Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
What do Professional Forecasters' Stock Market Expectations tell us about Herding, Information Extraction and Beauty Contests?

We study how professional forecasters form equity market expectations based on a new micro-level dataset which includes rich cross-sectional information about individual characteristics. We focus on testing whether agents rely on the beliefs of others, i.e., consensus expectations, when forming their own forecast. We find strong evidence that the average of all forecasters' beliefs influences an individual's own forecast. This effect is stronger for young and less experienced forecasters as well as forecasters whose pay depends more on performance relative to a benchmark. Further tests indicate that neither information extraction to incorporate dispersed private information, nor herding for reputational reasons can fully explain these results, leaving Keynes' beauty contest argument as a potential candidate for explaining forecaster behavior.
The Value of Mixed Vaccines in the Prevention of the Common Cold

Although the common cold may appear to form a relatively trivial constituent of the mass of acute respiratory disease, which presents the student of preventive medicine with one of his most difficult and pressing problems, the total sickness and incapacity to which it gives rise is by no means small; and there are adequate reasons for regarding it as the occasional precursor of far more serious troubles. It is, therefore, not without interest to enquire, whether or no those procedures, which are commonly recommended as possessing prophylactic value, can make good their claim when submitted to an adequate test. The enquiry here recorded suffers from the fact that the total number of individuals at risk was relatively small; but the answer to the main question posed is so unambiguous, and accords so well with the results obtained in the only other adequate tests of which we have knowledge, that it seems desirable that it should be briefly recorded. It is possible, also, that some little interest attaches to the figures of frequency, duration and severity of common colds within a particular community
Intracranial gradient-echo and spin-echo functional MR angiography in humans.

PURPOSE To investigate the predominance of venous signal intensity at 1.5-T gradient-echo (GRE) functional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of motor activity and to demonstrate the contribution from task-induced changes in flow velocity to the functional MR imaging signal intensity. MATERIALS AND METHODS Functional MR imaging of motor activity was performed in healthy volunteers. In a first examination, conventional two-dimensional GRE blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) functional MR imaging techniques were used, and the image planes were carefully positioned with respect to the veins that responded to the motor task. In a second examination, two-dimensional spin-echo (SE) techniques were used, and the image planes were oriented axially and measured in a sequential multisection manner. The areas of hyperintensity on functional MR images were eventually processed by means of maximum intensity projection. RESULTS Functional MR angiograms were obtained in both examinations. The possibility to generate SE functional MR angiograms demonstrates that venous inflow effects may contribute substantially to signal intensity in conventional two-dimensional GRE BOLD functional MR imaging of motor activity. CONCLUSION Veins have a substantial role in BOLD functional MR imaging of motor activity.
Earnings Revisions in SEC Filings From Prior Preliminary Announcements

This article investigates earnings revisions that occur between preliminary earnings announcements and the immediate subsequent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings. On average, the absolute value of the revision is 2.9% of the market value of equity where earnings were revised by more than US$100,000. The authors find that earnings revisions are more likely to occur for firms that are more complex, are more financially leveraged, have greater earnings volatility, have losses, and have switched auditors. They find that investors react to the new information in the earnings revisions but find mixed evidence about whether the act of revision itself indicates lower earnings quality to investors. The authors’ findings suggest that financial analysts, investors, and regulators alike should pay close attention not only to an earnings surprise at the preliminary earnings announcement date but also at the SEC filing date to determine whether a subsequent earnings surprise occurs.
Weight Status in Young Girls and the Onset of Puberty

OBJECTIVE. We sought to examine the association between weight status in early childhood and onset of puberty. PATIENTS AND METHODS. The study included 354 girls from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Girls were followed longitudinally with height and weight measurements at 36 and 54 months and grades 1, 4, 5, and 6 and with assessment of pubertal stage by physical examination and maternal report in grades 4 through 6. The main outcome was the presence of early puberty, indexed as follows: (a) breast development at or more than Tanner stage 2 by physical examination at grade 4; (b) breast development at or more than Tanner stage 3 by physical examination at grade 5; (c) maternal report of breast development at or more than Tanner stage 3 at grade 5; and (d) maternal report of menarche having already occurred (yes versus no) at grade 6. Multiple logistic regression models predicting early versus late puberty were constructed by using the covariate BMI z score at 36 months, rate of change of BMI and accelerated BMI between 36 months and grade 1, race, maternal education, and maternal age of menarche. RESULTS. BMI z score at 36 months, rate of change of BMI between 36 months and grade 1, an earlier age of maternal menarche, and nonwhite race were each consistently and positively associated with an earlier onset of puberty across the various measures of puberty. CONCLUSIONS. Higher BMI z score in girls as young as 36 months of age and higher rate of change of BMI between 36 months old and grade 1, a period well before the onset of puberty, are associated with earlier puberty, which suggests that increasing rates of obesity in the United States may result in an earlier average age of onset of puberty for US girls.
Pathophysiology of Renovascular Hypertension Principal

