Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Do We Need Multi-Country Models to Explain Exchange Rate and Interest Rate Dynamics?

This paper examines characterizations of exchange rate and short-term interest rate dynamics, based on the implications of multi-country versions of the Cox, Ingersoll, and Ross (1985) class of term structure models. The countries considered are the US, Germany, Japan, and the UK. Our tests reveal that multi-country models are, in some cases, better able to explain the dynamics of exchange rates and interest rates than two-country and single-country models respectively. This is particularly true for the Japanese interest rate as well as the rate of appreciation of the Deutsche mark relative to the US dollar. Our inference is conducted using the small-sample distributions of test statistics, in addition to their asymptotic distributions.
Content validation: clarity/relevance, reliability and internal consistency of enunciative signs of language acquisition.

Purpose To analyze the results of the validation of building enunciative signs of language acquisition for children aged 3 to 12 months. Methods The signs were built based on mechanisms of language acquisition in an enunciative perspective and on clinical experience with language disorders. The signs were submitted to judgment of clarity and relevance by a sample of six experts, doctors in linguistic in with knowledge of psycholinguistics and language clinic. In the validation of reliability, two judges/evaluators helped to implement the instruments in videos of 20% of the total sample of mother-infant dyads using the inter-evaluator method. The method known as internal consistency was applied to the total sample, which consisted of 94 mother-infant dyads to the contents of the Phase 1 (3-6 months) and 61 mother-infant dyads to the contents of Phase 2 (7 to 12 months). The data were collected through the analysis of mother-infant interaction based on filming of dyads and application of the parameters to be validated according to the child's age. Data were organized in a spreadsheet and then converted to computer applications for statistical analysis. Results The judgments of clarity/relevance indicated no modifications to be made in the instruments. The reliability test showed an almost perfect agreement between judges (0.8 ≤ Kappa ≥ 1.0); only the item 2 of Phase 1 showed substantial agreement (0.6 ≤ Kappa ≥ 0.79). The internal consistency for Phase 1 had alpha = 0.84, and Phase 2, alpha = 0.74. This demonstrates the reliability of the instruments. Conclusion The results suggest adequacy as to content validity of the instruments created for both age groups, demonstrating the relevance of the content of enunciative signs of language acquisition.
Analyst Tipping: Additional Evidence

We investigate whether the price run-up in a company’s stock prior to the initiation of analyst coverage with a favorable recommendation is related to the occurrence of an analyst-hosted invitation-only investor conference attended by the company. We document an average abnormal return of 2.41% (0.91%) during the twenty days prior to analyst initiations when conferences are hosted by initiating (non-initiating) analysts and 0.54% in the absence of these conferences. The abnormal returns are concentrated on conference days at 0.58% (0.17%) when conferences are hosted by initiating (non-initiating) analysts. Further, the price run-up and conference day returns predict the level of initiating recommendations. We conclude that investor conferences are significant venues where select investors obtain initiation-related information from initiating analysts or participating companies that other investors obtain when the initiations are publicly announced. Our conclusions are consistent with anecdotal evidence that securities firms communicate their research increasingly with the most profitable clients.
This Event is Me ! How Consumer Event Self-Congruity Leverages Sponsorship

l>al authors and contributed INTRODUCTION In hopes of cutting through the clutter of advertising, retail managers may consider event marketing and sponsorship. The sponsorship surge occurred for five consecutive years (2003-2008) at unprecedented rates, suggesting that sponsorship and event marketing transcends a short-term fad. Yet, currently, sponsorship growth is projected to linger at a subtle 2.2 percent growth rate among North American companies (ffiG, 2009). As a $34.4 billion industry worldwide, many advertisers seek an explanation of event sponsorship—specifically, of how shoppers see themselves fitting in with the sponsor and the event—to guide decisions regarding the billions of dollars invested, especially in times of economic scrutiny. Thus, we examine the role of consumers' perceived event self-congruity on the effectiveness of a department store's sponsorship of mall events. Specifically, our objective is to determine how shopper's event self<ongruity impacts their attitude toward the promotion, event persuasiveness and perceived entertainment, and intent to purchase at the sponsoring store. To do so, we conducted fieldwork at 21 retaÜ-sponsored mall fashion shows.
Perioperative ketamine for acute postoperative pain.

