Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Management Earnings Forecasts and Target Ratcheting: From the Perspective of Abnormal Accruals

This paper analyzes earnings management for the current year and the revision of management earnings forecasts (MEF) for the next year. It reports that the ratchet effect can be observed at the managerial level. Principals, who do not hold as much comprehensive information on productivity as agents do, determine the future budget based on past performance. This tendency of target ratcheting may cause a ratchet effect, wherein agents reduce their effort to prevent future budgets from being revised upward. First, in the relationship with shareholder as the principal and manager as the agent, evidence that target ratcheting can be observed in MEF is presented. Next, the study assumes two managers with different unmanaged earnings forecasts for the next year in order to analyze abnormal accruals manipulated by them in the current year, and the MEF revision for the next year—one includes management who attains the current year’s MEF, but predicts earnings decline for the next year (TRANSIT), while the other attains the current year’s MEF, but predicts earnings increase the next year (PERSIS). Consistent with the ratchet effect, both TRANSIT and PERSIS reduce accruals in the current period. Finally, the relationship between abnormal accruals of the current year and the revision of MEF for the next year are analyzed. The results show that the ratchet effect is only observed in TRANSIT. These results suggest that the managerial difficulty of the consecutive earnigs increases is a necessary condition for the ratchet effect to be established.
Analysis of efficiency gains in commodity price forecasting using ARMA models with varying levels of data aggregation

(Under the direction of Octavio Ramirez) ABSTRACT This study evaluates the efficiency gains in forecasting three commodity prices (live cattle, coffee and cotton) using different ARMA models with varying levels of temporal aggregations (weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually). More specifically, it evaluates whether the disaggregated models can produce more accurate aggregated price predictions than the corresponding aggregated models. The commodity prices were adjusted using the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Likewise, they had a nonstationary behavior and heteroskedasticity issues; therefore they were subject to detrending and transformations using GLS. Under the three different scenarios, disaggregation levels effectively provided an efficiency gain in forecasting, and the best models were the weekly models. The same behavior was consistent across all possible levels of aggregations, i.e. monthly models had a better performance than quarterly and annual models in forecasting quarterly and annual prices.
Relevance and Definition

ABSTRACT The study examined whether the use of superordinate terms in children's definitions was predicted by relevance theory. Two hundred and six children aged five to ten years gave definitions for 16 basic-level words and four superordinate words from natural kind and artefact semantic domains. Superordinate terms were used more frequently when they supported more inferences. This was evidenced by their more frequent use in natural kind than in artefact domains, and more frequent use when the superordinate was itself defined by a semantically complex expression. When used, superordinates also usually occurred at the beginning of the definitional expression. It is argued that these findings reflect the speaker's intention to achieve optimal relevance, that is, to achieve maximum contextual effects with the least processing effort.
Modeling spatial climate change landuse adaptation with multi-objective genetic algorithms to improve resilience for rice yield and species richness and to mitigate disaster risk

As climate change is ongoing, many studies have recently focused on adaptation to climate change from a spatial perspective. However little is known about how changing the spatial composition of landuse could improve climate change resilience. Consideration of climate change impacts when spatially allocating landuse could be a useful and fundamental long term adaptation strategy, particularly for regional planning. Here, we identify climate adaptation scenarios based on existing extents of three landuse classes using multi-objective genetic algorithms for a 9982 km2 region with 3.5 million inhabitants in South Korea. We selected five objectives for adaptation based on predicted climate change impacts and regional economic conditions: minimization of disaster damage and existing landuse conversion, maximization of rice yield, protection of high species richness areas, and economic value. We generated 17 Pareto landuse scenarios by six weighted combinations of the adaptation objectives. Most scenarios, although varying in magnitude, showed better performance than the current spatial landuse composition for all adaptation objectives, suggesting that some alteration of current landuse patterns could increase overall climate resilience. Given the flexible structure of the optimization model, we expect that regional stakeholders could efficiently generate other scenarios by adjusting model parameters (weighting combinations) or replacing input data (impact maps), and selecting a scenario depending on preference or a number of problem-related factors.
Measuring Health Outcomes of Uncovered Employment: A Study of Income, Social Mobility, Equality, and Health Indicators in an Under-looked Segment of the Labor Force

