Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Accuracy of Financial Analysts' Forecasts after Mergers

This paper examines forecasts developed by financial analysts before and after mergers. The study finds that forecast accuracy decreases sharply after mergers. These accuracy reductions tend to be more pronounced when financial leverage changes, when the merger does not provide earnings or industry diversification, when the purchase method of accounting is used to record the transaction, when capital intensity changes, and when the size of the target corporation is large compared to the size of the acquiring corporation. The data also show that reductions in forecast accuracy after mergers tend to be temporary. Accuracy returns to approximately the premerger level within four years after the merger. The study also finds that overprediction bias increases sharply in the year immediately following the merger. This increase in over-prediction bias, however, is also temporary. Overprediction bias returns to approximately the premerger level within the four-year postmerger study period.
Trade-led Regional Value Chains in Sub-Saharan Africa

Regional integration through regional value chains (RVCs) can help sub-Saharan Africa to trigger structural transformation in its economies. The leather and leather products (LLP) industry provides a tremendous opportunity for the region to form RVCs and, in the process, create more value-addition in exports and generate higher employment. In this context, the study identifies potential RVCs that can be formed in LLP in three subregional regional trading blocs, namely COMESA, ECOWAS and SACU. The estimated dynamic gravity model created as part of the study for the period 2002–2011 shows that the region can more than double its intra-regional trade. Three lists are identified for each country, indicating the ways in which the country can link into RVCs. The first is a list of outputs or finished leather products where the country has potential to export to regional and global markets. The second is a list of inputs, i.e. primary and processed leather, that can be sourced by the country from the region at a lower cost than from outside the region. The third is a list of leather and leather products where the country needs foreign direct investments to engage in an LLP RVC. The paper identifies policies at country and regional levels for promoting and initiating RVCs, as well as suggesting policies for promoting intra-regional foreign direct investments in leather industry.
Analyzing International Travelers' Profile with Self-Organizing Maps

ABSTRACT It is generally agreed that knowledge is the most valuable asset to an organization. Knowledge enables a business to effectively compete with its competitors. In the tourism context, an in-depth knowledge of the profile of international travelers to a destination has become a crucial factor for decision makers to formulate their business strategies and better serve their customers. In this research, a self-organizing map (SOM) network was used for segmenting international travelers to Hong Kong, a major travel destination in Asia. An association rules discovery algorithm is then utilized to automatically characterize the profile of each segment. The resulting maps serve as a visual analysis tool for tourism managers to better understand the characteristics, motivations, and behaviors of international travelers.
Impact of Diagnosis on Utilities Assigned to States of Illness

This paper addresses some of the fundamental issues surrounding the measurement of quality of life in relation to health care and highlights the need for continuous and careful review. Healthy volunteers were used to study the effect of diagnosis on the utilities placed on three dimensions of health-related quality of life encompassing 17 states of disability, distress, and discomfort including pain. The standard gamble (SG) was used to elicit values for appropriate levels of each dimension for selected diagnostic conditions. It was shown that clinical diagnosis affects the utilities that people assign to different states of ill-health. Mental conditions were consistently assigned lower utilities with subjects attributing their decisions to the social unacceptability and intractability associated with these conditions. These findings suggest that the comprehensiveness of the descriptive system for health indicators and profiles is important and should be kept under review. Furthermore, these data have implications for the role of the Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALY) estimates which assume that utility is uniform across various conditions. Finally, the study may have implications for mental health services if other population samples were to accord such high priority to the relief of mental conditions.
Panorama image interpolation for real-time walkthrough

We propose a method to generate new views of a scene by capturing a few panorama images in real space and interpolating captured images. We describe a procedure for interpolating panoramas captured at four corners of a rectangle area without geometry, and present experimental results including walkthrough in real time. Our image-based method enables walking through space much more easily than using 3D modeling and rendering.
Mixed Spectrum Analysis on fMRI Time-Series

Temporal autocorrelation present in functional magnetic resonance image (fMRI) data poses challenges to its analysis. The existing approaches handling autocorrelation in fMRI time-series often presume a specific model of autocorrelation such as an auto-regressive model. The main limitation here is that the correlation structure of voxels is generally unknown and varies in different brain regions because of different levels of neurogenic noises and pulsatile effects. Enforcing a universal model on all brain regions leads to bias and loss of efficiency in the analysis. In this paper, we propose the mixed spectrum analysis of the voxel time-series to separate the discrete component corresponding to input stimuli and the continuous component carrying temporal autocorrelation. A mixed spectral analysis technique based on M-spectral estimator is proposed, which effectively removes autocorrelation effects from voxel time-series and identify significant peaks of the spectrum. As the proposed method does not assume any prior model for the autocorrelation effect in voxel time-series, varying correlation structure among the brain regions does not affect its performance. We have modified the standard M-spectral method for an application on a spatial set of time-series by incorporating the contextual information related to the continuous spectrum of neighborhood voxels, thus reducing considerably the computation cost. Likelihood of the activation is predicted by comparing the amplitude of discrete component at stimulus frequency of voxels across the brain by using normal distribution and modeling spatial correlations among the likelihood with a conditional random field. We also demonstrate the application of the proposed method in detecting other desired frequencies.
Awareness and its use in Plug and Play Process Control

