Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Is There Safety in Numbers? The Effects of Forecast Accuracy and Forecast Boldness on Financial Analysts' Credibility with Investors

This paper reports the results of an experiment that examines how analyst forecast accuracy (i.e., how close an analyst's forecast is to realized earnings) and forecast boldness (i.e. how far the analyst's forecast is from the consensus forecast) affect the analyst's perceived credibility and investors' willingness to rely on and purchase the analyst's future reports. We hypothesize and find that forecast boldness magnifies the effect of forecast accuracy on these variables. That is, analysts who provide accurate, bold forecasts experience more positive consequences than those who provide accurate, non-bold forecasts, and analysts who provide inaccurate, bold forecasts experience more negative consequences than those who provide inaccurate, non-bold forecasts. We also find that these effects are not symmetric - the negative consequences of being bold and inaccurate exceed positive consequences of being bold and accurate. Our results are not sensitive to the level of the analyst's prior reputation.
Reduction in hospitalisation following pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with COPD.

OBJECTIVES Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) improves exercise capacity and health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and reduces health care utilisation. This study quantified outcomes of a PR program over a 6-year period and determined the effects of PR on hospitalisation. METHODS Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disesae (COPD) who entered an 8-week outpatient PR program from 1998 to 2003 were included. Functional exercise capacity (6-minute walk distance [6MWD]) and HRQoL (Chronic Respiratory Disease Questionnaire) were measured before and following PR. The number of hospital admissions and total bed-days due to a COPD exacerbation in the 12 months before and following PR were recorded. SETTING Physiotherapy Department, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Western Australia. RESULTS 187 (73%) of the 256 patients who entered PR completed the program. Improvements in 6MWD (404.2 +/- 114.6 m to 439.6 +/- 115.0m, P < 0.001) and HRQoL (4.1 +/- 0.9 points per item to 4.9 +/- 0.9 points per item, P < 0.001) occurred following PR. There was a 46% reduction in the number of patients admitted to hospital (71 to 38) with a COPD exacerbation and a 62% reduction in total bed-days (1131 to 432) following PR. CONCLUSION Pulmonary rehabilitation provided in an Australian teaching hospital was associated with a reduction in COPD hospitalisation, and the resultant savings outweighed the costs of providing the program.
Incidence of Female Androgenetic Alopecia (Female Pattern Alopecia)

BACKGROUND Female pattern alopecia seems to be increasing. A recent article suggests that female androgenetic alopecia may not be androgen dependent and is a different entity than male androgenetic alopecia. OBJECTIVE To determine the incidence at different ages of female androgenetic alopecia in 1000 Caucasian women 20 years of age and older. METHODS A total of 1006 Caucasian women were examined for the presence of female androgenetic alopecia. CONCLUSION Female androgenetic alopecia is quite common beginning in the late 20s and reaching its peak after 50 years of age.
The effects of supraphysiologic doses of testosterone on muscle size and strength in normal men.

BACKGROUND Athletes often take androgenic steroids in an attempt to increase their strength. The efficacy of these substances for this purpose is unsubstantiated, however. METHODS We randomly assigned 43 normal men to one of four groups: placebo with no exercise; testosterone with no exercise; placebo plus exercise; and testosterone plus exercise. The men received injections of 600 mg of testosterone enanthate or placebo weekly for 10 weeks. The men in the exercise groups performed standardized weight-lifting exercises three times weekly. Before and after the treatment period, fat-free mass was determined by underwater weighing, muscle size was measured by magnetic resonance imaging, and the strength of the arms and legs was assessed by bench-press and squatting exercises, respectively. RESULTS Among the men in the no-exercise groups, those given testosterone had greater increases than those given placebo in muscle size in their arms (mean [+/-SE] change in triceps area, 424 +/- 104 vs. -81 +/- 109 square millimeters; P < 0.05) and legs (change in quadriceps area, 607 +/- 123 vs. -131 +/- 111 square millimeters; P < 0.05) and greater increases in strength in the bench-press (9 +/- 4 vs. -1 +/- 1 kg, P < 0.05) and squatting exercises (16 +/- 4 vs. 3 +/- 1 kg, P < 0.05). The men assigned to testosterone and exercise had greater increases in fat-free mass (6.1 +/- 0.6 kg) and muscle size (triceps area, 501 +/- 104 square millimeters; quadriceps area, 1174 +/- 91 square millimeters) than those assigned to either no-exercise group, and greater increases in muscle strength (bench-press strength, 22 +/- 2 kg; squatting-exercise capacity, 38 +/- 4 kg) than either no-exercise group. Neither mood nor behavior was altered in any group. CONCLUSIONS Supraphysiologic doses of testosterone, especially when combined with strength training, increase fat-free mass and muscle size and strength in normal men.
Increasing Portfolio Effectiveness Via Transaction Cost Management