Renovascular hypertension has its experimental counterpart in the two-kidney, one clip model (Goldblatt hypertension). From the study of this model, a general pathophysiological scheme has evolved suggesting that temporal stages in the development and maintenance of hypertension are regulated by complicated hormonal and neural interrelations. The central roles played by the renin-angiotensin system and the renal nerves is discussed as they relate to other hormones. In addition, the possible contribution of converting enzyme inhibitors to understanding the pathophysiology of this condition is discussed. (Hypertension 1991;17:707-719)
The Coase Theorem and a Coasian construction economics and management research agenda1

This paper seeks to construct an empirical research agenda based on transaction cost reasoning informed by the Coase Theorem. It explains why the Coase Theorem has not been well received in the area of construction economics and management, as revealed by the relevant bibliometrics; develops a transaction cost‐based research agenda for this arena based on the corollaries of the invariant version and optimality version of the Coase Theorem; and maps the current research endeavours that fall into that agenda. It has been explained that the Coase Theorem was based on Coase's 1960 article, ‘The problem of social cost’, and is not only compatible with, but also more general than, Coase's theory of the firm offered in his 1937 paper, ‘The nature of the firm’. Hence, the ‘two Coases’ characterization, which suggests a dichotomy pro‐organization/regulation stance versus a pro‐free market stance, is fallacious.
Extending the network: The influence of offline friendship on Twitter network

Twitter effectively provides a communication platform that allows users to strengthen or augment relationships with their close ones. It is a common scene to see groups of people in continuing group communication from offline to online using tools such as Twitter. Furthermore, it is also possible to meet new friends via online encounter. Under these circumstances, there would be friends who are both offline and online, or only in online. Many of earlier Twitter network studies focused on the network effects’ direction going from online to offline network. This paper explores the opposite direction, going from offline to online network. It investigates the peer’s friendly relationship intricacies that emerge when a known friendly offline relationship influences its subsequently established Twitter online relationship. An empirical data set of 2,193 pairs of Twitter user accounts were examined.
A model for the delivery of SMS and USSD location-based mobile advertising using network-based positioning

This paper examines the use of Network-based location determination as an alternative to symbolic locations in the provision of location-based mobile advertising services using SMS and USSD. Two alternatives are explored; the use of reverse geo-coding and the use of coordinates to identify the locations of both users and providers. Both approaches are found to be feasible. However, the lack of a detailed geo-code database for use in reverse geo-coding as well as the lack of mobile network cooperation in the provision of user coordinates emerge as the main challenges to implementing the proposed model.
Exchange Rate Passthrough to Export Prices: Assessing Cross-Country Evidence

A growing empirical literature reports evidence of a decline in exchange rate passthrough to import prices in a number of industrial countries. Our paper complements this literature by examining passthrough from the other side of the transaction; that is, we assess the exchange rate sensitivity of export prices (denominated in the exporter's currency). We find that the prices charged on exports to the United States are more responsive to the exchange rate than are export prices to other destinations, which is consistent with results in the literature that import price passthrough in the US market is relatively low. In addition, the exchange rate sensitivity of export prices over time has been significantly affected by country- and region-specific factors, including the Asian financial crisis (for emerging Asia), deepening integration with the United States (for Canada), and the effects of the 1992 ERM crisis (for the United Kingdom).
The GTS1 gene, which contains a Gly-Thr repeat, affects the timing of budding and cell size of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

A gene with an open reading frame encoding a protein of 417 amino acid residues with a Gly-Thr repeat was isolated from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae by using synthetic oligonucleotides encoding three Gly-Thr dimers as probes. The deduced amino acid sequence showed partial homology to the clock-affecting gene, per, of Drosophila melanogaster in the regions including the GT repeat. The function of the gene, named GTS1, was examined by characterizing the phenotypes of transformants with different copy numbers of the GTS1 gene produced either by inactivating the GTS1 gene by gene disruption (TM delta gts1) or by transformation with multicopy plasmid pPER119 (TMpGTS1). They grew at similar rates during the exponential growth phase, but the lag phases were shorter for TM delta gts1 and longer for TMpGTS1 cells than that for the wild type. Analyses of their cell cycle parameters using synchronized cells revealed that the unbudding period changed as a function of gene dosage; that is, the periods of TM delta gts1 and TMpGTS1 were about 20% shorter and longer, respectively, than that of the wild-type. Another significant change in the transformants was detected in the distribution of the cell size. The mean cell volume of the TM delta gts1 cells in the unbudded period (single cells) was 27% smaller than that of single wild-type cells, whereas that of single TMpGTS1 cells was 48% larger. Furthermore, in the temperature-sensitive cdc4 mutant, the GTS1 gene affected the timing of budding at the restrictive temperature. Thus, the GTS1 gene product appears to modulate the timing of budding to obtain an appropriate cell size independent of the DNA replication cycle.
Vickrey Auctions with Sequential and Costly Participation