Economists have strongly supported the idea that unemployment causes many undesirable health outcomes. However, how does belonging to a different sector of employment tied closely to changes in minimum wage and inflation relate to overall health? To properly understand the numerical significance of health disparities in the uncovered sector of employment, this research is targeted at quantifying the relationship between the insured and non-insured within the uncovered sector. By substantiating the existence of severe health disparities as a function of the labor force dynamic, this research subsequently estimates the amount of inefficiency and negative health outcomes in the US economy and populace that can be attributed to minimum wage hikes, the single cause for uncovered employment. Several single regressions are conducted to understand the statistical significance of both health spending and life expectancy, and youth unemployment and overall unemployment. Youth unemployment is a function of employment, which is seen as a significant indicator of social mobility and policy demand for rises in the minimum wage. The data in this research comes mostly from the World Bank, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and individual US state censuses. 2 Undergraduate Economic Review, Vol. 14 [2017], Iss. 1, Art. 6 https://digitalcommons.iwu. edu/uer/vol14/iss1/6
The Effects of Age on Neural Blockade and Hemodynamic Changes After Epidural Anesthesia with Ropivacaine

We studied the influence of age on the neural blockade and hemodynamic changes after the epidural administration of ropivacaine 1.0% in patients undergoing orthopedic, urological, gynecological, or lower abdominal surgery. Fifty-four patients were enrolled in one of three age groups (Group 1: 18–40 yr; Group 2: 41–60 yr; Group 3: ≥61 yr). After a test dose of 3 mL of prilocaine 1.0% with epinephrine 5 &mgr;g/mL, 15 mL of ropivacaine 1.0% was administered epidurally. The level of analgesia and degree of motor blockade were assessed, and hemodynamic variables were recorded at standardized intervals. The upper level of analgesia differed among all groups (medians: Group 1: T8; Group 2: T6; Group 3: T4). Motor blockade was more intense in the oldest compared with the youngest age group. The incidence of bradycardia and hypotension and the maximal decrease in mean arterial blood pressure during the first hour after the epidural injection (median of Group 1: 11 mm Hg; Group 2: 16 mm Hg; Group 3: 29 mm Hg) were more frequent in the oldest age group. We conclude that age influences the clinical profile of ropivacaine 1.0%. The hemodynamic effects in older patients may be caused by the high thoracic spread of analgesia, although a diminished hemodynamic homeostasis may contribute.
The ASEAN Studies Instruction to Develop the Cross – Cultural Skill of Learners in The 21 st Century

The ASEAN studies instruction to develop the cross-cultural skill of learners in the 21st century is learning process that consists of three aspects. The first is the instructional input that consists of the preparation of learners, the preparation of instructors, and the preparation of institutions. The second is the instructional process that consists of the contents of ASEAN studies in the Basic Education Core Curriculum B.E. 2551 (A.D.2008), the ASEAN studies instructional techniques, and the assessment for learner-development. The third is the instructional output or outcome that consists of the knowledge of ASEAN studies, the cross-cultural skill, and the good attitude in the multicultural society. The ASEAN studies instruction is not only learning to know the content, but also learning for skills. It advances learning for knowledge towards learning for implement skills. Learners can implement the cross-cultural skill and other skills for their being as Thai citizen, ASEAN citizen, and global citizen, and the most important goal is living together peacefully and sustainably in the multicultural society.
Harnessing Technology for Promoting Undergraduate Art Education: A Novel Model that Streamlines Learning between Classroom, Museum, and Home