eter Drucker makes a distinction between efficiency and effectiveness. Efficiency, he says, is P doing things right. Effectiveneijs is doing the right things. He goes on to point out that efficiency is useless without effectiveness. In the field of investment management, effectiveness can be measured as the net return received per unit of risk undertaken. This suggests three possible ways to increase effectiveness:
Role of Knowledge in Assessing Nonuse Values for Natural Resource Damages

Measuring nonuse values is one of the most controversial topics facing environmental economists today. One important issue that has received little attention is determining who has economic standing with respect to nonuse losses from natural resource injuries. In this paper, a conceptual model for determining compensable nonuse losses is developed that is consistent with the Kaldor-Hicks principle of potential Pareto improvement, and then that model is applied to the results of a telephone survey on industrial water pollution in the lower Passaic River in northern New Jersey. One proposition from this model indicates that only people who have knowledge of the injured resource (i.e., 10 to 44 percent of respondents) can incur a compensable nonuse loss. A second proposition from the model indicates that demand for information about an injury to a familiar resource is a necessary condition for compensable nonuse losses. It was found that 81 percent of the respondents who were familiar with the lower Passaic River were likely to read, listen to, or watch a news story about the river. However, far fewer respondents familiar with the lower Passaic River were willing to engage in more active, and costly, information-acquisition activities (such as conducting research at the library and attending public meetings). Finally, the model suggests that geographic proximity to nondescript resources may affect nonuse values, information costs, or both, helping define the potentially affected population. The empirical results for the lower Passaic River support this third proposition. The overall conclusion is that only a small fraction of the population in New Jersey and New York might reasonably experience a nonuse loss as a result of industrial water pollution in the lower Passaic River. Copyright 2001 Gatton College of Business and Economics, University of Kentucky.
Nuclear Import of Zinc Binuclear Cluster Proteins Proceeds through Multiple, Overlapping Transport Pathways

ABSTRACT In Aspergillus nidulans, the high transcriptional level of the ethanol utilization pathway genes (alc) is regulated by the specific activator AlcR. Here we have analyzed the mechanism of the nuclear import of AlcR, as well as that of other proteins belonging to the Zn2Cys6 binuclear cluster family. The nuclear localization signal of AlcR maps within the N-terminal 75 amino acid residues and overlaps with its DNA-binding domain. It consists of five clusters rich in basic residues. Four of them are necessary and sufficient for nuclear targeting. The first two basic regions are crucial for both nuclear localization and recognition of AlcR-specific DNA targets. This nuclear localization signal (NLS) motif is recognized by the nuclear transport machinery of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and requires both Ran/Gsp1p activity and specific transport receptors. AlcR can be imported into nuclei via multiple transport pathways mediated by a distinct set of karyopherins composed of Kap104p, Sxm1p, and Nmd5p transport receptors. The two former karyopherins interact with the NLS of AlcR directly. Other Zn binuclear cluster proteins from S. cerevisiae, such as Gal4p and Pdr3p, also appear to be transported to the nuclei in a nonclassical, importin-α-independent manner and can share common importin β receptors.
Integrating phase and composition of secondary organic aerosol from the ozonolysis of α-pinene