This paper investigates the cutoff strategies and the effects of sequential and costly participation in Vickrey auctions with independent private value settings. It demonstrates a Stackelberg version of participation decision in auctions, while simultaneous participation can be regarded as a Cournot version in auctions. Buyers adopt cut-off participation strategies. In two-buyer case, the cutoff strategy equilibrium is unique. The follower's critical values are always monotonic in participation cost in both symmetric and asymmetric settings. This is also true for the leader with mild conditions on c.d. fs. We also characterize equilibria in three-buyer and more general n-buyer environments. We then study buyer's preference to be a leader or a follower. Comparison with simultaneous model shows that the driven-out effect is much stronger in our sequential participation model, which implies the simultaneous specification might not be desirable.
Energy efficiency in wireless ad hoc and sensor networks: routing, node activity scheduling and cross-layering

In this thesis, we consider wireless ad hoc and sensor networks where energy matters. Indeed, sensor nodes are characterized by a small size, a low cost, an advanced communication technology, but also a limited amount of energy. This energy can be very expensive, difficult or even impossible to renew. Energy efficient strategies are required in such networks to maximize network lifetime. We distinguish four categories of strategies: 1. Energy efficient routing, 2. Node activity scheduling, 3. Topology control by tuning node transmission power and 4. Reduction of the volume of information transferred. Our contribution deals with energy efficient routing and node activity scheduling. For energy efficient routing, the idea consists in reducing the energy spent in the transmission of a packet from its source to its destination, while avoiding nodes with low residual energy. The solution we propose, called EOLSR, is based on the link state OLSR routing protocol. We show by simulation that this solution outperforms the solution that selects routes minimizing the end-to-end energy consumption, as well as the solution that builds routes based on node residual energy. We then show how we can improve the benefit of energy efficient routing using cross layering. Informa- tion provided by the MAC layer improves the reactivity of the routing protocol and the robustness of routes. Moreover, taking into account the specificities of some applications like data gathering allows the routing protocol to reduce its overhead by maintaining routes only to the sink nodes. Concerning node activity scheduling, since the sleep state is the least power consuming state, our aim is to schedule node state between sleeping and active to minimize energy consumption while ensuring network and application functionalities. We propose a solution, called SERENA, based on node coloring. The idea is to assign a color to each node, while using a small number of colors and ensuring that two nodes with the same color can transmit without interfering. This color is mapped into a slot in which the node can transmit its messages. Consequently, each node is awake during its slot and the slots granted to its one-hop neighbors. It sleeps the remaining time. We show how this algorithm can adapt to different application requirements: broadcast, immediate acknowledgement of unicast transmissions. The impact of each additional requirement is evaluated by simulation. An originality of this work lies in taking into account real wireless propagation conditions. Color conflicts are then possible. A cross-layering approach with the MAC layer is used to solve these conflicts. We also show how cross-layering with the application layer can improve the coloring per- formance for data gathering applications. This work has been done for the ANR OCARI project whose aim is to design and implement a wireless sensor network for applications in harsh environments such as power plants and war- ships. The network layer including SERENA and EOLSR has been specified and is now under implementation.
The long-term cost of multiple sclerosis in France and potential changes with disease-modifying interventions

Objective To evaluate the long-term costs and quality of life (QoL) with and without disease-modifying treatments (DMTs) of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Methods Data on resource consumption, productivity losses, QoL (utility), and fatigue were collected from 1355 patients registered with a patient association and descriptive analyses was performed. A Markov model was developed to estimate costs and utility over 20 years using the survey data. Disease progression without DMTs was taken from an epidemiological cohort in France (EDMUS cohort, LYON). Progression under DMTs was estimated from the Stockholm MS registry. Results are presented as cost per quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), from the societal perspective, in EUR2007, discounted at 3%. Results Mean Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) was 4.4 and mean total annual costs per patient were EUR44,400, of which 47% were productivity losses and 11% informal care. Public payers cover an estimated 48% of costs. Mean utility was 0.52, and the loss compared with the normal population was estimated at 0.28. Costs and utility ranged from EUR16,000 and 0.79 at EDSS 1 to EUR76,000 and 0.11 at EDSS 8–9. Over 20 years, costs were estimated at EUR429,000 and QALYs at 8.96 for patients without DMTs and at EUR433,207 and 9.24 QALYs if all patients were starting treated with DMTs at EDSS 1–3. Conclusion Although the data for this analysis come from different sources, the results indicate that the cost increase with DMTs is moderate.
Socially Constructed Realities and the Hidden Face of Market Segmentation

