Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Time Varying Stock Market Volatility: The Case of an Emerging Market

One of the key determinants for investment in financial markets is the tradeoff between risk and expected returns. While returns are relatively easy to quantify, the risk measurement has always posed challenges for investors. Engle’s (1982) proposition of time varying volatility has seriously challenged the use of standard deviation as a static estimate of risk. This phenomenon is more severe in emerging markets where stock prices are far from Gaussian world. In this paper, we examine the volatility patterns in Karachi Stock Exchange using GARCH framework between 2004 and 2012. We report that a period which witnessed significant growth vis-a-vis market capitalization and trading volumes, volatility clustering was obvious. This implies that all estimates of risk in this period based on standard deviations must be flawed and would have understated the actual risk. This has serious implications because risk assessment plays a vital role in estimating cost of capital, firm valuations and capital budgeting. Based on our finding, we propose that higher order moments of returns should be considered for prudent risk assessment.
The Role of Internal Control to Deal with Corporate Governance in Information Technology Environment in Commercial Banks

This study aimed to identify the requirements of the IT internal audit from the standpoint of corporate governance in terms of the regulations, instructions and ethics with the addition of the idea of the existence of internal auditing offices. Questionnaire was used as a tool to get the information was distributed to the internal auditors in the Jordanian commercial banks have been using the system for Likert, hypotheses were tested using sample t-test with the acceptance of these alternative hypotheses and reject hypotheses nihilism. The most important results of this study: that the regulations and the company adapted to the social conditions to ensure good implementation by her staff, and assess the degree to submit to the rules and regulations and amendments thereto staff and especially the financial and accounting by the internal auditor.
The Intangible Benefits of Sports Teams

This paper conducts a contingent valuation survey of professional sports teams in Michigan and Minnesota. Two findings indicate that the consumption value of teams is quite important in explaining why some citizens continue to support public stadium funding. First, interest in the team is important in determining the value of willingness-to-pay. Second, while aggregate willingness-to-pay values are somewhat less than typical stadium subsidies, they are large enough to be considered an important factor in public funding for stadiums. the findings do not imply that cities should spend tax money on stadiums, but they suggest that the focus on economic impact misses the true source of value teams have for cities as public goods.
PRESENCE OF PLASMA AND CELLULAR FIBRONECTIN IN UTERINE SECRETIONS OF PIGS DURING EARLY PREGNANCY

The fibronectin is an extracellular matrix protein, which play a significant role in cell proliferation, differentiation and migration in several physiological and pathological processes. During pregnancy the fibronectin mediate attachment of embryo to uterine surface epithelium. The aim of the present study is to identify plasma and cellular fibronectin isoforms in uterine secretions of pregnant pigs. The results indicated presence of proteolytic degradation of the plasma and cellular fibronectin molecules during embryo implantation and weak increasing of levels of plasma fibronectin with advancing of pregnancy. On the basis of these results it was suggested that the generated fibronectin fragments may be affect cell differentiation and migration of a trophoblast cells and endometrial surface epithelium.
New Media Business Models in Social and Web Media

Abstract The author argues that the economic shakeout of media firms and economic downturn of media markets is dominantly evident in traditional media industries whereas in new media the profit has been relatively stable. He argues that a real media crisis began a decade before the global recession that started in September 2008 and resulted from the emergence and subsequent convergence of digital media, falling costs of computing and online (internet-web) distribution, exponential growth of internet and broadband adoption and media market deregulation. The author argues that in order to attain sustainable competitive advantage, media executives and companies are required to strategically adopt, implement and utilize new consumer strategies integrating micropayments, new advertising models, innovative distribution methods, new audience concepts and high quality social and web media content production.
Electricity peak demand classification with artificial neural networks

Demand peaks in electrical power system cause serious challenges for energy providers as these events are typically difficult to foresee and require the grid to support extraordinary consumption levels. Accurate peak forecasting enables utility providers to plan the resources and also to take control actions to balance electricity supply and demand. However, this is difficult in practice as it requires precision in prediction of peaks in advance. In this paper, our contribution is the proposal of data mining scheme to detect the peak load in the electricity system at country level. For this purpose we undertake the approach different from time series forecasting and represent it as pattern recognition problem. We utilize set of artificial neural networks to benefit from accurate detection of the peaks in the Polish power system. The key finding is that the algorithms can accurately detect 96.2% of the electricity peaks up to 24 hours ahead.
Perspectives on Technology Change and the Marketing of Real Estate

Over the last ten years, technology has drastically changed the way people work, communicate, and receive information. Real estate brokers, like many other business people, have found themselves falling behind the technology curve and are struggling to quickly incorporate social networking and smartphone technologies into their marketing plans. Using data from the National Association of Realtors® annual home buying and selling survey, this study examines how home buyers use technology to assist in their home search process. In addition, this study compares how homebuyers are using technology to how effective local real estate brokers perceive technology to be in marketing real estate.
Noninvasive carotid artery imaging: caution ahead.