We report on the development and evaluation of an innovative instructional model, which harnesses advanced technologies and local resources (an in-campus museum), to support undergraduate-level art history students in developing the skills required for analyzing artwork. Theory suggests that analyzing artwork requires theoretical knowledge and practical experience gained through critical dialogue and inquiry of original artwork. An instructional model was designed in which technology (website, collaborative docs, and mobile apps) supported streamlining of learning across settings (class, museum, and home) and conducting collaborative inquiry in situ (e.g., museum). Using a design research approach, the model was studied in three aspects: its potential to enable instructors to implement the cognitive apprenticeship instructional approach; its contribution to the students' development of independence and self-efficacy in analyzing artwork; and the contribution of technology to streamlining learning between settings. Data was collected from two enactments of the course. Findings indicate that the instructors gradually faded their modeling and coaching enabling students to become more active, hence the model we designed was largely implemented by the instructors. Furthermore, it supported students' gradual development of independence in practicing the newly learned skills. From the students' perspective, the integrated technologies created seamless learning between the three settings.
Improving Multipath Video Transmission With Raptor Codes in Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

Supported by the latest technical innovations mobile users are able to simultaneously receive real-time streaming services with different radio access technologies (e.g. LTE and Wi-Fi). The stream control transmission protocol (SCTP) is a vitally important transport protocol to enable concurrent multipath transfer (CMT) in heterogeneous wireless networks with multihomed terminals. However enabling CMT of real-time video streaming to multihomed mobiles is challenged with key technical dilemmas: 1) high-quality real-time video transmission is constrained by stringent requirements in delay and throughput; 2) wireless networks are bandwidth-limited and error-prone; and 3) the congestion control and packet retransmission modules in the SCTP may incur frequent deadline violations and throughput fluctuations. Motivated by addressing these challenging problems this research proposes a Video and Raptor code aware CMT (CMT-VR) solution. First we develop a mathematical model to formulate the utility maximization problem of multipath real-time video delivery over parallel wireless networks. Second we present a transmission framework that includes online packet scheduling Raptor coding adaptation and retransmission control algorithms. CMT-VR is distinct from the existing SCTPs in leveraging the video frame priority and rateless Raptor coding. The performance verification is conducted by means of system evaluations over real wireless networks and extensive semiphysical emulations in the Exata platform. Evaluation results demonstrate that CMT-VR achieves appreciable improvements over the reference schemes in perceived video quality goodput and end-to-end delay.
Design and fabrication of a MEMS magnetic sensor utilizing ferromagnetic-piezoelectric composites

A high-sensitivity and self-biased MEMS magnetic sensor based on ferromagnetic-piezoelectric composites has been fabricated and characterized. Series of MEMS processes including silicon-quartz lower temperature eutectic bonding, quartz wafer thinning, electroplating of thick nickel thin films, etc., have been successfully demonstrated in creation of a quartz-nickel cantilever structure. Moreover, by laminating an additional metglas thin film, a zero-bias magnetic-electric coupling that arises due to magnetization grading at the interface of Ni-metglas has been observed. With the optimized structure, a magneto-electric voltage coefficient up to 60 V/cm·Oe has been demonstrated. With a measured low magnetic noise of 18 pT/Hz1/2, a ~36 pT resolution and high converted sensitivity of 0.5 mV/pT are obtained at the mechanical resonant frequency of 122 Hz with zero dc biasing magnetic field. The targeted MEMS magnetic sensor has great potential applications in emerging biomagnetic imaging technologies such as magnetocardiography.
The Function of Circadian RNA‐Binding Proteins and Their cis‐Acting Elements in Microalgae