Significance The phase of atmospheric aerosol particles can have dramatic effects on reactivity, growth, oxidation, and water uptake. As such, it plays a critical role in every aspect of particle evolution. Despite this, our knowledge of the phase of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) and how it changes in relation to conditions during SOA formation, particle history, composition, relative humidity, and temperature remains poor. Recent laboratory experiments suggest that SOA, under certain circumstances, is best described as a semisolid or viscous tar. This work shows how phase/viscosity, water availability during SOA formation, and composition are interrelated and offers mechanistic insights into these relationships. Airborne particles are important for public health, visibility, and climate. Predicting their concentrations, effects, and responses to control strategies requires accurate models of their formation and growth in air. This is challenging, as a large fraction is formed by complex reactions of volatile organic compounds, generating secondary organic aerosol (SOA), which grows to sizes important for visibility, climate, and deposition in the lung. Growth of SOA is particularly sensitive to the phase/viscosity of the particles and remains poorly understood. We report studies using a custom-designed impactor with a germanium crystal as the impaction surface to study SOA formed from the ozonolysis of α-pinene at relative humidities (RHs) up to 87% at 297 ± 2 K (which corresponds to a maximum RH of 70–86% inside the impactor). The impaction patterns provide insight into changes in phase/viscosity as a function of RH. Attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and aerosol mass spectrometry provide simultaneous information on composition changes with RH. The results show that as the RH at which the SOA is formed increases, there is a decrease in viscosity, accompanied by an increasing contribution from carboxylic acids and a decreasing contribution from higher molecular mass products. In contrast, SOA that is formed dry and subsequently humidified remains solid to high RH. The results of these studies have significant implications for modeling the growth, aging, and ultimately, lifetime of SOA in the atmosphere.
Managing Gap: A Case Study Approach to Asset-Liability Management of Banks

The importance of managing the asset-liability mix in the Indian financial markets has emerged from the increased volatility in the domestic interest rates as well as foreign exchange rates that has evolved after liberalization. The deregulated interest rate environment has brought pressure on the management of banks to maintain a good balance among spreads, profitability and long-term viability. Over the last few years, theire has been an intense competition and banks have been required to take up strategic planning as an exercise for asset-liability management in order to survive and grow in the ever increasingly competitive and risky environment. The paper presents a case study of four banks- Citi bank, ICICI bank, IDBI bank and SBI and studies how Asset Liability Management can be used as an important tool for managing liquidity risk and interest rate risk.
Income distribution and the size of the financial sector: a Sraffian analysis.

This paper explores the existence of links among the recent trends in income distribution, in the turnover of the financial industry and in financial regulation, moving from Sraffa's analyses of money and banking. It presents a linear production model where a banking industry is introduced and argues that changes in the size of the financial industry can change the distributive shares even if the rates of profit and wage remain constant. An increase in the new loans to workers can increase the profit share and reduce the wage share through an increase in effective demand and the level of production. The analysis can support the contention that the process of financial deregulation, with the consequent explosion of the financial system and the rise of systemic risk, is at the basis of the increase in income inequality observed in recent years. Copyright , Oxford University Press.
Multisite Mucous Membrane Bleeding Due to a Possible Interaction Between Warfarin and 5‐Fluorouracil

A 59‐year‐old man being treated for colon cancer experienced epistaxis, hematemesis, hematuria, and hematochezia. Laboratory evaluation revealed a greatly prolonged prothrombin time. It is possible that the bleeding was due to an interaction between 5‐fluorouracil and warfarin. The former may inhibit the synthesis of cytochrome P‐4502C9, leading to impaired metabolism of the latter.
Trends and determinants of managing virtual R&D teams

