidence interval [CI], 15.1-17.3) (32.6-35.1 million US adults) and for 12-month was 6.6% (95% CI, 5.9-7.3) (13.1-14.2 million US adults). Virtually all CIDI 12-month cases were independently classified as clinically significant using the QIDS-SR, with 10.4% mild, 38.6% moderate, 38.0% severe, and 12.9% very severe. Mean episode duration was 16 weeks (95% CI, 15.1-17.3). Role impairment as measured by SDS was substantial as indicated by 59.3% of 12-month cases with severe or very severe role impairment. Most lifetime (72.1%) and 12-month (78.5%) cases had comorbid CIDI/DSM-IV disorders, with MDD only rarely primary. Although 51.6% (95% CI, 46.1-57.2) of 12-month cases received health care treatment for MDD, treatment was adequate in only 41.9% (95% CI, 35.9-47.9) of these cases, resulting in 21.7% (95% CI, 18.1-25.2) of 12-month MDD being adequately treated. Sociodemographic correlates of treatment were far less numerous than those of prevalence. CONCLUSIONS Major depressive disorder is a common disorder, widely distributed in the population, and usually associated with substantial symptom severity and role impairment. While the recent increase in treatment is encouraging, inadequate treatment is a serious concern. Emphasis on screening and expansion of treatment needs to be accompanied by a parallel emphasis on treatment quality improvement.
Chemometric modeling of main contamination sources in surface waters of Portugal

Various chemometric data analysis methods, such as principal components analysis, multivariate curve resolution—alternating least squares, parallel factor analysis, and Tucker3, are proposed and compared for the resolution and modeling of main contamination sources in a large environmental data array obtained in an exhaustive environmental monitoring program that examined the quality of surface waters of Portugal. The study covered the analysis of 19 priority semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) frequently found in a total number of 644 surface water samples, including 46 different sites from throughout Portugal and corresponding to a period of 14 months, from April 1999 to May 2000. Main contamination sources of the analyzed SVOCs were identified and interpreted according to their chemical composition and according to their resolved geographical and temporal distribution profiles.
The Pseudomonas Quinolone Signal (PQS) Stimulates Chemotaxis of Polymorphonuclear Neutrophils

Cross-talk between bacteria and mammalian cells is increasingly recognized as an important factor, especially during chronic infections. In particular, the interaction of extracellular bacterial signaling molecules with cells of the innate immune response is of special interest. In this context, we investigated whether the Pseudomonas quinolone signal (PQS) which is a quorum sensing molecule produced by bacteria and participates in biofilm formation and virulence has any influence on polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN), the cells of the “first line defense” against bacterial infections. We found that PQS did not enhance the bactericidal activity of PMN and did not induce apoptosis at concentrations up to 100 μM. However, PQS stimulated chemotaxis of PMN in doses of 10-100 μM. This PQS-dependent chemotaxis could be inhibited with SB203580 which blocks MAPkinase p38, suggesting a signaling pathway similar to AHL-12 induction. Using bacterial cell culture supernantants of Pseudomonas aeruginosa wild-type cells and a PQS-deficient mutant strain support the in vivo relevance of these findings. Since PQS is produced in the early phase of biofilm formation, PMN infiltration could be timely enough to eradicate bacteria before biofilm formation is completed, which confers the bacteria with a relative resistance to host defense mechanisms.
Platelet-Rich Fibrin Versus Albumin in Surgical Wound Repair: A Randomized Trial With Paired Design

