Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Integrity of Financial Analysts : Evidence from Asymmetric Responses to Earnings Surprises

This paper investigates the integrity of financial analysts by examining their recommendation responses to large quarterly earnings surprises. Although there is no significant difference in recommendation changes between affiliated and unaffiliated analysts in response to positive earnings surprises, affiliated analysts are more reluctant than unaffiliated analysts to downgrade stock recommendations in response to negative earnings surprises. The evidence implies that conflicts of interest undermine the integrity of financial analysts. We further examine the effects of reputation concern and the Global Research Analyst Settlement as informal and formal mechanisms, on restoring analysts’ integrity. The results show that the positive bias in recommendations remains prevalent for affiliated analysts from reputable investment banks and for the post-reform period. Finally, evidence from market reactions suggests that investors fail to notice that analysts’ integrity is compromised by conflicts of interest and are misled by affiliated analysts. JEL classification: G10, G24, G02
Study on extrinsic text plagiarism detection techniques and tools

The swift evolution of technology has facilitated the access of information through different means which has opened the doors to plagiarism. In today’s world of technological outburst, plagiarism is aggravating and has become a serious concern in academia, research and many other fields. To curb this intellectual theft and to ensure academic integrity, efficient software systems to detect them are in urgent need. In this paper, a study on plagiarism is done with the focus on extrinsic text plagiarism detection, which is a fast emerging research area in this domain. The different extrinsic detection techniques and the methodologies involved are reviewed based on the current state of art. Further an overview of some of the available detection software tools, their features and detection efficiency is discussed with some of the output demos. The paper also throws light on the popular PAN competition, which is conducted yearly since 2009 in plagiarism domain and the major tasks involved in it. Further it attempts to identify the problems existing in available tools and the research gaps where immense explorations can be done.
A Low Phase Noise Microw Split Ring Res

The split ring resonators (SRRs) are utilized to implement a microwave oscillator in this paper. Since the SRRs provide a sharp band reject characteristic, a high Qfactor is realizable for microwave oscillators. Several identical SRRs are simultaneously employed to obtain as large a high reflection coefficient as possible which generates the oscillation condition incorporated with a microwave transistor. The output power is obtained as 10.6 dBm at 5.2 GHz with 2.0 V DC supply and 18 mA current consumption. Due to the sharp performance of the resonators, the phase noise is observed excellently around -115 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset. DC-RF conversion efficiency is measured 30.7 % and the figure of merit is 178.72 dB. Since further miniaturization of the resonators is possible adjusting the proposed configuration, this kind of oscillator can easily be adapted to the MMIC fabrication.
Regional and teleseismic event detection capability of the small-aperture Tripoli seismic array, Greece

The Tripoli Seismic Array (TRISAR) is a small-aperture array designed to monitor and locate the seismicity in the area of Greece. In this study, its detection capabilities are discussed for regional and teleseismic events. A reference event list is compiled, consisting of events ofmb>5.0for regional and teleseismic distances (A>6°), according to the ISC On-line Bulletin. TRISAR automatically detected approximately 25% of these events over the entire investigated distance range. Although TRISAR slowness vector residuals are rather large, as expected for an array of such small aperture, the benefits resulting from the use of such a system for reporting regional and teleseismic activity is obvious.
Relieving compression against injured spinal cord via non-suturing muscle layer in rat

Background: The sustained compression to the spinal cord caused by muscle scars after surgery in Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) models makes it difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of therapeutic regimens. The present study aims to evaluate potential strategies to reduce such compression. Materials and Methods: Rat SCI models were used and divided into two groups: one with muscle layer sutured after surgery and the other not sutured. The time point of muscle scar formation was determined by hematoxylin and eosin stain. Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) was performed after the determined time point to observe the severity of compression of muscle scar against the injured spinal cord in both groups. The Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan score (BBB score) was used to evaluate the locomotor outcomes. Results: The scar formed in the third week after the muscle was dissected. MRI in the fourth week after surgery indicated that the rats with muscle layer sutured experienced more severe compression against the spinal cord than those not sutured. The concave caused by muscle scars in the injured spinal cord tissue of the muscle layer sutured rats was more obvious than that in non-sutured ones. There were no statistically significant differences in the BBB score between the two groups (p>0.05). Conclusion: The compression to the injured spinal cord caused by muscle scars after surgical procedures could be relieved if the muscle layer is not sutured, and this non-suturing management may makes it easy to evaluate the effectiveness of therapeutic regimens in rat SCI models.
Joint Depth Map Upsampling via Prior Minimum Spanning Tree