Assume a existing control system needs a new sensor or actuator due to deterioration or unsatisfactory performance for other reasons. If such a new device can be implemented in a completely automated fashion it will be a very powerful tool. This is exactly the vision for the research project “Plug and Play Process Control” P3C. The first step is to get the device on the network. The next is to decide on if it is useful and if yes for what. Method to answer these questions are discussed and developed in this paper. The results are adaptive methods to estimate a correlation based “awareness”. These methods are successfully applied to a simulation experiment where control performance is improved. An estimate of the stochastic part of a system given the deterministic part is a necessary part of the above methods. In this paper, a prediction error method (PEM) with analytical gradient is developed for this problem.
Mass spectrometry methods for studying structure and dynamics of biological macromolecules.

■ CONTENTS Hydrogen/Deuterium Exchange 214 Fundamentals 214 Proteolytic Digestion-LC/MS 215 Characterization of Binding Interactions 216 HDX/MS of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins 216 Membrane Protein HDX/MS 217 Pulsed HDX/MS 217 Cytotoxic Protein Aggregates Studied by HDX/ MS 218 Application of HDX/MS to Protein Therapeutics 218 Single Amide Resolution 218 HDX/MS with Electron-Based Fragmentation 218 Covalent Labeling 220 General Considerations 220 Hydroxyl Radical Labeling 220 Covalent Cross-Linking 222 ESI Charge State Distributions 222 ESI Mechanism for Folded Proteins 222 CID of Multiprotein Complexes 223 ESI Mechanism for Unfolded Proteins 223 “Supercharging” and Related Phenomena 224 Native Mass Spectrometry and Ion Mobility Spectrometry 224 Preservation of Native-Like Structures in the Gas Phase 224 Ion Mobility Spectrometry and Other Techniques for Probing Gas Phase Structures 224 Protein−Protein Complexes 225 Other Types of Noncovalent Assemblies 225 Concluding Remarks 227 Author Information 227 Corresponding Author 227 Notes 227 Biographies 227 Acknowledgments 227 References 227
Designing Educational Tools, Based on Body Interaction, for Children with Special Needs Who Present Different Motor Skills

New technologies and computer applications prove to be powerful tools for children with special needs in order to improve specific skills. However, there is still a gap between research development and its applicability in schools. Thus, we have created a workgroup with a specialized state school in Spain. Based on their curricular project, we have identified the need for training the body such as working stabilization, coordination and knowledge of the body as well as other educational competences. For that purpose, we propose a framework with three activities: "painting", "discovering an image" and "creating music". Moreover, the Microsoft Kinect has been used since its way of interaction is based on the entire body. In addition, it is important to remember that children of such a school present a great variety of motor and cognitive skills. Consequently, the framework must adapt itself to the child's motor capacities. Therefore, we proposed a user's profile system which is composed of several interaction techniques for a same action. The framework was installed at the school for 2 months. 3 trained teachers taught 6 children about the use of the framework. During this period of time the user's configuration was improved and adjusted. Then, a second evaluation was performed in order to measure the interest and motivation of the children and to validate the flexibility of the framework. Thus, specific objectives and criteria were fixed and the 6 children tried the framework during 3 sessions, one per week. The children showed interest in participating and were willing to follow the instructions given by the teachers. Furthermore, the customization of the interaction techniques allowed almost all the children to play with the system. Moreover, one of them improved the control of his gestures.
The CopenHeartSF trial—comprehensive sexual rehabilitation programme for male patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillator or ischaemic heart disease and impaired sexual function: protocol of a randomised clinical trial

