Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Merger and Acquisition on Value at Risk (VaR): A Case Study of China Eastern Airline

This paper attempts to examine the impact of merger and acquisition on Value at Risk (VaR) of China Eastern Airline. The VaR is estimated for the whole sample and pre-merger periods by three methods: RiskMetrics , AR-GARCH and Generalized Extreme Value (GEV). The regression-based model reports the highest VaR followed by RiskMetrics and GEV. All models report a low VaR after the 11 June, 2009 merger, indicating a negative impact of merger and acquisition on VaR.
A study on the effect of intellectual capital and organizational learning process on organizational performance

Today, the nature of business is facing some important and critical challenges and changes that have changed organizations' economic activities greatly. Issues such as competition expansion, advances in information technology, the changes to organizational structures, and economic units' attempt to land on a pioneer rank have made continuous improvement of organizational performance inevitable. Survival and flourishing in such environments is possible only through achieving a leading place which necessitates implementation of the leading organizations' characteristics and focusing on influencing factors on organizational performance. An effective factor on organizational performance is an organization's intellectual capital which is the issue studied in this article. This research studied the impact of the variable "intellectual capital" on "organizational performance" and meanwhile, it seemed that the variable "organizational learning" also influenced the relation between these two variables and functions as a mediatory variable. The research population consisted of all the managers and employees of Melli Banks including people from the main supervising unit and other service branches in the city of Qom and the data were gathered through questionnaires. To examine the dimensions of the research variables and its construct validity, confirmatory factor analysis was first applied and then, discriminant validity and convergent validity were calculated. For testing the research hypotheses, structural equations modeling was used. Findings showed that the direct effect of intellectual capital on organizational performance was not very strong, but this variable influenced Melli Banks performance through the mediatory variable "organizational learning process". The effect of intellectual capital on organizational learning process was confirmed. Moreover, the findings indicated that organizational learning process had a direct and positive effect on Melli Banks performance. Key words: Intellectual capital, organizational learning process, organizational performance.
Effects of Linguistic Complexity and Math Difficulty on Word Problem Solving by English Learners

Prior research suggests that linguistic complexity may impede mathematics word problem solving by English Learners, but results have been inconsistent. The present study employed an experimental design to investigate the effects of linguistic complexity and mathematics difficulty on word problem solving by middle school English Learners. Results were consistent with predictions from Cognitive Load Theory: Performance was poorer for word problems written in more complex language compared to the same problems in easier text, and the weakest performance was observed for problems that were both linguistically and mathematically challenging. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis suggested a model including a latent factor, hypothesized to be working memory, provided a good fit to the data. Additionally, linguistic complexity had a significant influence on students’ perceptions of the mathematical difficulty of the problems. The results are consistent with recent suggestions that English Learners’ lower performance in math reflects the additional cognitive demands associated with text comprehension.
How can Californians be overweight and hungry

The United States is experiencing an epidemic of obesity in both adults and children, particularly among low-income populations. In fact, overweight has replaced malnutrition as the most prevalent nutritional problem among the poor. We examine this seemingly paradoxical relationship and explore the causes and consequences of overweight, obesity and food insecurity. In a UC Cooperative Extension Body Weight and Health Workgroup study of 561 low-income Latino mothers and their young children, we found important differences in the association between family food insecurity and overweight status for mothers and their children. Forty percent of the women were overweight and 37% obese, and 22% of their children were overweight. Furthermore, U.S.-born mothers who were food insecure as children were more likely to be obese adults. Awareness and understanding of the link between food insecurity and weight gain will facilitate the efforts of schools, food assistance programs, the food industry and others in the community to provide effective nutritional programs.
Unsupervised Event Discrimination Based on Nonlinear Temporal Modelling of Activity

This paper deals with the problem of event discrimination in generic video documents. We propose an investigation on the design of an activity-based similarity measure derived from motion analysis. In an unsupervised context, our approach relies on the nonlinear temporal modeling of wavelet-based motion features directly estimated from the video frame. Based on SVM-regression, this nonlinear model is able to learn the behavior of the motion descriptors along the temporal dimension and to capture useful information about the dynamic content of the shot. A similarity measure 2 Eric Bruno, Nicolas Moenne-Loccoz and Stéphane Marchand-Maillet associated with our temporal model is then defined. This measure defines a metric between video segments according to spatial and temporal properties of the movements and provides a theoretic framework to compare, sort and classify videos. Experiments on a large annotated video database and a comparison with a similarity measure based on motion histograms shows that our approach is effective in discriminating between video events without any prior knowledge.
Award Number: DAMD17-00-1-0116 TITLE: Endothelial progenitors as vectors for systemic gene therapy of breast cancer