An endogenous clock regulates the temporal expression of genes/mRNAs that are involved in the circadian output pathway. In the bioluminescent dinoflagellate Gonyaulax polyedra circadian expression of the luciferin‐binding protein (LBP) is controlled at the translational level. Thereby, a clock‐controlled RNA‐binding protein, called circadian controlled translational regulator (CCTR), interacts specifically with an UG‐repeat, which is situated in the lbp 3′ UTR. Its binding activity correlates negatively with the amount of LBP during a circadian cycle. In the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a clock‐controlled RNA‐binding protein (CHLAMY 1) was identified, which represents an analog of the CCTR from the phylogenetically diverse alga G. polyedra. CHLAMY 1 binds specifically to the 3′ UTRs of several mRNAs and recognizes them all via a common cis‐acting element, composed of at least seven UG‐repeats. The binding strength of CHLAMY 1 is strongest to mRNAs, whose products are key components of nitrogen metabolism resulting in arginine biosynthesis as well as of CO2 metabolism. Since temporal activities of processes involved in nitrogen metabolism have an opposite phase than CHLAMY 1 binding activity, the protein might repress the translation of the cognate mRNAs.
Correcting Alpha Misattribution in Portfolio Sorts

Portfolio sorts, as commonly employed in empirical asset pricing applications, are at risk of accidentally misattributing parts of the risk-adjusted return (or "alpha") to the firm characteristic underlying the sort. Such misattribution occurs if the firm characteristic is correlated with an unobservable yet time-persistent factor. We propose a novel, regression-based methodology for analyzing asset returns. Besides handling multiple and continuous firm characteristics, our technique can also reproduce the alpha and factor exposure estimates from all variants of sorting assets into (e.g., decile) portfolios as a special case. In our empirical analysis, we find that several well-known characteristics-based factors indeed lose their predictive power when we account for firm-specific (fixed) effects.
An Energy Efficient Hybrid Medium Access Control Scheme for Wireless Sensor Networks with Quality of Service Guarantees

In this paper, we present a new MAC layer protocol for wireless sensor networks that reduces energy consumption and provides Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees through the use of service differentiation concept. The proposed protocol (named as EQ-MAC) consists of two sub-protocols: Classifier MAC (C-MAC), and Channel Access MAC (CA-MAC). C-MAC is responsible of classifying gathered data at sensor nodes based on its importance and then stores it in the appropriate queue of the node's queuing system. The CA-MAC is an energy efficient medium access mechanism that uses a hybrid approach of both scheduled and unscheduled schemes to gain a save in energy, and hence prolonging the network's lifetime. The save in energy achieved by CA-MAC is coming from the differentiation between control and data messages. Data messages are assigned scheduled slots with no contention (here we have to emphasize that slots are assigned only to those nodes which have data to send, this allows an efficient energy use of the TDMA slots), while short periodic control messages are assigned random access slots. To study the performance of the EQ-MAC protocol, several simulation experiments were conducted. EQ-MAC is compared with both Q-MAC and S-MAC protocols. Simulation results demonstrate that EQ-MAC outperforms the other two protocols and achieves a significant improvement in terms of energy expenditure. Under prioritized traffic, EQ-MAC is comparable to Q-MAC in average latency, while achieving less energy consumption.
Prior treatment with alpha-interferon does not adversely affect the outcome of allogeneic BMT in chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Controlled clinical trials have shown that Interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) is able to control myeloid proliferation and to suppress the Ph+ clonal hemopoiesis in early chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML): a growing number of patients are treated with this agent from diagnosis. However, if a CML patient has an HLA-identical sibling, bone marrow transplant (BMT) represents the best choice of treatment. Since IFN-alpha is known to modify the immunologic response and to increase marrow fibrosis, information is needed on the outcome of patients transplanted after IFN-alpha treatment. DESIGN AND METHODS We analyzed retrospectively 32 Ph+ CML patients submitted to BMT in the last 6 years in Institute "Serágnoli". All the patients were in 1st chronic phase, their median age was 37 years, the donors were HLA-identical (27/32) or 1 Ag-mismatched (5/32) siblings. Big BuCy was the conditioning regimen employed for all and GVHD prophylaxis was based on CsA in 4 patients and Csa+MTX in 28 patients; all patients received homogeneous pre and post-transplant supportive care, antimicrobial and antiviral prophylaxis. These patients were divided into 2 groups according to the treatment before BMT: 16 received IFN from diagnosis to BMT (mean dose 6.9 MU/daily) for at least 6 mos (mean 23 mos, range 8-75) and 16 received chemotherapy alone (hydroxyurea [HU]). RESULTS Hematological recovery was comparable in the two groups: time to 0.5 x 10(9)/L PMN was 20.5 days (range 11-32) in the IFN group and 20 days (range 10-32) in the HU group; time to 50 x 10(9)/L platelets was 28 days (range 20-117) in the IFN group and 27 days (range 20-112) in the HU group. The incidence of acute GVHD was not different in the two groups for any grade of the disease; in patients who survived more than 100 days, chronic GVHD occurred in the two groups with the same frequency. Seven patients died of transplant related mortality (TRM), 4 in the IFN group and 3 in the HU group. Hematological relapse was observed in only one case in the HU group; no cytogenetic relapse occurred. Disease free survivals at 7 years are 61% and 72%, respectively; the difference is not significant. INTERPRETATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS Notwithstanding the low number of patients included in this study, the data reported here confirm that prior treatment with alpha-IFN does not adversely affect transplant outcome.
The role of employee empowerment in the implementation of continuous improvement: Evidence from a case study of a financial services provider

