Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Do Sell-Side Analysts ’ Qualifications Mitigate the Adverse Effects of Accounting Reporting Complexity ?

While there is broad recognition that the financial reports are overly complex, regulators acknowledge that there is no solution in sight (FASB 2017). Complexity introduces challenges in collecting, interpreting, and analyzing information for investment decisions. Analysts are sophisticated intermediaries who can potentially alleviate the adverse effects of complexity (FASB 2010). It is unclear, however, whether analysts are also challenged by complexity. Addressing this question, we find that accounting reporting complexity (ARC) is associated with lower analysts’ performance. Further, we find that this association is driven by the complexity of the disclosed information in the footnotes, rather than the seemingly more important accounting information that is recognized on the face of the financial statements. Next, we find that while analysts’ general experience does not help alleviate complexity, analysts’ firm-specific experience, industry focus, and CFA certification do. Using a new approach for measuring analysts’ account-specific expertise we find that expertise in fair value, derivatives and pension accounts is more valuable than other types of qualifications in attenuating the negative effects of complexity in these accounts. Overall, this study underscores the importance of analysts’ qualifications and the need to simplify the disclosures in the notes to the financial statements.
Study on the Teaching Reform for Theory and Application of Algorithm Analysis based on OBE

Students majoring in software engineering usually have solid theoretical knowledge of computer science. However, when facing practical problems, their comprehensive ability of innovative thinking, analysis and problem solving still needs to be improved. According to the concept of OBE (Outcome Based Education), the teaching reform for the theory and application of algorithm analysis course in software engineering major is studied in this paper. The teaching quality of this course is optimized by formulating teaching objectives and contents reversely, designing diversified teaching process, constructing process-based multi-link assessment and evaluation mode, so as to improve students' learning initiative, cultivate students' innovative thinking and ability of solving practical problems. Keywords—OBE; theory and application of algorithm analysis;
I-LIMIT SUPERIOR AND I-LIMIT INFERIOR FOR SEQUENCES OF FUZZY NUMBERS

The statistical limit inferior and limit superior for sequences of fuzzy numbers have been introduced by Aytar, Pehlivan and Mammadov [Statistical limit inferior and limit superior for sequences of fuzzy numbers, Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 157(7) (2006) 976–985]. In this paper, we extend concepts of statistical limit superior and inferior to I-limit superior and I-inferior for a sequence of fuzzy numbers. Also, we prove some basic properties.
Assessment of Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness Using Optical Coherence Tomography in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Background: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the most common ocular complication of diabetes mellitus (DM) and considered one of the leading causes of blindness in developed countries. Diabetic retinopathy is predominantly a microangiopathy in which high glucose levels can make small blood vessels particularly, vulnerable to damage. Objective: The aim of this work was to assess the thickness of peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) measured by Swept Source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) in patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (DM). Patients and Methods: The study was an observational cross-sectional study. The study was conducted on 40 eyes of diabetic patients from the outpatient clinic in ophthalmology department of Al-Azhar University Hospitals. All patients were subjected to a complete ophthalmic examination including OCT. Results: The current study showed a negative correlation between parameters related to DM (duration of DM, and state of glycemic control measured by HbA1C) and all the parameters related to RNFL, and RGCL thickness but this correlation was statistically insignificant, and there was statistically significant decrease in superior RNFL thickness in patients with mild DR than patients with no DR, however, this difference was statistically insignificant in all parameters related to RGCL thickness in the two groups. Conclusion: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) provides non-invasive, quantitative and objective measurement of RNFL thickness, optic nerve head, and RGCL thickness with high resolution and accuracy. This could be the method of choice for monitoring the neurodegenerative changes in DR.
Spatially Coupled LDPC Codes via Partial Superposition

