Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Network Centrality and Managerial Market Timing Ability: Evidence from Open-Market Repurchase Announcements

The authors find a U-shaped relation between long-run excess returns after buyback authorization announcements and firm centrality in the Input-Output trade flow network.As centrality may be non-linearly related to information asymmetry between firm insiders and outside investors, these results provide direct support for the market timing hypothesis of buybacks: while high centrality can increase information asymmetry due to information processing costs, low centrality can increase it due to information availability differences.Strikingly, unlike all past findings of positive abnormal returns in the literature on repurchases, significantly negative post-buyback announcement long-run excess returns are observed for some mid-centrality firms.
Resveratrol Inhibits the Proliferation of Neural Progenitor Cells and Hippocampal Neurogenesis*

Background: Resveratrol has been suggested to have protective effects against many diseases, but its biological actions on brain in healthy subjects are unclear. Results: Resveratrol impaired hippocampal neurogenesis and memory acquisition by AMPK activation and suppression of pCREB and BDNF. Conclusion: Resveratrol impairs hippocampal neurogenesis and cognitive function. Significance: Unlike DR and exercise, resveratrol can adversely affect neurogenesis and cognition. Resveratrol is a phytoalexin and natural phenol that is present at relatively high concentrations in peanuts and red grapes and wine. Based upon studies of yeast and invertebrate models, it has been proposed that ingestion of resveratrol may also have anti-aging actions in mammals including humans. It has been suggested that resveratrol exerts its beneficial effects on health by activating the same cellular signaling pathways that are activated by dietary energy restriction (DR). Some studies have reported therapeutic actions of resveratrol in animal models of metabolic and neurodegenerative disorders. However, the effects of resveratrol on cell, tissue and organ function in healthy subjects are largely unknown. In the present study, we evaluated the potential effects of resveratrol on the proliferation and survival of neural progenitor cells (NPCs) in culture, and in the hippocampus of healthy young adult mice. Resveratrol reduced the proliferation of cultured mouse multi-potent NPCs, and activated AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), in a concentration-dependent manner. Administration of resveratrol to mice (1–10 mg/kg) resulted in activation of AMPK, and reduced the proliferation and survival of NPCs in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. Resveratrol down-regulated the levels of the phosphorylated form of cyclic AMP response element-binding protein (pCREB) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the hippocampus. Finally, resveratrol-treated mice exhibited deficits in hippocampus-dependent spatial learning and memory. Our findings suggest that resveratrol, unlike DR, adversely affects hippocampal neurogenesis and cognitive function by a mechanism involving activation of AMPK and suppression of CREB and BDNF signaling.
ICT and educational outcomes

As the global economy has transformed to a knowledge-based economy, ICT (Information and Communication Technology) is considered as a potential powerful educational resource to improve educational quality. Policy makers are enthusiastic about ICT use in education, and investing enormous amounts of money especially in developing countries. However, academic researchers have not reached a consensus on the presence of a causal impact of ICT on education. Furthermore, studies on the impact of ICT on education with macroestimations, which is useful to policy design, are lacking. The objective of this thesis is to build macroeconomic model based on theoretical framework of educational production function to find policy implications for the use of ICT in education. The main findings are as follows. First, ICT is significantly correlated with educational outcomes. I then present some evidence of a positive causal effect of ICT expenditure on secondary level students’ academic achievement, and undesirable effect of home use of ICT on primary drop-out rate, though it is very difficult to obtain valid instruments in this context. Lastly, ICT is differently correlated with educational quality outcomes depending on national income. Based on these results and a careful reading of relevant literature, national policies for ICT use in education has been suggested. First, governments should have a long-term budget and implementation plan for ICT use in education. In addition, government should encourage families to own computers and provide improved wireless environments through a national broadband plan. Finally, it is necessary to focus on ICT resource development.
Impact of Human Resources Management Practices on Employees’ Satisfaction. A Field Study on the Rajhi Cement Factory

The study aimed to analyze the impact of human resource management practices (human resources planning, selection and appointment, rewards and motivation, training programs, and performance evaluation) on Employees’ job satisfaction on the Al-Rajhi cement factory in Jordan. The study population represents all employees working at Al-Rajhi cement factory in Jordan. Based on the number that has been determined by the factory management. (300) questionnaire were distributed, (241) questionnaires valid for statistical analysis were recovered. The researcher found that there is a statistically significant effect at the level of significance (alfa ? 0.05) for each of: human recourses planning, selection and appointment, and training programs on the satisfaction of the employees in the Al-Rajhi cement factory. The researcher recommended working on the adoption of the results of the jobs analysis to make an appointment decision, where the results indicated that such practice is not at the level of high efficiency and therefore it is necessary to find the coordination between job analysis and the appointment of appropriate individuals to the nature of the work required and needed by the factory. The researcher also suggests the adoption of an analysis system of the functions, linked electronically with the human resources department to make appropriate recruitment decisions.
Horn & Schunck parameter characterization of the gradient based method for Optical Flow computing