BACKGROUND Postoperative pain management is often limited by adverse effects such as nausea and vomiting. Adjuvant treatment with an inexpensive opioid-sparing drug such as ketamine may be of value in giving better analgesia with fewer adverse effects. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the effectiveness and tolerability of ketamine administered perioperatively in the treatment of acute postoperative pain in adults. SEARCH STRATEGY Studies were identified from MEDLINE (1966-2004), EMBASE (1980-2004), the Cochrane Library (2004) and by handsearching reference lists from review articles and trials. The manufacturer of ketamine (Pfizer) provided search results from their in-house database, PARDLARS. SELECTION CRITERIA Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of adult patients undergoing surgery, being treated with perioperative ketamine or placebo. Studies where ketamine was administered in addition to a basic analgesic (such as morphine or NSAID) in one study group, and compared with a group receiving the same basic analgesic (but without ketamine) in another group, were also included. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Two independent reviewers identified fifty five RCTs for potential inclusion. Quality and validity assessment was performed by two independent reviewers. In the case of discrepancy, a third reviewer was consulted. Patient reported pain intensity and pain relief was assessed using visual analogue scales or verbal rating scales and adverse effects data were collated. MAIN RESULTS Thirty-seven trials were included (2240 participants). Eighteen trials were excluded.Twenty-seven of the 37 trials found that perioperative subanaesthetic doses of ketamine reduced rescue analgesic requirements or pain intensity, or both. Quantitative analysis showed that treatment with ketamine reduced 24 hour PCA morphine consumption and postoperative nausea or vomiting (PONV). Adverse effects were mild or absent. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS Ketamine in subanaesthetic dose (that is a dose which is below that required to produce anaesthesia) is effective in reducing morphine requirements in the first 24 hours after surgery. Ketamine also reduces postoperative nausea and vomiting. Adverse effects are mild or absent.
A Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutant strain defective in acetyl-CoA carboxylase arrests at the G2/M phase of the cell cycle

To elucidate the essential functions of acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC1/FAS3) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a temperature-sensitive mutant (acc1ts) was constructed. When the acc1ts cells were synchronized in G1 phase with α-factor at the permissive temperature of 24°C and then released from the blockade and incubated at the restrictive temperature of 37°C, 95% of the cell population became arrested at the G2/M phase of the cell cycle despite the presence of fatty acids (C14-C26) in the medium. These cells developed large undivided nuclei, and the spindles of the arrested mutant cells were short. Shifting the G2 arrested cells back to the permissive temperature resulted in a reversal of the cell-cycle arrest, with cells initiating mitosis. However, after 3 h of incubation at 37°C, G2 arrested mutant cells lost viability and displayed a uniquely altered nuclear envelope. Using [1-14C]acetate as a precursor for fatty acids synthesis, we identified the phospholipids and sphingolipids derived from acc1ts cells and wild-type cells at 24°C and 37°C, respectively. The levels of inositol-ceramides [IPC, MIPC, and M(IP)2C] and very long-chain fatty acids C24 and C26 declined sharply in the G2/M arrested cells because of ACC inactivation. Shifting the acc1ts cells to 24°C after 2 h of incubation at 37°C resulted in reactivation of the ACC and elevation of the ceramides and very long-chain fatty acid syntheses with normal cell-cycle progression. In contrast, synthesis of wild-type inositol-ceramides, C24 and C26, fatty acids were elevated on incubation at 37°C and declined when the cells shifted to the permissive temperature of 24°C.
The Relationship between the Level of Capital Expenditures and Firm Value