Introduction Sexuality is an important part of people’s physical and mental health. Patients with heart disease often suffer from sexual dysfunction. Sexual dysfunction has a negative impact on quality of life and well-being in persons with heart disease, and sexual dysfunction is associated with anxiety and depression. Treatment and care possibilities seem to be lacking. Studies indicate that non-pharmacological interventions such as exercise training and psychoeducation possess the potential of reducing sexual dysfunction in patients with heart disease. The CopenHeartSF trial will investigate the effect of a comprehensive sexual rehabilitation programme versus usual care. Methods and analysis CopenHeartSF is an investigator-initiated randomised clinical superiority trial with blinded outcome assessment, with 1:1 central randomisation to sexual rehabilitation plus usual care versus usual care alone. Based on sample size calculations, 154 male patients with impaired sexual function due to implantable cardioverter defibrillator or ischaemic heart disease will be included from two university hospitals in Denmark. All patients receive usual care and patients allocated to the experimental intervention group follow a 12-week sexual rehabilitation programme consisting of an individualised exercise programme and psychoeducative consultation with a specially trained nurse. The primary outcome is sexual function measured by the International Index of Erectile Function. The secondary outcome measure is psychosocial adjustment to illness by the Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale, sexual domain. A number of explorative analyses will also be conducted. Ethics and dissemination CopenHeartSF is approved by the regional ethics committee (no H-4-2012-168) and the Danish Data Protection Agency (no 2007-58-0015) and is performed in accordance with good clinical practice and the Declaration of Helsinki in its latest form. Registration Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT01796353.
Visual hallucinations are associated with hyperconnectivity between the amygdala and visual cortex in people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

INTRODUCTION While auditory verbal hallucinations (AH) are a cardinal symptom of schizophrenia, people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia (SZ) may also experience visual hallucinations (VH). In a retrospective analysis of a large sample of SZ and healthy controls (HC) studied as part of the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) Biomedical Informatics Research Network (FBIRN), we asked if SZ who endorsed experiencing VH during clinical interviews had greater connectivity between visual cortex and limbic structures than SZ who did not endorse experiencing VH. METHODS We analyzed resting state fMRI data from 162 SZ and 178 age- and gender-matched HC. SZ were sorted into groups according to clinical ratings on AH and VH: SZ with VH (VH-SZ; n = 45), SZ with AH but no VH (AH-SZ; n = 50), and SZ with neither AH nor VH (NoH-SZ; n = 67). Our primary analysis was seed based, extracting connectivity between visual cortex and the amygdala (because of its role in fear and negative emotion) and visual cortex and the hippocampus (because of its role in memory). RESULTS Compared with the other groups, VH-SZ showed hyperconnectivity between the amygdala and visual cortex, specifically BA18, with no differences in connectivity among the other groups. In a voxel-wise, whole brain analysis comparing VH-SZ with AH-SZ, the amygdala was hyperconnected to left temporal pole and inferior frontal gyrus in VH-SZ, likely due to their more severe thought broadcasting. CONCLUSIONS VH-SZ have hyperconnectivity between subcortical areas subserving emotion and cortical areas subserving higher order visual processing, providing biological support for distressing VH in schizophrenia.
Intelligibility of Sung Lyrics: A Pilot Study

We propose a system to automatically assess the intel-ligibility of sung lyrics. We are particularly interested in being able to identify songs which are intelligible to second language learners, as such individuals often sing along the song to help them learn their second language, but this is only helpful if the song is intelligible enough for them to understand. As no automatic system for identifying ‘intelligible’ songs currently exists, songs for second language learners are generally selected by hand, a time-consuming and onerous process. We conducted an exper-iment in which test subjects, all of whom are learning English as a second language, were presented with 100 excerpts of songs drawn from ﬁve different genres. The test subjects listened to and transcribed the excerpts and the intelligibility of each excerpt was assessed based on average transcription accuracy across subjects. Excerpts that were more accurately transcribed on average were considered to be more intelligible than those less accurately transcribed on average. We then tested standard acoustic features to determine which were most strongly correlated with intel-ligibility. Our ﬁnal system classiﬁes the intelligibility of the excerpts and achieves 66% accuracy for 3 classes of intelligibility.
Correlation Between Complication Rate and Patient Satisfaction in Abdominoplasty

Abdominoplasty has become one of the most frequently performed procedures for improving body contour. Numerous reports exist focusing on postoperative complications with even more studies suggesting technical modifications to decrease their occurrence. However, the impact of complications on patient satisfaction has not been sufficiently addressed to date. A retrospective analysis was performed investigating the occurrence of complications following abdominoplasty and their effect on patient satisfaction. Patient satisfaction was assessed by means of the client satisfaction questionnaire-8. From June 1994 to April 2004 a total of 139 patients underwent an abdominoplasty. Minor and major complications were encountered in 40 (28.8%) and 16 (11.5%) patients, respectively. The median client satisfaction questionnaire-8 score among those patients with and without complications was 29. Thus, it seems that postoperative complications after abdominoplasty do not negatively affect patient satisfaction.
Translational regulation of the gradual increase in histone H1 kinase activity in maturing mouse oocytes