Optical Flow is an algorithmic tool used in motion vision task in order to get the movement 3D and its projection 2D in image sequences. Today a great number of approaches have been developed and others continue appear. However, in many applications the algorithm of Horn & Schunck continue being used due to their simplicity and parallel capacity. Evidence of this is the steady progress by the increasing speed that presents the more recent works over FPGA platforms. However, despite of the speed has been increased, don't exist formal studies that aboard the parameter involved in the approach, and only in few cases has been addressed the smoothest term, the number of iterations and the accuracy at the moment that you are development an application based on the algorithm. The goal of this work is to characterize these values since the point of view of a set of image sequences and experimental processing. A set of image sequences contained in databases are analyzed as benchmark for images with the same nature. Experimental results are validated using the Angular and EndPoint Error whit the software MATLAB.
Cloud Computing Location-Based Services for Quality Health Care Services Delivery

This chapter proposes a cloud computing location-based services system able to query points of interest, according to mobile users’ preferences and contexts, under dynamic changes of locations. The contribution consists of providing software as a service based on Delaunay Triangulation on road (DTr) able to establish the Continuous k-Nearest Neighbors (CkNNs) on road, while taking into account the dynamic changes of locations from which queries, enhanced by users’ preferences and contexts, are issued. The proposed software, implemented on a mobile cloud and exploited by mobile physicians for healthcare institutions localization and selection, considerably improves the quality of services provided for patients in critical situations by permitting real time localization of adequate resources that may contribute to save patients’ lives.
TEMPORARY TRADING SUSPENSIONS IN INDIVIDUAL

ALTHOUGH THE NYSE is a continuous auction market, the Exchange sanctions, under certain circumstances, interruptions in the nornal trading activity of listed securities. Such interruptions are called temporary trading suspensions. The NYSE can officially suspend trading in an individual security when either of two events occurs. They are: 1. a substantial influx or imbalance of buy or sell orders in the security, and 2. a pending or actual news announcement deemed to have significant implications for the price of the security. In essence, a temporary trading suspension is a signal by the Exchange that a temporary disequilibrium in the market for a security either currently exists or may exist in the very near future. Thus, temporary trading suspensions may provide unique opportunities to observe the adjustment of security prices in disequilibrium situations. Although the NYSE suspends trading only in "unusual situations" [12], almost three temporary suspensions occur per trading day on average. In spite of their frequency and apparent significance, these suspensions have yet to be extensively investigated. ' In this article we analyze price adjustments occurring over the suspension period and short-run price behavior prior to and subsequent to the suspension for a sample of nearly 1,000 individual security suspensions. Our investigation indicates that: 1. the magnitudes of price adjustments associated with suspensions are consistent with substantial and permanent shifts in equilibrium securities prices, 2. the price adjustments observed are consistent with an externally efficient securities market,2 3. both imbalance and news caused suspensions exhibit behavior consistent with adjustment to significant new information. In addition to the analysis of price behavior associated with temporary trading suspensions, we discuss the potential costs and benefits of suspensions. The
VEGF System in Dog's Thymus— Temporal Expression

Given the importance of the thymus to the immune system and the limited knowledge about its development and involution processes, this study evaluated the expression of the vascular endo-thelial growth factor, a key angiogenic factor for the formation of vascular tissue bed and modulation of functions related to cell proliferation and migration, hormone synthesis, and immunomodulation. In this study, thymus samples of dog fetuses (30, 40, 50 and 60 days old), and young (180 days old) and adult (365 days old) dogs were submitted to real-time PCR and Western blot. Time-dependent changes were observed for proteins and genes associated with the development of the vascular system, such as VEGF-A, VEGF-C, Flt-1, KDR, FLT-4, and EG-VEGF. This result demonstrates that these system components play different roles during development and involution of the thymus. Possible functions, such as the modulatory effect on vasculogenesis and microenvironment, influence the proliferation and differentiation of thymocytes, T cells maturation, cell-cell interaction and hormone secretion.
Effects of the “Beijing Twelve Measures” real estate regulation policy: Based on TEI@I methodology