Abstract When a firm's management needs to raise external capital in order to finance an investment project, it is likely to have better information about the project's future return than do potential investors. In such a case, as has been shown in the literature, management may be able to signal its information through the use of certain financial variables. However, the possibility that management may be able to use the level of investment in the project itself to signal their information has not been considered. The purpose of this paper is to examine this possibility. It is shown here that the level of capital investment may be able to perfectly reveal management's information, with a higher input level signalling more favorable information. It is further demonstrated that even in this equilibrium, financial variables still play an important role. Among other results, it is shown, in contrast to a conclusion of a study by Leland and Pyle, that in this setting the number of shares held by management may be negatively correlated with the favorableness of their information.
Dimensionality Reduced Reinforcement Learning for Assistive Robots

State-of-the-art personal robots need to perform complex manipulation tasks to be viable in assistive scenarios. However, many of these robots, like the PR2, use manipulators with high degrees-of-freedom, and the problem is made worse in bimanual manipulation tasks. The complexity of these robots lead to large dimensional state spaces, which are difﬁcult to learn in. We reduce the state space by using demonstrations to discover a representative low-dimensional hyperplane in which to learn. This allows the agent to converge quickly to a good policy. We call this Dimensionality Reduced Re-inforcement Learning (DRRL). However, when performing dimensionality reduction, not all dimensions can be fully represented. We extend this work by ﬁrst learning in a single dimension, and then transferring that knowledge to a higher-dimensional hyperplane. By using our Iterative DRRL (IDRRL) framework with an existing learning algorithm, the agent converges quickly to a better policy by iterating to increasingly higher dimensions. IDRRL is robust to demonstration quality and can learn efﬁciently using few demonstrations. We show that adding IDRRL to the Q-Learning algo-rithm leads to faster learning on a set of mountain car tasks and the robot swimmers problem.
Beyond genetics in personalized cancer treatment: assessing dynamics and heterogeneity of tumor responses.

Cancer has been considered a genetic disease for over a century – ever since von Hansemann first described abnormal chromosomes in cancer cells [1] and Rous demonstrated the ability of transmissible agents (viruses) to cause cancer in chickens [2]. By linking genetic alterations with disrupted biochemical processes, Tatum and Beadle paved the way for others to identify individual genes responsible for oncogenic transformation [101]. Major breakthroughs came in the 1970s when Martin described that a viral gene (v-src) is required to maintain the transformed state of virally infected cells [3] and Varmus, Bishop and colleagues discovered that viral oncogenes have mammalian cell orthologs [4–6]. Subsequent studies determined that many cellular proto-oncogenes are kinases [7–9]. This realization paved the way for the development of targeted cancer therapies that specifically inhibit these oncogenic kinases. With the advent of high-throughput sequencing and the ability to screen thousands of genes from individual tumor samples, many tumors that were once evaluated solely by their histopathological characteristics are now being genetically characterized in astounding detail. With sufficient numbers of molecularly characterized tumors, statistical correlations have suggested links between specific alterations of oncogenic kinases within distinct tumor types or subtypes [10,11]. Some of these molecular alterations are the basis of successful personalized cancer therapy, including HER2 amplification in breast cancer [12], BCR–ABL translocations in chronic myelogenous leukemia [13], mutations within the kinase domain of the EGF receptor (EGRF) in adenocarcinoma of the lung [14,15] and activating BRAF mutations in melanoma [16]. In each of these cases, specifically targeting the genetically altered kinase has provided significant clinical benefit to patients by prolonging overall survival and decreasing treatment-associated morbidity when compared with conventional chemotherapy. It is thought that the success of these drugs is due to the tumor cells being ‘addicted’ to the oncogenic signaling such that when the oncogenic signal is abrogated, the tumor cells stop dividing or die [17,18]. However, the targeted treatments are not curative and the tumors ultimately progress even in the continued presence of the targeted agents, clearly indicating that not all tumor cells die in response to treatment and setting the stage for resistance. Progression of initially responsive tumors is a major challenge to personalized cancer therapy since the clinical benefit of treatment is generally reported in months rather than years, and many questions remain about how and when tumors recur. Answers to these questions would provide enormous clinical benefit, providing physicians with the information necessary to select optimal patient treatment options.
Seasonality in Outliers of Daily Stock Returns: A Tail that Wags the Dog?