The past years have seen a decentralization of R&D to local markets and centres of excellence. Supported by modern information and communication technologies, "virtual project teams" were formed to facilitate transnational innovation processes. With their boundaries expanding and shrinking flexibly with changing project necessities, virtual teams are believed to be an important element in future R&D organization. Based on 204 interviews with R&D directors and project managers in 37 technology-intensive multinational companies we identify four distinct forms of virtual team organizations used to execute R&D projects across multiple locations. Ordered by increasing degree of central project coordination, these four team concepts are based on: (1) decentralized self-organization, (2) a system integrator as a coordinator, (3) a core team as a system architect, and (4) a centralized venture team. Our contingency approach for organizing a transnational R&D project is based on four principal determinants: (1) the type of innovation (radical/incremental), (2) the systemic nature of the project (systemic/autonomous), (3) the mode of knowledge involved (tacit/explicit), and (4) the degree of resource bundling (complementary/redundant). According to our analysis, the success of virtual teams depends on the appropriate consideration of these determinants.
Risk Factors for Development of Depression and Psychosis

Increased levels of glucocorticoid hormones—the main product of the hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal (HPA) axis—have been considered to be “depressogenic,” but this notion has largely derived from studies in patients with endocrine conditions, such as Cushing's syndrome or exogenous treatment with synthetic glucocorticoids. In these conditions, it is likely that the full impact of the high glucocorticoid levels is felt on the brain, through over‐stimulation of the glucocorticoid receptors (GRs); indeed, normalizing these high levels leads to an improvement of mood in these patients. However, a completely different mechanism may be operating in major depression, where the increased levels of glucocorticoid hormones are conceptualized as driven by an impairment in GR function (glucocorticoid resistance), and therefore as a “compensatory” mechanism. Moreover, clinical and experimental studies have shown that antidepressants increase GR function, thus leading to resolution of glucocorticoid resistance. Interestingly, a number of studies have also demonstrated that manipulating GR function with both agonists and antagonists has an antidepressant effect, and indeed that other drugs targeting the HPA axis and cortisol secretion—even drugs with opposite effects on the HPA axis—have antidepressant effects. These studies do not support the notion that “high levels of glucocorticoids” always have a depressogenic effect, nor that decreasing the effects of these hormones always has an antidepressant effects.
Developmental Differences in Megakaryocyte Maturation Are Determined by the Microenvironment

Historically, physicians have attributed delayed platelet engraftment following umbilical cord blood transplant to decreased numbers of stem cells in cord blood compared with adult bone marrow. However, recent studies suggest that delayed platelet engraftment may be caused by an intrinsic inability of neonatal stem cells to produce mature, polyploid megakaryocytes. We tested this hypothesis by transplanting adult bone marrow and newborn liver hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells from transgenic mice expressing green fluorescent protein into myeloablated wild‐type recipients and comparing the size and ploidy levels of megakaryocytes that developed in adult transplant recipients. Transplanted stem and progenitor cells, regardless of their source, gave rise to megakaryocytes that were larger than normal adult megakaryocytes as early as 7 days post‐transplant. However, megakaryocytes that developed after transplant of neonatal stem and progenitor cells were significantly smaller than those derived from adult stem and progenitor cells. Furthermore, megakaryocytes derived from neonatal cells had lower ploidy values than megakaryocytes derived from adult cells at 18 days post‐transplant, when ploidy could first be reliably measured in the bone marrow. These differences in size and ploidy disappeared by 1 month post‐transplant. The largest megakaryocytes developed in the spleen. These results suggest that, in the mouse, the microenvironment is responsible for some of the maturational differences in size and ploidy between neonatal and adult megakaryocytes. Furthermore, neonatal and adult megakaryocyte progenitors also have cell‐intrinsic differences in the way they engraft and respond to thrombocytopenic stress. These differences may contribute to the delay in platelet engraftment that frequently complicates cord blood transplants.
PROMOTIONS, STATE DEPENDENCE AND INTRAFIRM JOB MOBILITY: EVIDENCE FROM PERSONNEL RECORDS ∗