In maturing mouse oocytes, p34cdc2‐associated histone H1 kinase activity gradually increases until it reaches its maximum at metaphase I (Choi et al., 1991: Development 113:789–795). In this study, treatment of oocytes with cycloheximide resulted in a failure to increase the level of histone H1 activity above that detected at approximately the time of germinal vesicle breakdown (GVB), which is ∼20‐30% of the level normally achieved at metaphase I. Cyclin B was detected in GV‐stage oocytes, but there was a 2–2.5‐fold increase in the amount of cyclin B in maturing oocytes from GV‐stage to metaphase I and a burst of cyclin B synthesis during the first 3 hr of maturation. Okadaic acid‐treatment of mouse oocytes did not accelerate activation of histone H1 kinase but rather arrested its activity at the same level observed in cycloheximide‐treated oocytes. Thus the components of the p34cdc2 kinase activating system in mouse oocytes are apparently not present in GV‐stage oocytes in an amount or configuration that would allow maximum kinase activation when meiosis is reinitiated by okadaic acid. Importantly, okadaic acid‐treatment dramatically inhibited protein synthesis. Therefore, the inhibition of protein synthesis by okadaic acid probably abrogates the possibility of de novo synthesis of the regulators of p34cdc2 kinase required to drive its activity to the maximum level normally achieved by metaphase I. It is concluded that there is a critical point in driving the continued activation of histone H1 kinase that occurs at approximately the time of GVB. Progression beyond this point requires de novo protein synthesis. Since newly synthesized cyclin B is immediately complexed with the p34cdc2 kinase in maturing mouse oocytes, cyclin B is a candidate for one of the proteins whose synthesis is required to drive the continued increase in histone H1 kinase activity after the time of GVB. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Urinary Bladder Transcriptome and Proteome Defined by Transcriptomics and Antibody-Based Profiling

To understand functions and diseases of urinary bladder, it is important to define its molecular constituents and their roles in urinary bladder biology. Here, we performed genome-wide deep RNA sequencing analysis of human urinary bladder samples and identified genes up-regulated in the urinary bladder by comparing the transcriptome data to those of all other major human tissue types. 90 protein-coding genes were elevated in the urinary bladder, either with enhanced expression uniquely in the urinary bladder or elevated expression together with at least one other tissue (group enriched). We further examined the localization of these proteins by immunohistochemistry and tissue microarrays and 20 of these 90 proteins were localized to the whole urothelium with a majority not yet described in the context of the urinary bladder. Four additional proteins were found specifically in the umbrella cells (Uroplakin 1a, 2, 3a, and 3b), and three in the intermediate/basal cells (KRT17, PCP4L1 and ATP1A4). 61 of the 90 elevated genes have not been previously described in the context of urinary bladder and the corresponding proteins are interesting targets for more in-depth studies. In summary, an integrated omics approach using transcriptomics and antibody-based profiling has been used to define a comprehensive list of proteins elevated in the urinary bladder.
Trade Openness and Real Investment in Jordan An ARDL Bound Testing Approach

This paper investigates the relationship between trade openness and real investment in Jordan, over the period 1976-2010. An Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach is employed in order to explore the association between investment and trade openness by estimating an investment function for the Jordanian economy and incorporating trade openness as a determinant of investment. The Empirical results provide strong evidence on the presence of a long-run stable investment function. In the short-run, trade openness has a positive and significant effect on real investment; a consistent result with the literature. Therefore, the results confirm the significant impact of trade openness on real investment found in the previous literature using a cointegration technique. This finding emphasises the importance of the trade liberalisation effects on real investment especially in the case of Jordan.
Array antenna calibration method for living body radar

Radar for estimating living-body direction has been studied, recently. However, the calibration of the array antenna is required since the phase error in the array antenna causes angle error in the estimated direction. In this paper, a simple calibration method that uses the channel response with known subject direction is presented. The experiment showed that the proposed method can calibrate the array antenna even in the multi-path environment and the direction of the living body is successfully estimated with a high accuracy.
Binary image representation by contour trees

There is a growing need in medical image processing to analyze segmented objects. In this study we are interested in analyzing morphological properties of complex structures such as the trabecular bone. Although, there are various shape description approaches proposed in the literature, there is not an adequate method to represent foreground object(s) morphology with respect to the background. In this article, we propose a way of representing binary images of any dimensions using graphs that emphasize connectivity of level-sets to foreground and background. We start by calculating the euclidean distance transform (EDT) to create a scalar field. Then the contour tree of this scalar field is calculated using a modified version of the algorithm proposed by Carr. Contour trees are mostly used to visualize high dimensional scalar fields as they can put on view the critical points, i.e: local min, max and saddle points; however, their use in representing complex shapes have not been studied. We demonstrate the use of our method on artificial 2D images having different topologies as well as 3D μ-CT images of two bone biopsies. We show that the application of contour trees to complex binary data particularly prove useful when interpreting pore-networks at micro-scale. Further work to quantify foreground and background interconnectivity using certain graph theoretical methods is still under research.