Market segmentation is a construct that has existed in the marketing literature for the past fifty years and perhaps longer in practice but without a label. During that time segmentation has received considerable interest from researchers in the marketing discipline and a number of different perspectives have contributed to its development as it is now understood. This paper identifies these differences of perspective. Nevertheless, from the earliest construction to its present position fundamentally little has changed and the concerns raised in its practical application remain. Furthermore, at a base level it can be argued market segmentation is commonly understood. However, under different conditions with different dimensions the challenge to segmentation lies, paradoxically, in a broadening of the heterogeneity that the approach was designed to handle. This conceptual paper adopts a social constructionist stance to examine this central tenet of marketing theory and practice. Thought trials are conducted through conjecture and compared to notions of self and group identities with the purpose of establishing a socially constructed understanding of segmentation. Implications for theory building research and marketing practice are drawn from the conclusions.
Do Stock Prices Underreact to Information Conveyed by Investors' Trades? Evidence from China*

We examine the process of stock prices adjusting to information conveyed by the trading process. Using the price impact of a trade to measure its information content, we show that the weekly price impact has significant cross-sectional predictive power for returns in the subsequent week. The effect is sensitive to the level of informational asymmetry. We find that the price impact contains information that is not fully captured by public order flows and that a lead–lag effect exists regarding the arrival of information to different groups of investors. Our finding suggests a price under-reaction to trading information, which can be explained by the gradual-information-diffusion theory.
Has trade with China affected UK inflation

This paper investigates empirically whether the level or growth of cheap imports from China has had an impact on UK inflation. We use two methods; the first calculates UK weighted world export price inflation as the sum of the effect of the inflation level in the UK's trading partners and the effect of substituting imports from more expensive countries with imports from countries with lower price levels. The second estimates these two effects on UK inflation using panel regressions. The results from the first method suggest that the substitution of imports from more expensive countries with imports from China reduced UK weighted world export price inflation by an average of -0.75 percentage points per annum from 2000 to 2004. Similarly, the panel regressions suggest that over the 1997-2005 period this substitution had a small but significant downward impact on UK CPI inflation. However, the same regressions also suggest that higher inflation in imports from China than in imports from other countries has put upward pressure on some components of UK CPI inflation. As this upward 'inflation effect' is likely to have outweighed the downward 'substitution effect' the regressions suggest that the overall effect of Chinese imports on UK CPI inflation from 1997-2005 was positive.
Multiple Influenza A (H3N2) Mutations Conferring Resistance to Neuraminidase Inhibitors in a Bone Marrow Transplant Recipient

ABSTRACT Immunocompromised patients are predisposed to infections caused by influenza virus. Influenza virus may produce considerable morbidity, including protracted illness and prolonged viral shedding in these patients, thus prompting higher doses and prolonged courses of antiviral therapy. This approach may promote the emergence of resistant strains. Characterization of neuraminidase (NA) inhibitor (NAI)-resistant strains of influenza A virus is essential for documenting causes of resistance. In this study, using quantitative real-time PCR along with conventional Sanger sequencing, we identified an NAI-resistant strain of influenza A (H3N2) virus in an immunocompromised patient. In-depth analysis by deep gene sequencing revealed that various known markers of antiviral resistance, including transient R292K and Q136K substitutions and a sustained E119K (N2 numbering) substitution in the NA protein emerged during prolonged antiviral therapy. In addition, a combination of a 4-amino-acid deletion at residues 245 to 248 (Δ245-248) accompanied by the E119V substitution occurred, causing resistance to or reduced inhibition by NAIs (oseltamivir, zanamivir, and peramivir). Resistant variants within a pool of viral quasispecies arose during combined antiviral treatment. More research is needed to understand the interplay of drug resistance mutations, viral fitness, and transmission.
Safety and Efficacy of Bariatric Surgery in Morbidly Obese Patients with Severe Systolic Heart Failure

Morbid obesity (MO) is a risk factor for congestive heart failure (CHF). The presence of MO impairs functional status and disqualifies patients for cardiac transplantation. Bariatric surgery (BAS) is a frontline, durable treatment for MO; however, the safety and efficacy of BAS in advanced CHF is unknown.