David F. Kallmes, MD Interest in and relevance of noninvasive imaging tests for carotid artery occlusive disease remain high. On the basis of strong data from randomized clinical trials, we know that accurate diagnosis of the severity of stenosis is critical for clinicians to sensibly recommend patients for subsequent intervention (1). In this issue of Radiology, Chappell et al (2) offer a refreshing, in-depth, and innovative approach to assessing the literature in regard to noninvasive carotid artery imaging that, hopefully, will inform researchers about how future studies should be conducted, how the results should be reported, and how the data should be interpreted. In designing and conducting their study, Chappell et al took aim at several underappreciated yet clinically relevant aspects of this literature. These issues included the following questions: (a) How well do real-life case series, collected as a part of routine audits rather than of research studies, compare with those in the published literature? (b) Does the symptomatic status of the artery matter? (c) How valid is the use of a combination of noninvasive tests? (d) Can these noninvasive tests help to identify patients with moderate stenoses, which in some cases may warrant intervention (3)? (e) Which test is best? To carry out a comparison of individual patient data and data in the literature, in this systematic review, Chappell et al (2) used a refreshing approach to data collection. That is, they scoured the landscape, identifying both published and unpublished series of cases, both research and audit data, to obtain relevant data sets to test their hypothesis. They found that
Entrepreneurship Under Threat: A Case Study on Kich Group of Companies, Rajkot, Gujarat (India)

Kich Group of Companies, Rajkot, Gujarat, (India) has been identified as a success story of entrepreneurship in the Indian steel market since the day of its inception. However, the concern is still not free from major business threats. To explore the issues pertaining to its present status, growth, expansion and diversification of the business, the author spoke to Mr. Dinesh Hepani, Director, Export, Kich Marketing Pvt. Ltd. (a part of Kich Group of Companies) for getting his opinion about the business model and work culture of the Company. The questions were intended to find out whether his business challenges were related more to people, process or export strategies so that the issues can be discussed further to identify if there were larger problems. The entire discussions and interview narrations were than interpreted and presented in a structured format by the author for academic and industry discussion purposes. A few practical suggestions have also been extended at the end of the study that are expected to revitalize the work efficiency of the Concern to a significant extent.
The Modified Jiles–Atherton Model for the Accurate Prediction of Iron Losses

The Jiles–Atherton (JA) model explains hysteresis phenomenon in a ferromagnetic material through domain wall transitions with five material constants called the JA parameters. These parameters describe the magnetic characteristics of a ferromagnetic material and are identified from the measured saturated B–H loop. However, the JA parameters cannot predict the inner loops accurately and this presents a serious problem for the JA model to be used in finite element based computer-aided design simulations. In this paper, we have proposed a new approach which assumes one of the JA parameters to be a function of magnetic field intensity H, or magnetic flux density B, and requires knowledge of the inner loops. The improvement in the accuracy of the modified JA model has been demonstrated by comparing its predictions with measurements and one of the already published works.
Consumer Profiles and Perceptions: Country‐of‐origin Effects

Country‐of‐origin research has concentrated on the examination of consumer product perceptions or attitudes towards products made in different countries based on a variety of intrinsic or extrinsic cues. This research takes a different approach by examining the impact of country of origin, levels of foreign product ownership and consumer′s occupational status on interpersonal perceptions. Since respondents were not asked to engage in direct evaluations of various products of domestic or foreign origins, consumer normative response tendencies should be minimized. This approach also allows the examination of differential effects of country of origin on different consumer segments according to the occupational status.
Non-contact liquid sensing using high resolution microwave microstrip resonator

Here, non-contact liquid sensing using high-resolution microwave sensor is reported. The proposed sensor is based on a passive ring resonator with an active feedback loop to generate negative resistance and compensate for the resonator's loss, which in return significantly increases the quality factor of the system. High quality factor offers high-resolution readout with large field penetration depth and thus enables distant, non-contact sensing of liquid materials in a career tube. The active loop technique increases the quality factor of the resonator from 240 to 200000 in air. It also provides flexibility of adjusting the quality factor by varying DC voltage. To our knowledge, this is the first time that a non-contact liquid measurement technique using such high quality factor is reported.
Anti-Osteoarthritic and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Diazine: In Vitro and In Vivo Studies