Depth map is the fundamental of various 3D applications. While consumer-level depth cameras have gained much attention recently due to their affordable cost, the low resolution and bad quality of depth maps generated by them have obstructed their applications in practice. In this paper, we propose a novel depth map upsampling algorithm based on prior minimum spanning tree (pMST). Utilizing the registered color and depth images, we construct a prior map which indicates the probability of the co-occurrence between depth discontinuities and color image edges. Under the joint guidance of prior map and color image, a prior minimum spanning tree is extracted and the high resolution depth map is obtained via a joint bilateral filter on the pMST. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our method compared to existing local depth super resolution methods. Keywords—Depth upsampling; Minimum Spanning Tree; Edgeaware filter; Depth super resolution; Prior map
On the road with third-party apps - Security, safety and privacy aspects of in-vehicle apps

In recent years the automotive industry has started to digitise their vehicles. Traditionally cars have been equipped with radio, cassette or CD-players and more recently so-called infotainment systems. The abilities of these infotainment systems have developed over the years from only offering radio and navigation to now being a powerful Internet connected device comparable to tablets and smartphones. Recently several car manufacturers have announced the upcoming possibility to install third-party apps into these infotainment systems. With the prospect of downloading third-party code into a device that is integrated into a safety critical system, such as a vehicle with multiple environment sensors, there is a concern for both safety and user privacy. In this thesis, the safety, security and privacy aspects of in-vehicle apps are investigated. The thesis focuses on apps for the Android Automotive operating system which some car manufacturers, including Volvo Car Corporation (VCC), have opted to use in their infotainment systems. It is concluded that in-vehicle Android apps are fundamentally as secure as regular phone apps, the main differences stem from the fact that in-vehicle apps can affect road safety. The traditional Android API poses several risks to road safety while the Automotive version is more restricted it is still insufficient to not be a cause for concern. Furthermore, the added APIs in Automotive constitutes an elevated risk for user privacy. It is shown that the impact of these privacy risks can be mitigated to some extent by vetting apps with state-of-the-art static analysis tools. Finally, recommendations for security measures and vetting processes for secure in-vehicle app stores are presented.
Antiviral activity of Avicennia marina against herpes simplex virus type 1 and vaccine strain of poliovirus (an in vitro study).

Avicenniaceae family is a member of true mangrove plants which has one genus, 11 species and several subspecies. Avicennia marina is the most current species among these plants in Iranian mangrove forest. Regarding to the presence of many active biological constituents in this plant and their applications in traditional and alternative medicine, the in vitro antiviral activity of its leaf extract on herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1) and vaccine strain of polio virus (Sabin) in Vero cell line were determined. The CC50 of the extract was 5750.96 for Vero cells. The antiviral effect of the extract on HSV-1 and vaccine strain of polio virus before and after the attachment of the virus particles to Vero cells were assessed. The IC50 values of the extract were 66 µg/ml and 137.24 µg/ml for before and after virus attachment stages of HSV-1 replication cycle respectively. The IC50 values of extract for vaccine strain of poliovirus were 145.7 and 314.3 µg/ml for before and after attachment stages of virus replication respectively. The SI values of the extract for the before and after virus attachment stages of viral replication cycle were 87.1 and 41.9 for HSV-1. The SI for the vaccine strain of poliovirus were calculated 39.5 and 18.3 for before and post attachment stages of this virus replication cycle ordinarily. The obtained SI values indicate that hot glycerin extract of A. marina leaves could be a good candidate for further studies in the area of antiviral compound developing.
Representation of bilinear forms in non-Archimedean Hilbert space by linear operators

The paper considers representing symmetric, non-degenerate, bilinear forms on some non-Archimedean Hilbert spaces by linear operators. Namely, upon making some assumptions it will be shown that if $\phi $ is a symmetric, non-degenerate bilinear form on a non-Archimedean Hilbert space, then $\phi $ is representable by a unique self-adjoint (possibly unbounded) operator $A$.
The Concept of “Ba”: Building a Foundation for Knowledge Creation

This article introduces the Japanese concept of "Ba" to organizational theory. Ba (equivalent to "place" in English) is a shared space for emerging relationships. It can be a physical, virtual, or mental space. Knowledge, in contrast to information, cannot be separated from the context—it is embedded in ba. To support the process of knowledge creation, a foundation in ba is required. This article develops and explains four specific platforms and their relationships to knowledge creation. Each of the knowledge conversion modes is promoted by a specific ba. A self-transcending process of knowledge creation can be supported by providing ba on different organizational levels. This article presents case studies of three companies that employ ba on the team, division, and corporate level to enhance knowledge creation.
Deterministic choices in a data-driven parser.