Late in April of 2010,China has introduced a series of control measures in housing prices.As the implementation of the regulations made by the State Council,the Beijing Municipal Government has also released twelve specific measures in April 30.Based on TEI@I methodology,using an analytical framework integrating text mining,econometric models and intelligent algorithm,the intensity of and the impact′s duration of the Beijing real estate control policies,as well as a comparison of the influences of the policies on other first-tier cities,are analyzed.The results show that the volume of transactions on forward delivery housing and existing housing have decreased significantly due to the harsh strike in Beijing,however,the decrease is not so obvious in Shanghai and Shenzhen.
An Overview of the Initial Performance of the South African REITs Market

South Africa implemented the REIT structure in 2013 with the intention of encouraging local and international investment. A year after implementation South African listed property was reported to have performed better than the UK, European, and Asian REITs. This study assesses the initial performance of South African REITs and their portfolio diversification benefits when paired with Shares, Bonds, T-Bills, and other Listed Property in a mixed-asset portfolio, over the period May 2013 to December 2015. The findings show that REITs are the second best performing asset, risk-adjusted. REITs are a return-enhancer when included in a mixed-asset portfolio, and tend to contribute at the higher end of the risk spectrum. This paper contributes to the few that exist on emerging markets, it is a study of the only major REIT market in Africa, and is significant as it discusses South African REITs from their implementation.
The role of collaborative advantage for analyzing the effect of supply chain collaboration on firm performance

Collaboration plays a critical role in a globalized, rapidly changing and competitive world, as the resources of an individual company are limited to compete with the challenges of the era. Supply chain collaboration is defined as a partnership process where two or more autonomous firms work closely to plan and execute supply chain operations towards common goals and mutual benefits. Supply chain collaboration results in collaborative advantage, the strategic benefits gained over competitors through supply chain partnering, and these both increase firm performance of the partners. In this research, the effect of supply chain collaboration on firm performance has been investigated by distributing a survey to Turkish companies which have been responded by 150. The role of collaborative advantage in this relation has also been measured. The results of the research suggest that there is a positive correlation between supply chain collaboration and collaborative advantage. The results also prove that supply chain collaboration positively affects firm performance. It is also proven that the mediator role of collaborative advantage on the effect of supply chain collaboration on firm performance is statistically significant.
Advanced material planning performance: A contextual examination and research agenda

This research examines the inventory performance effect of advanced material planning modes and analyses how internal and external contextual difficulties moderate this relationship. This study also identifies avenues for future research. The empirical analysis uses a survey of material planning for purchased items in 292 Swedish manufacturing and wholesaling companies. Three dimensions of inventory performance are dependent variables: material planning performance, inventory turnover rate and service level. Advanced material planning modes are directly associated with material planning performance, but this study could not verify direct associations with inventory turnover rate and service level performances. External and internal contextual difficulties have direct effects on all inventory performance dimensions and moderate the inventory performance effect of advanced material planning modes. The moderating effect is stronger in non-difficult contexts, for which advanced material planning has significant inventory performance effects. Demand- and human-related contextual dimensions are especially critical. The study identifies the following guidelines for companies to consider in order to unlock the potential of advanced material planning: consider full implementation of advanced material planning in non-difficult contexts; minimize plan variability effects of high parameter revision and planning frequencies; minimize the need for, and use of, manual modification of planned orders before release; reduce demand uncertainty and variability; and secure appropriate human skills and working time. This study somewhat contradicts the literature on material planning by not finding a direct positive effect on any inventory performance dimension from analytical design of order quantities and safety stocks. Our research adds to the literature by identifying direct and moderating effects of external and internal contextual difficulties on all three inventory performance dimensions. The relative importance of managing automatic order release identified in our study motivates future research as the effect has not been previously highlighted in the literature. Accordingly avenues for future research and an agenda for practice-oriented research are suggested.
Biodistribution Study of Ethiodized Oil Emulsion 13 for Computed Tomography of the Liver and Spleen

Biodistribution studies were conducted with a new intravenous lipoid contrast material currently undergoing clinical trials in four hospitals. The contrast material selectively opacifies the liver and spleen for computed tomographic examination. The experiments were performed on rats with 125I-labeled ethiodized oil emulsion. The study showed that the liver accumulates nearly 80% of the injected iodine within 15 min of the injection and retains a high concentration over 3 h. The second highest concentration was found in the spleen. More than 99% of the iodine is eliminated from the liver and spleen within 48 h, primarily through the kidneys.
Stressful life experiences and mental health problems among unaccompanied asylum-seeking children

Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children aged 10–16 years (N = 93, M = 13.8, SD = 1.4, 81% boys) were assessed 6 months after arrival in Norway (SD = 5 months). Participants originated from 14 countries (63% Asia; 36% Africa). Severe life events (SLE) and psychological symptoms were measured by self-report. Participants reported a mean of 5.5 SLE (SD = 2.4), the most prevalent being death of a close person (68%), witnessing violence (63%), and war (62%). Some 54% scored above clinical cutoff on posttraumatic stress symptoms, 30% on anxiety symptoms, 20% on depressive symptoms, and 7% on externalizing symptoms. Number of SLE was associated with posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms (r =.50, p < .001), depression (r =.27, p = .020), and anxiety symptoms(r =. 34, p = .003), but not externalizing symptoms (r =.02, p = .874). None of the symptom variables were associated with age or gender. Results indicate that many unaccompanied asylum-seeking children have experienced not only war-related traumas but several other severe life adversities as well. It may thus be helpful to conduct early assessments on this group of children to assess their need for treatment or other psychosocial interventions.
Use of lacZ fusions to delimit regulatory elements of the inducible divergent GAL1-GAL10 promoter in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

We present the DNA sequence of a 914-base pair fragment from Saccharomyces cerevisiae that contains the GAL1-GAL10 divergent promoter, 140 base pairs of GAL10 coding sequence, and 87 base pairs of GAL1 coding sequence. From this fragment, we constructed four pairs of GAL1-lacZ and GAL10-lacZ fusions on various types of yeast plasmid vectors. On each type of vector, the fused genes were induced by galactose and repressed by glucose. The response of a GAL1-lacZ fusion to gal4 and gal80 regulatory mutations was similar to the response of intact chromosomal GAL1 and GAL10 genes. A set of deletions that removed various portions of the GAL10 regulatory sequences from a GAL10-CYC1-lacZ fusion was constructed in vitro. These deletions defined a relatively guanine-cytosine-rich region of 45 base pairs that contained sequences necessary for full-strength galactose induction and an adjacent guanine-cytosine rich 55 base pairs that contained sequences sufficient for weak induction.
Direct BPSK/QPSK demodulation by polarisation rotation

A novel method of demodulating BPSK and QPSK signals is presented. The system employs a traveling wave circularly polarized antenna with two ports, the annular sector radiating line (ANSERLIN) antenna. The antenna is setup to produce by superposition of two contra rotating circularly polarized signals linear polarization whose tilt angle is dependant on the PSK phase states. The polarization sensitivity of a simple dipole operating in concert with a standard detector diode was used to successfully produce unique amplitude levels corresponding the both BPSK and QPSK phase states. The technique described here forms the basis of a direct phase to amplitude conversion system viable as a simple means for obtaining direct BPSWQPSK demodulation based on magnitude detection only, hence the normal requirements for coherent carrier recovery electronics are removed.
Genotype-Phenotype Correlation among patients with Dystrophinopathies

Objective: To correlate the site and size of dystrophin gene deletion with the clinical picture in patients with dystrophinopathies. Design: The dystrophin gene is one of the largest known genes. More than half of the dystrophinopathy cases are associated with intrageneic deletions. The importance of the study arises from the fact that dystrophin cDNA probes provide a direct method of genetic diagnosis. This is the first study in an Arab population and only the second to use a three multiplex PCR method. Setting: Kuwait Medical Genetic Centre and Faculty of Medicine –Ain Shams University, Egypt Subjects and Methods: Fifty-two patients with dystrophinopathies (50 with Duchenne muscular dystrophy( DMD) and 2 with Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) from both Kuwait and Egypt were ascertained. Dystrophin gene deletions were detected using three multiplex reactions. Results: DNA analysis showed that 71.4% of the patients had deletion of the dystrophin gene while 28.6% showed no deletion. 24.5% had two deleted exons while 14.3% had only one deleted exon. The most common deleted exons among the Kuwaiti patients were 81,45 & 48 while exons 19, 45, 48 & 51 were found more commonly deleted among the Egyptian patients. The onset of walking was not changed by the number of exons deleted except when five exons were deleted. However, delayed onset of walking was observed when exon 48,51 and 45 were deleted (r=0.6078, and p=0.110). On the other hand, the average onset of weakness was neither correlated to the number of the exons deleted or to the deletion sites. Similar results were obtained regarding the average onset of wheel chair dependency. There was a slightly lower IQ with deletion of exons 48,45 and 12 but in general there is no correlation between the IQ and the site or the frequency of the deletion. Study of the intragenic deletions in 25 exons of the dystrophin gene using three different multiplex PCR sets revealed that 78%, 76% and 12% of DMD patients had deletion of each of the three sets separately. With all three sets together, the detection of deletion rate was increased to 86%. Fifty percent of the deleted exons were located in the distal hot spot, 8% in the proximal hot spot while 42% were scattered over both sides of the hot spot. Conclusion: No significant correlation was found between the size/site of the dystrophin deletions and the clinical severity. A multi centre larger study is recommended for a better understanding of the genotype-phenotype correlation.