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of increasing employees’ level of continuous improvement (CI) empowerment, i.e. employees’ knowledge and understanding of CI, the possibility of open communication and support from the work environment regarding CI, in the implementation of CI over time. Design/methodology/approach Based on the theory of structural empowerment, the authors test the research question using evidence from a case study in a European financial services provider. Data are gathered with questionnaires on a team level and cover a period of 2.5 years including 780 participants. Findings The findings show that after conducting a CI programme in the case, there is a significant increase in employees’ CI empowerment over time, which has a positive but time-lagged relationship with the level of CI implementation. Research limitations/implications Implications are that CI empowerment can be created sustainably and is an important factor in establishing CI in a company, but that it takes time until empowerment leads to changes in behaviour. However, it has to be considered that these implications are solely derived from empirical results from a single company. Practical implications Financial service providers should invest in establishing CI empowerment and consider a delay in realising measurable benefits in terms of the level of CI implementation. Originality/value This paper is the first empirical study to examine the relationship between employee CI empowerment and the implementation of CI from a longitudinal perspective.
Purification and partial characterization of thermostable serine alkaline protease from a newly isolatedBacillus subtilis PE-11

The purpose of the research was to study the purification and partial characterization of thermostable serine alkaline protease from a newly isolatedBacillus subtilis PE-11. The enzyme was purified in a 2-step procedure involving ammonium sulfate precipitation and Sephadex G-200 gel permeation chromatography. The enzyme was shown to have a relative low molecular weight of 15 kd by sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and was purified 21-fold with a yield of 7.5%. It was most active at 60°C, pH 10, with casein as substrate. It was stable between pH 8 and 10. This enzyme was almost 100% stable at 60°C even after 350 minutes of incubation. It was strongly activated by metal ions such as Ca2+, Mg+2, and Mn+2. Enzyme activity was inhibited strongly by phenylmethyl sulphonyl fluoride (PMSF) and diisopropyl fluorophosphates (DFP) but was not inhibited by ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA), while a slight inhibition was observed with iodoacetate,p-chloromercuric benzoate (pCMB), and β-mercaptoethanol (β-ME). The compatibility of the enzyme was studied with commercial and local detergents in the presence of 10mM CaCl2 and 1M glycine. The addition of 10mM CaCl2 and 1M glycine, individually and in combination, was found to be very effective in improving the enzyme stability where it retained 52% activity even after 3 hours. This enzyme improved the cleansing power of various detergents. It removed blood stains completely when used with detergents in the presence of 10mM CaCl2 and 1M glycine.