Background The present study evaluated the effects of diazine (DZN) on collagenase-induced osteoarthritis (OA) in rats. Material/Methods OA was produced via intra-articular injections of collagenase type II into the knee joint. The rats were then treated with DZN (25, 50, or 100 mg/kg, p.o.) for three weeks. At the end of the protocol, all rats were evaluated for paw latency, paw edema, and knee swelling. Additionally, serum concentrations of glycosaminoglycan (GAG), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and C-reactive protein (CRP) were determined. X-rays were performed to estimate radiological and histopathological changes in the knee joint. The expressions of antioxidant enzymes, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) were estimated in the synovial tissues. Results DZN treatment attenuated inflammation in osteoarthritic rats, as evidenced by decreases in paw edema and knee swelling and enhanced paw latency compared to the negative control group. Additionally, there were significant decreases in the serum levels of CRP and GAG and increases in ALP in the DZN-treated groups compared to the negative control group. The radiological and histopathological results showed that DZN protected against cartilage damage in the knee joint. Additionally, MMP levels decreased and there were significant reductions in the expressions of antioxidant enzymes and TIPMs in the DZN-treated groups compared to the negative control group. Conclusions The present findings demonstrated the chondroprotective effects of DZN via its modulation of the expressions of TIMP-1 and MMPs in the synovial tissues of osteoarthritic rats.
The Importance of Course Design on Classroom Performance of Marketing Students

The main objective of this study was to investigate the impact of course design on marketing student outcomes by examining data gathered over several semesters from 563 undergraduate students enrolled in marketing classes at a major university. During this period of time, respondents were enrolled in one of four marketing courses, each of which was offered in three different course designs: experiential, participative, and traditional. Results indicate that course design influences student perceptions about how the class was conducted and their performance on assessments of seven specific marketing concepts: marketing environment, buyer behavior, marketing research, product, price, promotion, and place.
Engineering logistics information system in the second wave of e-business era: a perspective from business network strategy

This paper presents a conceptual framework for the analysis of implementing logistics information system during the second wave of e-business era from a perspective of business network strategy. To tackle the competition and pursue more potential markets, many firms have implemented information systems in supply chain management in order to gain competitive advantages. Nevertheless, most of them lack the strategic view from business networks that they are in. The result is a lose of support from collaborative partners and system flexibility in the increasingly interconnected business environments. It is suggested that firms should consider the interactions and dynamics of the determinants in business network when designing and implementating logistics information systems.
Metabolic First‐Pass Effects

in which Fat, F1, FH, and FL are the fractions of dose transported from the gut lumen to intestine, and the drug availabilities from the intestine, liver, and lung, respectively. The overall availability is a product because each of the organs or tissues involved in the first-pass effect is arranged serially, i.e., the effluent serves as the influent for the next eliminating organ. On examination of the individual F terms, F8 is a function of the extent of gut wall/luminal metabolism and the dosage form, which is distinct from intestinal tissue metabolism. Transport through the intestinal tissue (Fain) competes for drug in lumen that is being lost as a result of metabolism and nonabsorption. During the transit of drug through the intestinal tissue, metabolism may occur, with the fraction that escapes intestinal metabolism denoted as F1. We must, at this stage, distinguish between the sites of metabolism for drug in lumen and intestine. Some drugs are readily metabolized when placed in the intestinal lumen, being accessible to intestinal bacterial enzymes and enzyme sites on the intestine that are protruding into the lumen. When these drugs reach the systemic circulation that perfuses the intestinal tissue, further drug metabolism is not observed. Examples of these are enalapril and acetaminophen, as found in the perfused rat small intestine preparations.3’4 For these drugs, intestinal metabolism occurs as an isolated event during drug absorption, and the extent of metabolism may be taken into account by F8. By contrast, other drugs such as 4-methylumbelliferone and salicylamide are metabolized by the intestine during both the absorption process and recirculation in the blood.5’6 For these drugs, the extent of intestine elimination is expressed in terms of (1 F1), with the fraction escaping intestinal metabolism as F1. Because the intestinal venous blood drains into the portal vein to constitute the bulk of portal venous flow, e.g., 75% of total liver blood flow, the effective clearance across the intestine and liver cannot be greater than total liver blood flow. For this reason, we often misconstrue first-pass loss of drug (and on recirculation of drug) as totally hepatic in [3] PHARMACOKINETICS
Multi-motion robots control based on bioelectric signals from single-channel dry electrode