The objective of this paper is to add evidence of job mobility within a firm using personnel records from a single large U.S. corporation, focusing on the determinants of the hazard rates of being promoted to a higher hierarchy level. How to successfully control for unobserved heterogeneity is the goal in this type of analyses, and the approach taken here is to look at the history of the worker, by recognizing state dependence on past promotions. The results show that: (a) the peak of the promotion hazard rates is registered at exactly one year at the current position, even after controlling for observables characteristics and state dependence; (b) males, whites, and more educated workers have a higher probability of being promoted; (c) there is no evidence of â€œfast tracksâ€ : previous promotions do not imply a higher probability of future promotion, even after controlling for tenure at the current job; and (d) recent new hires seems to have an advantage when competing with insiders for a higher position. These last two findings seem to be at odds with the hypotheses of â€œjob-specificâ€ and â€œfirm-specificâ€ human capital, and to indirectly agree with the â€œPeter Principleâ€ prediction (Lazear, 2004), which suggests that if workers make efforts beyond their capabilities in order to be promoted, after reaching the desired higher position their incentives to be â€œover-productiveâ€ may decline.
Quantitative Evaluation of PET Respiratory Motion Correction Using MR Derived Simulated Data

The impact of respiratory motion correction on quantitative accuracy in PET imaging is evaluated using simulations for variable patient specific characteristics such as tumor uptake and respiratory pattern. Respiratory patterns from real patients were acquired, with long quiescent motion periods (type-1) as commonly observed in most patients and with long-term amplitude variability as is expected under conditions of difficult breathing (type-2). The respiratory patterns were combined with an MR-derived motion model to simulate real-time 4-D PET-MR datasets. Lung and liver tumors were simulated with diameters of 10 and 12 mm and tumor-to-background ratio ranging from 3:1 to 6:1. Projection data for 6- and 3-mm PET resolution were generated for the Philips Gemini scanner and reconstructed without and with motion correction using OSEM (2 iterations, 23 subsets). Motion correction was incorporated into the reconstruction process based on MR-derived motion fields. Tumor peak standardized uptake values (SUVpeak) were calculated from 30 noise realizations. Respiratory motion correction improves the quantitative performance with the greatest benefit observed for patients of breathing type-2. For breathing type-1 after applying motion correction, SUVpeak of 12-mm liver tumor with 6:1 contrast was increased by 46% for a current PET resolution (i.e., 6 mm) and by 47% for a higher PET resolution (i.e., 3 mm). Furthermore, the results of this study indicate that the benefit of higher scanner resolution is small unless motion correction is applied. In particular, for large liver tumor (12 mm) with low contrast (3:1) after motion correction, the SUVpeak was increased by 34% for 6-mm resolution and by 50% for a higher PET resolution (i.e., 3-mm resolution. This investigation indicates that there is a high impact of respiratory motion correction on tumor quantitative accuracy and that motion correction is important in order to benefit from the increased resolution of future PET scanners.
Kernel Affine Projection Sign Algorithms for Combating Impulse Interference

The kernel method has been successfully applied to nonlinear adaptive filtering. This brief presents a kernel affine projection sign algorithm (KAPSA), which is a nonlinear extension of the affine projection sign algorithm (APSA). The proposed KAPSA combines the benefits of the kernel method and the APSA, and is robust against non-Gaussian impulse interference. In order to further improve the filtering performance, a variable step-size adjustment is incorporated into the KAPSA, resulting in a new variable step-size kernel APSA (VSS-KAPSA) without increasing the computational burden. Simulations in the context of time-series prediction show that both the KAPSA and the VSS-KAPSA are robust against impulse interference and that both outperform other affine projection algorithms in terms of steady-state mean square errors.