In this paper, we present a new class of spatially coupled low-density parity-check (SC-LDPC) codes, which are constructed by sending codewords of LDPC block code (LDPCBC) in a block Markov superposition transmission (BMST) manner. Different from the conventional SC-LDPC codes, the proposed SC-LDPC codes can have encoder/decoder implemented with the basis of the hardware components of the corresponding LDPC-BCs. The proposed SC-LDPC codes are also a special class of BMST-LDPC codes. Distinguished from other types of BMST codes, BMST-LDPC codes have lower error floors even with an encoding memory of one and hence have lower decoding latency. Also different from the original BMST codes, partial superposition is implemented to alleviate error propagation. To analyze the bit error rate (BER) performance, we present the genie-aided (GA) bounds, which can be obtained by simulation or estimated from the performance of the basic code. Numerical results are presented to validate our analysis and demonstrate the performance advantage of the BMST-LDPC codes over the LDPC-BCs.
DEVELOPMENT OF AN AUTOMATIC INSPECTION EQUIPMENT BASED ON THE TOFD TECHNIQUE

Non-destructive testing (NDT) is a powerful tool employed to asses the integrity of parts, equipments and structures. NDT techniques are widely used for discontinuities detection and measurement. Each method has its advantages and drawbacks and the choice of the adequate NDT method relays on the desired application. Although the radiographic test is broadly applied for welded joints inspection, the ultrasound technique (UT) is replacing it for many applications. Among all of the UTs, the time of flight diffraction (TOFD) technique is becoming more and more attractive. Besides getting over the problems for the radiographic inspection in relation to detection and measurement of defects perpendicular to the surface of the sample, the TOFD technique allows one to perform automatic inspection and the acquisition of permanent inspection records. It is possible to perform faster inspections with high reliability and low false identification rates. The aim of this work was to develop an automatic inspection equipment based on the TOFD technique. This equipment is able to detect and measure defects in welded joints, metal sheets, pipes and other kinds of metallic structures so that the user influence on the data acquisition results is minimized and the test reliability is strongly increased. Its detection efficiency was determined based on the results acquired after inspections performed on test pieces in which well controlled defects were introduced.
Comparison of Physical and Functional Properties of Whipping Cream and Whipping Cream Analogue

Replacement of milk fat with vegetable counterpart brings up possibilities of engineering new characteristics of dairy emulsions – e.g. desired rheological properties, better stability, enhanced whipping ability. In this paper, laser diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, rheometry, density analysis, pH and zeta potential measurement were used to compare physical characteristics of whipping cream and whipping cream analogue. In addition, changes in functional properties were assessed for both emulsions being stored at two different cooling temperatures for two weeks.
Breeding habitat selection of the Black Woodpecker Dryocopus martius L . in Mediterranean forests

Abstract – The Black Woodpecker has a wide northern Palearctic range, but in much of western Europe it has a highly fragmented distribution. As these isolated populations are vulnerable to land cover change, a better understanding of the factors driving their presence is needed in the perspective of conservation. To shed light on the habitat preferences of the Black Woodpecker in the southern part of its range, we carried out a research in a large protected area, the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park (the first investigation on this species anywhere in southern Italy). We used a playback technique to detect occurrence of Black Woodpeckers, as well as sympatric woodpecker species, and recorded environmental characteristics that might explain the bird’s occurrence, such as tree species and stand age. The “extent of occurrence” of the Black Woodpecker was calculated, and its habitat preferences investigated. Occurrence of the species was clearly dependent on beech dominance, in contrast with the other woodpecker species, with an estimated total population for National Park 18.56 (± 6.19) pairs in beech-dominated woods. Habitat preferences were narrower compared to northern European populations, highlighting the dependence of this species on beech forests in southern Europe. Since beech forests in the Mediterranean region are predicted to recede due to climate change, our findings highlight the vulnerability of southern Black Woodpecker populations.
The Frequency of Breast Self-Examination in Women Who Participated in the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial

THE FREQUENCY OF BREAST SELF-EXAMINATION IN WOMEN WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE BREAST CANCER PREVENTION TRIAL By Kelly J. Moore This study used the Health Belief Model (HBM) to examine attitudes about breast health among women who had participated in the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial. More specifically, the purpose o f this study was to identify the relationship between the HBM variables and the fi-equency o f breast self-examination (BSE). A convenience sample o f 80 women completed Champion’s (1993) HBM questionnaire. It was hypothesized that the HBM concepts would significantly correlate with the fi’equency of BSE. However, only two significant correlations were found: a positive correlation between the fi-equency o f BSE and perceived benefits (r=.37; p=.000) and a negative correlation between the fi-equency of BSE and perceived barriers (r=-.41; p=.000). Therefore, this hypothesis was not supported. A second hypothesis addressed was whether the HBM concepts could differentiate between groups o f fi-equency o f BSE. Using an analysis o f variance, a significant difference was found between the HBM concept of barriers and the fi-equency of BSE. Women who perceived significant barriers to BSE performance were less likely to perform this procedure on a routine basis. These results indicate that there are women who are still not performing monthly BSE
Rapid Sensing of Material Affordances

People can make rapid visual judgments of the affordances of materials. The inferential problems created by the interactions of illumination-geometry with 3D material-structure and object-shape can be simplified by heuristics based on rapidly extracted image information. We demonstrate that material properties, such as roughness, thickness and flexibility, are characterized by specific scales of luminance variations, and that percepts of these qualities are a function of the relative energy in corresponding spatial-frequency bands. Cortical mechanisms could estimate material properties by combining the parallel outputs of frequency-selective neurons. Similarly, a hardware implementation using oriented multi-scale filters in parallel could also do rapid remote sensing of material properties.
Births of Hispanic Parentage, 1983 and 1984.

Information on births of Hispanic parentage in the US in 1983 and 1984 was available for 23 states and the District of Columbia. In 1984 346986 births to mothers of Hispanic origin were reported in those states. More than 94% of the total US Hispanic population resided in these states in 1984. This report contains summary demographic data for births of Hispanic origin for 1983 and 1984. Data on educational attainment of mother nativity of mother prenatal care low birth weight preterm births 1 and 5 minute Apgar scores attendant at birth and place of delivery are presented only for 1984 because the distributions of births for these characteristics are very similar for 1983 and 1984. The fertility of the Hispanic population as a whole continued to be about 50% higher than that of the non-Hispanic population. The Hispanic populations birth rate was 22.7/1000 in 1984 22.8/1000 in 1983 and 23.9/1000 in 1982. Hispanic fertility rates were 91.5/1000 women aged 15-44 in 1984 42% above the non-Hispanic fertility rate. Hispanic women especially Mexicans and Puerto Ricans tend to begin childbearing at relatively young ages. In 1984 98273 Hispanic births or 28% of the total were to unmarried mothers. Overall 55% of all Hispanic origin women had completed at least 12 years of schooling in 1984 compared with 52% in 1982. Hispanic mothers except Cuban mothers are substantially less likely to have begun prenatal care in the 1st trimester of pregnancy. The incidence of low birth weight among babies born to Hispanic mothers is essentially similar to that of babies born to white non-Hispanic mothers. In 1984 10.4% of Mexican infants 12.3% of Puerto Rican infants and 8.7% of Cuban infants compared with 7.6% of white non-Hispanic infants and 16.8% of black non-Hispanic infants were born preterm.
Regulational expression of the CD28-related costimulatory molecule ICOS in Multiple Sclerosis : implications for the role of costimulation in autoimmunity

s: A polymorphism in the Programmed Death 1 Gene (PD-1) impairs inhibition of T cell activation and is associated with disease progression in Multiple Sclerosis M. Mehling, A. Kroner, B. Rosche, B. Hemmer, K.V. Toyka, P. Rieckmann, M. Maurer, H. Wiendl Oral presentation at 7th International Congress of the International Society of Neuroimmunology (ISNI), September 2004; abstract listed in: Journal of Neuroimmunology 154(1-2):22 [oral presentation]. Untersuchungen zur humoralen Immunantwort bei sporadischer Ataxie mit Glutensensitivitat H. Wiendl, M. Mehling, C. Globas, J. Dichgans, A. Melms und K. Burk Aktuelle Neurologie 2002;29(suppl 2):545 [Abstract]. Inducible Costimulator Protein (ICOS) in Multiple Sclerosis: Preferential Expression on Th2 Cells Reveals a Regulatory Role in CNS-Autoimmunity H. Wiendl, O. Neuhaus, E. Tolosa, M. Mehling, R. Weissert, HP. Hartung, R. Kroczek, A Melms Meeting of the International Society of Neuroimmunology (ISNI) September 2001 [Poster]. Extracurricular Activities languages: English and French (writing, reading and oral) 00/02 active member of the DFA (Deutscher Famulantenaustausch), which is a non-profit organization belonging to the International Medical Student’s Associations (IFMSA) that coordinates international exchange programs for medical students 97/99 student delegate of the Hannover Medical School
EFFECTS OF SOWING RATE AND NITROGEN FERTILIZER ON TILLERING OF " KARAMU " AND " KOPARA " WHEATS