Objective:To study the effects of autologous platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) versus human albumin on incisional wound breaking strength and subcutaneous collagen deposition in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy in a randomized trial. Summary Background Data:Platelet peptidic growth factors may stimulate collagen synthesis and tissue repair. Methods:One expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) tube was inserted subcutaneously from the edge of each of the two 10-mm trocar incisions in 51 patients. Treatment with PRF prepared from the patient's own blood or human albumin was randomized to respective wound site by concealed allocation. On postoperative day 10, breaking strength of the incisional wounds as well as the collagen concentration, type I procollagen mRNA, type III procollagen mRNA, matrix metalloproteinase-1 mRNA, and fibroblast density in the ePTFE tubes were determined. All analyses were assessor-blinded. The trial was registered in the Current Controlled Trials Registry (ISRCTN34481461). Results:Local PRF had no significant effect on incisional wound-breaking strength. In the ePTFE tubes, PRF treatment decreased collagen concentration by 24% (P = 0.046) and type I procollagen mRNA level by 29% (P = 0.003), but had no significant impact on type III procollagen mRNA, matrix metalloproteinase-1 mRNA or fibroblast infiltration. The profibrotic transforming growth factor-&bgr;1 level increased (P < 0.0001) 2-fold with PRF. Collagen concentration in albumin-treated ePTFE tubes correlated with breaking strength of the skin incisions (rs = 0.48, P = 0.03). Conclusions:PRF did not improve wound strength significantly compared with albumin but suppressed subcutaneous collagen synthesis and deposition during early repair of surgical wounds in humans. Furthermore, deposition of reparative collagen in the subcutaneous ePTFE tube model partly predicted the breaking strength of an incisional skin wound.
Popular Medical Discourses on birth control in the Soviet Union during the Cold War: Shifting Responsibilities and Relational Values

In the mid-1950s, when the first medical tests of the pill started in the West, abortion was re-legalised in the Soviet Union. Although at first glance these seem to be unrelated, in the subsequent decade the confrontation of “abortion versus the pill” created probably one of the most significant disputes in the national population policies on both sides of the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. This chapter zooms in on Soviet stances on birth control by addressing the evolution of popular medical discourses surrounding the medicalisation of birth control during the Cold War. Drawing on a Foucauldian analysis of biopower, we illuminate how responsibilities concerning birth control were assigned to and shifted between medical practitioners and ‘ordinary’ men and women from 1955 to 1975. The analysis is based on nearly one hundred articles published in the popular Soviet health magazine “Zdorovie” (in English “Health”), which was the only available periodical source containing professional advice on birth control methods until the 1980s. The main argument arising from this study is that after having re-legalised abortion (1955), the Soviet state sought a means to regulate fertility that would not have as negative an impact on fertility rates as the then increasing abortion rates were believed to have. This effort led to doctors being made the main gatekeepers of birth control during an unofficial anti-abortion campaign in the 1950s, and encouraging natural methods of birth control as part of spousal cooperation in the 1960s. At the same time, birth control in the Soviet Union had to be as effective as the US birth control pill, especially after the pill was introduced in 1960 in the West, and easily controllable by the state, as eventually intrauterine devices (IUDs) appeared to be in the 1970s in the Soviet Union. Like abortion, IUDs allowed doctors to easily supervise women, which would not be possible with the birth control pill. We suggest that relational values around birth control emerging on the two sides of the Iron curtain informed this Soviet biopolitical struggle. In contrast to the verbalised “Kitchen Debate”, it was a latent yet apparant hegemonic struggle in the private sphere of everyday life, the roots of which can be traced back to the Cold War.
Mobile Traffic Data Decomposition for Understanding Human Urban Activities

The goal of this paper is to understand the patterns of mobile traffic consumption and reveal the correlations between human activities and mobile traffic patterns in the urban environment. This task is nontrivial in terms of three challenges: the complexity of mobile traffic consumption in large urban scale, the disturbance of abnormal events, and lack of prior knowledge about urban traffic patterns. We propose a novel approach and design a powerful system that consists of three parts: time series decomposing of mobile traffic data, extracting patterns from different components of the original traffic, and detecting anomalous events from noises. Our investigation reveals three important observations. Firstly, among all the 6,400 cellular towers we identify five daily patterns corresponding to different human daily activity patterns. Secondly, we find out that two natural patterns can be extracted from the weekly trend of mobile traffic consumption, which reflects modes of human activities from a different perspective. Last but not least, besides the regular patterns, we investigate how do irregular activities affect mobile traffic consumption, and exploit this knowledge to successfully detect unusual events like concerts and soccer matches. We believe our proposed methodology will lead to a comprehensive understanding of large-scale mobile traffic consumption in the urban areas.