We document significant intra-year seasonality in outliers of S&P500 daily rates of return. Controlling for outliers in dummy regressions reveals that both the January and Monday effects turn from insignificant to highly significant. Mean daily return on January doubles and becomes significantly higher than all other months of the year, and Monday's mean return turns significantly positive and higher than other days of the week. The recently documented Halloween effect turns significant only after controlling for outliers as June, August, and September turn out to be months with remarkably low rates of returns. Being random, outliers cannot serve as instrumental variables for designing trading rules, yet, their impact on options pricing through the increase in volatility, may be applied for profitable options strategies.
Distribution of Pneumococcal Surface Protein A Families 1 and 2 among Streptococcus pneumoniae Isolates from Children in Finland Who Had Acute Otitis Media or Were Nasopharyngeal Carriers

ABSTRACT PspA is a structurally variable surface protein important to the virulence of pneumococci. PspAs are serologically cross-reactive and exist as two major families. In this study, we determined the distribution of PspA families 1 and 2 among pneumococcal strains isolated from the middle ear fluid (MEF) of children with acute otitis media and from nasopharyngeal specimens of children with pneumococcal carriage. We characterized the association between the two PspA families, capsular serotypes, and multilocus sequence types (STs) of the pneumococcal isolates. MEF isolates (n = 201) of 109 patients and nasopharyngeal isolates (n = 173) of 49 children were PspA family typed by whole-cell enzyme immunoassay (EIA). Genetic typing (PCR) of PspA family was done for 60 isolates to confirm EIA typing results. The prevalences of PspA families 1 and 2 were similar among pneumococci isolated from MEF (51% and 45%, respectively) and nasopharyngeal specimens (48% each). Isolates of certain capsule types as well as isolates of certain STs showed statistical associations with either family 1 or family 2 PspA. Pneumococci from seven children with multiple pneumococcal isolates appeared to express serologically different PspA families in different isolates of the same serotype; in three of the children the STs of the isolates were the same, suggesting that antigenic changes in the PspA expressed may have taken place. The majority of the isolates (97%) belonged to either PspA family 1 or family 2, suggesting that a combination including the two main PspA families would make a good vaccine candidate.
An Investigation of Moral Judgement in Frontotemporal Dementia

Objective:To investigate the basis of disturbed moral judgment in patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Background:FTD is characterized by difficulty in modulating social behavior. Patients lack social propriety and may perform sociopathic acts. In addition, FTD patients often lack empathy for others. These findings suggest alterations in the nature of morality in patients with FTD. Method:We administered an inventory of moral knowledge and two moral dilemmas to 26 patients with the frontal variant of FTD, 26 patients with Alzheimer disease (AD), and 26 normal control subjects. The FTD patients met Consensus Criteria for FTD and had corroborative frontal abnormalities on functional neuroimaging. The FTD and AD patients were comparably impaired on dementia measures. Results:All these groups showed the retention of knowledge for moral behavior and the ability to make “impersonal” moral judgments. In contrast, the FTD patients were impaired in their ability to make immediate, emotionally based moral judgments compared with the patients with AD and the normal control subjects. Conclusions:These findings are consistent with an attenuation of the automatic emotional identification with others that is part of the innate moral sense. Such a disturbance may result from neurodegenerative disease affecting the ventromedial frontal cortex.
The Construction and Assessment of Forecast Intervals for Monthly Inflation Rate1