This article presents a multi-motion control system to help severe disabled people operate an auxiliary appliance using neck-up bioelectric signals measured by a single-channel dry electrode on the forehead. The single-channel dry-electrode multi-motion control system exhibits several practical advantages over its conventional counterparts that use multi-channel wet-electrodes; among the challenges is an effective technique to extract bioelectric features for reliable implementation of multi degrees-of-freedom motion control. Using both time and frequency characteristics of the single-channel dry-electrode measurements, motion commands are derived from multiple feature signals associated with concentration demands and different eye-blink actions for use in a two-level control strategy that has been developed to control predefined multi degrees-of-freedom motion trajectories. Test paradigms were designed to pre-calibrate the users’ feature signals to statistically account for individual variances. Experimental trials were then carried out on able-bodied and disabled volunteers to validate the universal applicability of the algorithms. The classification success rates for two different eye-blink feature signals were approximately 95% with an average time of 2.4 s for executing a concentration feature signal. The single-channel dry-electrode–based technique has been validated on a 6-degree-of-freedom robot arm demonstrating its significant potentials to help patients suffering severe motor dysfunctions operate a multi-motion auxiliary appliance in everyday living where the ease of use is a priority.
KIRREL is differentially expressed in adipose tissue from 'fertil+' and 'fertil-' cows: in vitro role in ovary?

We have previously shown that dairy cows carrying the 'fertil-' haplotype for one quantitative trait locus affecting female fertility located on the bovine chromosome three (QTL-F-Fert-BTA3) have a significantly lower conception rate and body weight after calving than cows carrying the 'fertil+' haplotype. Here, we compared by Tiling Array the expression of genes included in the QTL-F-Fert-BTA3 in 'fertil+' and 'fertil-' adipose tissue one week after calving when plasma non-esterified fatty acid concentrations were greater in 'fertil-' animals. We observed that thirty-one genes were overexpressed whereas twelve were under-expressed in 'fertil+' as compared to 'fertil-' cows (P < 0.05). By quantitative PCR and immunoblot we confirmed that adipose tissue KIRREL mRNA and protein were significantly greater expressed in 'fertil+' than in 'fertil-'. KIRREL mRNA is abundant in bovine kidney, adipose tissue, pituitary, and ovary and detectable in hypothalamus and mammary gland. Its expression (mRNA and protein) is greater in kidney of 'fertil+' than 'fertil-' cows (P < 0.05). KIRREL (mRNA and protein) is also present in the different ovarian cells with a greater expression in granulosa cells of 'fertil+' than 'fertil-' cows. In cultured granulosa cells, recombinant KIRREL halved steroid secretion in basal state (P < 0.05). It also decreased cell proliferation (P < 0.05) and in vitro oocyte maturation (P < 0.05). These results were associated to a rapid increase in MAPK1/3 and MAPK14 phosphorylation in granulosa cells and to a decrease in MAPK1/3 phosphorylation in oocyte. Thus, KIRREL could be a potential metabolic messenger linking body composition and fertility.
Vladimir Privman

Vladimir Privman received his DSc degree in Physics in 1982 at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. After postdoc positions at Cornell, 1982–1984, and at Caltech, 1984–1985, he assumed a faculty position at Clarkson University, 1985. He authored over 250 research papers, 3 books, over 20 major reviews, received several honors and recognitions, held Royal Society Guest Research Fellowship during a sabbatical at University of Oxford, England, 1991–1992, and served as Chair of the Physics Department at Clarkson University during 1996–1999. He is a Fellow of American Physical Society and presently holds the Robert A. Plane Endowed Chair professorship, and directs Center for Innovative Device Technologies. Dr Privman’s research interests span broad areas of nanotechnology and information technology, including synthesis of colloids and nanoparticles; materials science, including bio-inspired concepts in materials; unconventional information processing, specifically, biomolecular computing; biosensing; physics of semiconductor nanodevices, spintronics, quantum computing; statistical mechanics, surface and polymer science. Since mid. -1990ies, Dr Privman has led research efforts in novel approaches to complex unconventional-computation systems. His contributions have ranged from quantum computing: design [5,6], and evaluation of decoherence [1,2], to spintronics transport [9,10], and, staring in mid. -2000th, to biomolecular computing: network [3,7] and component design [4,8] with emphasis on avoidance of noise buildup. All his publications are available at http://www.clarkson. edu/Privman.