Data-driven parsers rely on recommendations from parse models, which are generated from a set of training data using a machine learning classifier, to perform parse operations. However, in some cases a parse model cannot recommend a parse action to a parser unless it learns from the training data what parse action(s) to take in every possible situation. Therefore, it will be hard for a parser to make an informed decision as to what parse operation to perform when a parse model recommends no/several parse actions to a parser. Here we examine the effect of various deterministic choices on a datadriven parser when it is presented with no/several recommendation from a parse model.
Key Market Risk Factors : Identification and Applications The Q-Group Seminar on Risk , Florida , 2-5 April 2000

During the last few years there have been many changes in the way that financial institutions model risk. New risk capital regulations have motivated a need for vertically integrated risk systems based on a unified framework throughout the whole office. If the risk exposures in all locations of a large institution are to be aggregated, the risk system must also be horizontally integrated. Internationally, regulators are pushing towards an environment where traders, quants and risk managers from all offices are referring to risk measures generated by the same models. This is a huge task which remains a challenge for many financial institutions, but the result should be useful to manage risks for allocation of capital between different areas of the firm, and to set traders limits as well as levels of capital reserves.
CEO compensation and timing of Executive Stock Option exercises

This study examines the relationship between Executive Stock Option (ESO) exercise and firm performance in Malaysia for the period 2002-2008. We found a significant positive relationship between ESO exercise and firm performance for both market and accounting-based performance measures using data on ESO exercising from 201 non-financial companies. Our panel data analysis of fixed effect estimation indicated that Malaysian executives are most likely to exercise their options immediately after they are granted; suggesting intended behaviour of adopting ESOs rather than maximising the shareholders' wealth as governance mechanism. This early exercise pattern of Malaysian executives also indicates that executives are averse to the risk.
Microsatellite Markers Revealed Genetic Diversity in Mungbean Mutant Lines

Estimation of genetic diversity in a crop species is prerequisite for its improvement. DNA markers provide an opportunity to characterize genotypes and to measure genetic relationships precisely than other markers. Microsatellite markers are among the most popular genetic markers due to their characteristic features like high polymorphism, co-dominance, abundant informativeness, convenience of assay by PCR and distribution throughout the genome. The use of germplasm with distinct DNA profiles helps to generate breeding populations with broad genetic base. In the present study, SSR markers were used to analyze the genetic diversity of 30 mutant lines along with its parent PUSA9072. A total of 8 primers were used for STMS analyses and 9 alleles were generated and the number of alleles per SSR primer ranged from 1 to 2 with an average of 1.15 per primer. The size of the amplification products varied in case of each primer and the range was 50bp to 250 bp. The dendrogram constructed based on SSR data using average linkage, grouped the mutant lines into two different clusters having all the mutants in one cluster and the parent in other. Clustering pattern based on SSR marker data indicated that there is a narrow genetic base of mungbean mutant lines. The absence of polymorphism indicates that the mutation were not on the tandem repeat region. The results indicate the usefulness of SSR in the assessment of genetic diversity in plants.
Force-fight problem in control of aileron's plane

In order to reduce or eliminate the force-fight phenomenon of single feedback loop of redundant-channels, modelling the whole control system on the basis of analysing the structure of aileron, the correctness of the model is verified by experiments. Simulation results show that set the dead band of the valve which control the feedback loop smaller is conducive to the decrease of system’s fighting-force; for every reduce in the difference of the two valves’ overlap of 0.01mm, the fighting-force decreases one time; when the driving speed is more than 50mm/s, system abstains smaller fighting-force. Therefore, the optimization of structure parameters can reduce fighting-force effectively. When the parameters of valves and driving speed is restricted, another method of using a bypass orifice to connect the two cavities of the cylinder is proposed to solve the problem, simulation results shows that fightingforce reduce 2000N for every increase in the orifice’s diameter of 0.1mm when using the fixed orifice, and using the variable orifice can abstain a small fighting-force and meanwhile reduce the wastage of hydraulic oil.
Neutrino generated dynamical dark energy with no dark energy field

Dynamical dark energy (DE) phenomenon emerges as a geometrical effect accompanying the cosmological expansion of nonrelativistic fermionic matter. This occurs without the need for any fluid, like e.g. dynamical scalar field (quintessence, cosmon, etc.), and with conventional form of the Einstein equations in contrast to other known geometrical DE models. The phenomenon results from first principles in the framework of the two measures field theory where, in the Einstein frame, both fermion masses and the cosmological constant (CC) turn into functions of the cold fermion density n. This n dependence becomes negligible in regular (laboratory) conditions but it may have an important role in cosmology. In the 4D gravity model where the original action involves only CC and massive fermions without selfinteraction, for different (but wide) regions in the parameter space we have found two possible classes of scenarios for the late universe starting from the cold matter domination era. We argue that the fermions which drive the variable CC should be associated with cold neutrinos disposed in voids and supervoids. The cosmological dynamics of the first class practically coincides with that of the LambdaCDM model, while the dynamics of the second class is of the phantom-like regime with a pseudo-rip scenario. Crossing the phantom divide happens due to a new type of the neutrino DE effect where neutrinos pass through the state with zero mass and with the vacuum-like EoS P_{\nu}=-\rho_{\nu}.
Influence of continents and lithospheric plates on the shape of D '' layer and the spatial distribution of mantle plumes