A semidwarf wheat cultivar "Karamu" and a standard wheat cv. "Kopara" were sown at 250 and 500 seedsjm2 on a low fertility Templeton silt-loam in May. Nitrogen fertilizer (90 kg/ha) was applied in August and the production and senescence of tillers on permanently tagged plants were recorded at weekly intervals. Increments in sowing rate and nitrogen fertilizer increased the tiller population but did not change the ti11ering pattern. Differences in tillering patterns of cultivars were related to differences in the rate of development. Grain yield/ear was higher in the standard wheat but the semidwarf compensated with a higher tiller survival to maturity. All treatments affected tiller survival, but virtually all mainstems matured irrespective of treatment. Survival of tillers was low in later-formed tillers and they contributed little to grain yield. The main stem contributed up to 88% to the final yield. Results are discussed in relation to crop development and differences in tiller mortality.
Derivation of continuous explicit two-step Runge – Kutta methods of order three

We describe a construction of continuous extensions to a new representation of two-step Runge–Kutta methods for ordinary differential equations. This representation makes possible the accurate and reliable estimation of local discretization error, facilitates the efficient implementation of these methods in variable stepsize environment, and adapts readily to the numerical solution of a class of delay differential equations. A number of numerical tests carried out on the obtained methods of order 3 with quadratic interpolants show their efficiency and robust performance which allow them to compete with the state-of-the-art dde23 code from Matlab. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. MSC: 65L05; 65L06
Analysis of Insertion Process for Robotic Assembly

Insertion process of cylindrical parts with clearance for robotic assembly using vibratory excitation is analyzed in the paper. Mathematical model of vibratory parts insertion process, which determines peg contact with the chamfer of the bush, peg one point and two point contact with the bush hole, was formed. Simulation of cylindrical parts insertion process was performed. The influence of vibrations on the insertion process, when mobile based peg is kinematically excited in axial direction, was determined. The combinations of excitation and system parameters, under which insertion process duration is the shortest and the process is the most reliable, were detected.
Voice Quality in IP Telephony

This paper has been presented at the licentiate course in the Networking Laboratory of Helsinki University of Technology in April 2001. The topic of the course was IP Telephony. In this paper we will study voice quality in IP telephony. We will look at the causes of impairments along the endto-end path and how to recover from them. We will also introduce common criterions to measure voice quality. Some results based on measurements in our laboratory with different commercial VoIP phones will also be included.
Direct F0 Estimation with Neural-Network-Based Regression

Pitch tracking, or the continuous extraction of fundamental frequency from speech waveforms, is of vital importance to many applications in speech analysis and synthesis. Many existing trackers, including conventional ones such as Praat, RAPT and YIN, and newly proposed neural-network-based ones such as DNN-CLS, CREPE and RNN-REG, have conducted an extensive investigation into speech pitch tracking. This work developed a different end-to-end regression model based on neural networks, where a voice detector and a newly proposed value estimator work jointly to highlight the trajectory of fundamental frequency. Experiments on the PTDB-TUG corpus showed that the system surpasses canonical neural networks in terms of gross error rate. It further outperformed conventional trackers under clean condition and neural-network classiﬁers under noisy condition by the NOISEX-92 corpus.
Review of Database Cracking Techniques

As there is a huge demand of dynamic and efficient data storage environments, numerous physical data reorganization techniques are designed and tested every day. This paper focuses on database cracking which aims to build the truly self-organizing database system that will continuously and automatically adapt to workload changes. Cracking completely removes the need for human administration [1]. Different techniques are discussed which give an insight into this area. A brief overview of stochastic database cracking is given which is the most efficient way for managing changing database workload environments. Keywords— Database cracking, Self-Organizing, Physical organization, Workload, Cracking
The effect of in ovo feeding of L- methionine on carcass traits, small intestine morphology, and blood metabolites of day-old broiler chicks