In this research forecast intervals were built for monthly inflation rate during 2014 using an autoregressive model and the historical errors technique. For the first 7 months of 2014 all the actual values of the inflation rate are included in the forecast intervals. However, the historical errors method provided better results, because the intervals’ length is smaller. Therefore, there is a high probability for this method to provide the best prediction intervals for the next 5 months of 2014.
The Effectiveness of Corporate Governance in One-Tier and Two-Tier Board Systems – Evidence from the UK and Germany –

Abstract Germany and the UK are paradigms of systems in which the control of managing directors of companies either lies in the hand of a separate supervisory board (two-tier system) or is an additional task of the board itself (one-tier system). This paper provides for an empirical test of the effectiveness of both systems of corporate governance. The analysis of the financial performance and board turnover of the largest companies listed on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt and London over a total of 400 financial years establishes that both systems are effective means of control. Yet the analysis also demonstrates that it is not possible to assign superiority to either of them. Therefore, the often raised question as to whether one of the two systems will finally prevail and whether there will be ultimate convergence of both systems, has to be answered in the negative. As the discussion of the strengths and weaknesses will show, however, there is still scope for improvements in each of the two board models.
Haptic based emotional communication system in Second Life

The sense of touch has much importance in technology-mediated human emotion communication and interaction. Many researchers around the world are aiming to leverage the sense of touch in the communication medium between multiuser 3D virtual world and real environment. Driven by the motivation, we explored the possibilities of integrating haptic interactions with Linden Lab's multiuser online virtual world, Second Life. We enhanced the open source Second Life viewer client in order to facilitate the communications of emotional feedbacks such as human touch, encouraging pat and comforting hug to the participating users through real-world haptic stimulation.
China and ASEAN: Rivals for Foreign Direct Investment

The competition for scarce capital, particularly in the form of foreign direct investment, with its ability to create employment, increase wages, and transfer industrial technology, managerial expertise, and marketing know-how, as well as stimulating the development of local industries, has intensified between Southeast Asia and China. From 1986 to 1990, ASEAN rapidly liberalized and garnered an increasing share of the foreign direct investments flowing into East Asia. However, from 1991–93, as China sharply expanded the list of industries and regions open to foreign investment, the upsurge in investment inflows into China was at ASEAN's expense. ASEAN, particularly Indonesia, responded to the competitive pressure from China by further deregulations in 1993–94. An assessment is made of the implications of such rivalry on the future economic and political development of East Asia.
HOST SPECIFICITY OF FIG WASPS (AGAONIDAE)

For the development of seeds, the figs (Ficus spp.) are dependent upon small chalcidoid wasps of the family Agaonidae. No other means of pollination of fig flowers is available to the plant, and the wasps cannot develop anywhere except in the gall flowersof the fig.2 There has been considerable difference of opinion as to the degree of host specificity of the fig pollinators. For example, Baker (1961) did not fully accept the specificity of fig wasps, but in a later publication Baker and Hurd (1968) said that in the enormous genus Ficus a unique situation prevails in which almost every species of fig has a recognizably different wasp as a pollinator. The present paper evaluates the evidence concerning such specificity and its occasional breakdown. The female agaonids carrying pollen enter the young receptacles at the time the female flowers are ready for pollination (female phase). Wasps probably first pollinate all the female flowers (shortand long-styled) and next lay eggs in the short-styled ones. The flowers which are only pollinated develop normally and each produces a seed, while the pollinated flowers which also
Influence of Cross-Saturation on the Various Models of Induction Machine

The analysis of saturated machines is generally performed with the stator and rotor currents, or mixed combinations of currents and flux linkages as state variables were also taken into account. A synthesis of possible models of induction machines is presented. Possible models contain explicit terms that describe cross-saturation except for the winding flux model. This paper treats the impact of crosssaturation on the various models of an induction machines. All found models are classified into four families: models with no, weak, mean and high sensitivity to the phenomenon. 