The regularities of the global intraplate volcanism of the Earth are explained by the mantle plumes originating at the heads and margins of two piles of dense material of the hot and relatively heavy �� ′′ layer at the base of the mantle. Due to thermal blanket effect under a supercontinent the overheated region with ascending flows arises in the mantle. These flows distort the �� ′′ layer and produce the thermochemical piles in the lowermost mantle under the supercontinent. It is supposed that the pile under Africa originated at the time of existence of Pangea, while the pile under the Pacific Ocean originated at the time of existence of Rodinia. As Africa succeeds to Pangea, the pile under Africa exists until now. But it stays unclear why the pile under the Pacific Ocean exists up to now despite supercontinent Rodinia has been broken-up a long time ago. The numerical models of thermochemical convection in the whole mantle with spherical geometry which include the heavy �� ′′ layer allow to clear up effects of supercontinents and lithospheric plates on deformations of the �� ′′ layer by mantle flows and formation of the thermochemical piles.
Nonlinear, Intraseasonal Phases of the East Asian Summer Monsoon: Extraction and Analysis Using Self-Organizing Maps

AbstractThe hypothesis that regional characteristics of the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) result from the presence of nonlinear coupled features that modulate the seasonal circulation and rainfall at the intraseasonal time scale is advanced in this study. To examine this hypothesis, the authors undertake the analysis of daily EASM variability using a nonlinear multivariate data classifying algorithm known as self-organizing mapping (SOM). On the basis of various SOM node analyses, four major intraseasonal phases of the EASM are identified. The first node describes a circulation state corresponding to weak tropical and subtropical pressure systems, strong upper-level jets, weakened monsoonal winds, and cyclonic upper-level vorticity. This mode, related to large rainfall anomalies in southeast China and southern Japan, is identified as the mei-yu–baiu phase. The second node represents a distinct circulation state corresponding to a strengthened subtropical high, monsoonal winds, and anticyclonic upper-lev.
The Effects of Securities Class Action Litigation on Corporate Liquidity and Investment Policy

The risk of securities class action litigation alters corporate savings and investment policy. Firms with greater exposure to securities litigation hold significantly more cash in anticipation of future settlements and other related costs. The result is due to firms accumulating cash in anticipation of lawsuits and not a consequence of plaintiffs targeting firms with high cash levels. The market value of cash is lower for firms exposed to litigation risk. Corporate investment decisions are also affected by litigation risk, as firms reduce capital expenditures in response. Our results are robust to endogeneity concerns and possible spurious temporal effects.
Epidemiological analysis of infection by the bovine viral diarrhea virus on family farms in Brazil

The aim of the present study was to determine the seroprevalence of infection by the bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) on family farms, as well as to study the risk factors associated with the infection. In total, 319 blood serum samples were collected from cattle, of reproductive age (>24 months) in 24 herds from 11 cities of the brejo microregion in Pernambuco. The samples were subjected to the seroneutralization test to detect anti-BVDV antibodies. In order to identify the risk factors associated with the BVDV, a questionnaire epidemiologic was applied and followed by statistical analysis of logistic regression, with the serological test considered as the dependent variable (reagent or non-reagent). A prevalence of 51.1% (163/319; C.I. 45.5% - 56.7%) was found in the present study. Of the 24 herds sampled, 100.0% contained at least one reagent animal. The prevalence in the counties ranged from 23.1% to 70.0%. The following risk factors were identified in the present study: not providing colostrum (OR 3.85; p=0.018); disease unknown (OR 2.54; p=0.001) and consortium breeding (OR 1.76; p=0.013). Based on these results, it was clear that BVDV infection is widespread in herds on family farms in the microregion studied herein. Health education policies must be implemented for producers and professionals who provide technical assistance. In addition, based on the risk factors identified in the present study, hygiene-sanitary measures should be implemented in order to reduce the prevalence of the BVDV.
Mediation Using Covariance Based-Structural Equation Modeling (CB-SEM): The Why and How?

This paper summaries and provides answers to some of the challenging issues in relation to mediation analysis. Specifically, emphasis was on four key burning aspects with reference to up-to-date literature on mediation analysis. For a better appreciation of the efforts put in here, scholars and practitioners, have some guidelines suggested to conceptualise, test and interpret a simple mediation model. Researchers have the benefits of updating their knowledge base from the current citations provided to carry out proper analysis based on informed decisions.