چکیده زمینه مطالعاتی: متیونین به عنوان اولین اسید آمینه محدود‌کننده در طیور برای ساخت پروتئین و رشد ضروری است. در چندین مطالعه اثر تزریق درون‌تخم‌مرغی دی‌ال-‌متیونین بررسی شده است، اما در مورد تزریق درون‌تخم‌مرغی ال-‌متیونین گزارشی وجود ندارد. هدف: بنابراین هدف از این پژوهش بررسی اثر تغذیه درون‌تخم‌مرغی ال-متیونین بر وزن، صفات لاشه، ریخت‌شناسی روده‌کوچک و فراسنجه‌های خونی در جوجه‌های گوشتی یک روزه بود. روش کار: به منظور دستیابی به هدف این مطالعه، 240 تخم‌مرغ مادر گوشتی (راس 308) بر اساس طرح کاملا تصادفی با 8 تیمار آزمایشی و 30 تخم‌مرغ در هر تیمار استفاده شد. تیمارهای آزمایشی شامل 6 سطح ال-متیونین (19/0، 38/0، 57/0، 76/0، 95/0 و 14/1 درصد ال- متیونین)، شم شاهد (تزریق آب مقطر) و شاهد (گروه بدون تزریق) بودند که در روز 14 دوره جوجه‌کشی به درون مایع‌آمنیوتیک تزریق شدند. بعد از تفریخ، جوجه‌ها وزن کشی شدند، نمونه‌های خون جمع‌آوری شده و جوجه‌ها کشتار شدند تا صفات لاشه و ریخت‌شناسی روده‌کوچک بررسی شوند. سپس سرم نمونه‌های خونی جمع‌آوری شد و برای اندازه گیری غلظت متابولیت‌های خونی استفاده شد. نتایج: نتایج این پژوهش نشان داد تغذیه درون‌تخم‌مرغی ال-متیونین بازده لاشه و وزن ران، سینه، سنگدان و تیموس را افزایش داد (05/0 P ). همچنین، اثرهای کاهشی تیمارهای ال- میتونین بر گلوکز، تری گلیسرید و نیتروژن اوره‌ای خون مشاهده شد (05/0 P<). علاوه‌بر‌این، تزریق درون‌تخم‌مرغی ال-متیونین موجب بهبود طول و وزن روده‌کوچک و فراسنجه‌های ریخت‌شناسی ژژنوم و دوازدهه شد (طول پرز، نسبت طول پرز به عمق کریپت، قطر کریپت و عمق کریپت)، (05/0 P<). نتیجه گیری نهایی: بر اساس نتایج این پژوهش، تغذیه درون‌تخم‌مرغی 19/0 درصد ال-متیونین اثر بهبود دهنده بر جوجه درآوری، صفات لاشه، فراسنجه‌های خونی، اندام‌های سیستم ایمنی و ریخت‌شناسی روده‌کوچک داشت؛ بنابراین 19/0 درصد ال-متیونین سطح قابل توصیه برای تغذیه درون‌تخم‌مرغی است.
Correlations between EEG signal components and ACT-R modules in Associative Recognition

Since to date there is only limited data on the relation between ACT-R and EEG activity, we investigated whether the activations of ACT-R’s modules were correlated with EEG activity in specific sets of electrodes during an associative recognition task. In this task, subjects had to learn sets of word pairs and correctly recall whether they had encountered word pairs presented in the testing phase before or not. A cognitive model was made in ACT-R that simulated the recall process, which consists of a perception, associative retrieval, decision and a response stage. We then examined whether there was any relation between the activation of these different modules and the set of EEG channels by means of logistic regression. Regression coefficients yielded from the logistic regression show positive and negative correlations for the EEG channels per module, and their implications for human information processing are discussed. Also, differences in ERP waveforms for these channels with respect to the task conditions are outlined and discussed.