Local applications of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) were evaluated in vivo for improving healing and vascularization of full-thickness wounds. Wounds were created on the dorsum of NZW rabbits and were treated with EPC-seeded scaffolds, non-seeded scaffolds, or no treatment. Histomorphometry was used to calculate epithelialization and contraction rates, and volume fractions of cell nuclei and blood vessels at 2 and 3 weeks. Results showed that local applications of rabbit mononuclear cells led to some improvements in overall healing, particularly in the 3-week animals, with increases in epithelialization, tissue fill, and volume fraction of blood vessels. Increases in vascularization were seen in the outer region of the wound at 2 weeks and in the inner region at 3 weeks. Also, the local application of rabbit cells increased the volume fraction of fibroblasts while decreasing the volume fractions of macrophages and neutrophils. No improvements in healing were seen with local applications of human EPCs, however the human cells did lead to some increases in vascularization, particularly at 3 weeks. Additionally, no significant increases in inflammation were seen with the use of human EPCs in the rabbits. Therefore, local applications of EPCs show promise for improving healing and vascularization in chronic full-thickness wounds.
Development, Validity And Reliability of Physical Education Instructor’s Personality Description Scale

This current study describes the development, reliability and validation of a scale concerning the assessment of Physical Education Instructor’s Personality traits. According to the literature review, the Five Factor Model theory (Costa & McCrae, 1985; 1992; McCrae & Costa, 1987) is constituted by a widely accepted classification of human characteristics and an integrated description of human personality. For this reason, the questionnaire was structured based on the factors of Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional stability and lastly on the Openness to new experiences. The questionnaire was distributed to the owners of private health clubs and to the Managers of sports organization municipals who evaluated 481 Physical Education Instructors. During the exploratory factor analysis (n1=161) the criterion of Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin (.946) supported the total sufficiency and suitability of the sample for factor analysis, while the examination of Bartlett’s test of Sphericity (2642.791, df 171, p<.00001) led to the rejection of the null hypothesis that variables are independent. The Principal Components Analysis supported the existence of five (5) factors that interpret the 79.539% of overall variance. During the confirmatory factor analysis (n2=320), was checked the internal consistency with the Cronbach a index which gave: a=. 87 for the extraversion, a=. 90 for the agreeableness, a=. 91 for the conscientiousness, a=. 82 for the emotional stability/neuroticism and a=. 92 for the openness to experience. The adaptation survey indicators [χ2 = 535.782, p<. 001, Satorra-Bentler χ2 = 433.245, p<. 001, df142, χ2 / df ratio = 3.051, NNFI = . 902, CFI = . 919, RCFI = . 903, IFI = . 920, SRMR = . 052, RMSEA = . 093 (90% CI of RMSEA =.085-.101)] supported the existence of five correlated factors and exceeded the questionnaire’s adaptability limits. Therefore, this specific questionnaire is a sufficient psychometric tool that can be used in the management of human resources in gyms and sports organizations
Changes in morpho-physiological attributes of Eucalyptus globulus plants in response to different drought hardening treatments

Morpho-physiological attributes exhibited in response to drought hardening at the end of the growing season of Eucalyptus globulus Labill under nursery conditions were studied to evaluate the effect of three drought hardening treatments in morpho-physiological traits used as suitable indicators of drought hardiness, such as, plant growth, root growth potential, plant water relationships and survival. Freezing resistance of drought hardened plants was also studied in order to evaluate cross hardening effects in cuttings of Eucalyptus globulus Labill. Drought hardening consisted in induced water stress by watering restriction, until plant stem xylem water potentials (Ψ pd ) reached to-0.2, -1.3 and -2.4 MPa. Two water stress-rewatering cycles were applied during 54 days of treatment. The hardening treatments caused a significant reduction in plant height, leaf area, specific leaf area, plant, leaf, stem and root biomass. However, stem diameter was not affected. Root growth potential increased with the exposure to moderate water stress (-1.3 MPa). Drought hardening treatments have not effect on water relationship parameters such as saturation osmotic potential (Ψπ sat ), volumetric module of elasticity (e), relative water content (RWC tlp ) and osmotic potential (Ψπ tlp ) at the turgor loss point. Only 1.7% and 6% of dehydrated dead plants were observed on treatments at -1.3 and -2.4 MPa respectively. Finally, the freezing damage index of leaves (LT 50 ) was not significantly affected by drought hardening treatments. Furthermore, a reduction of 1.1oC of supercooling capacity was observed at -2.4 MPa. As a conclusion, drought hardening is an important step of plants production programs during the final phase of nursery, because changes in morphological attributes caused by exposure to moderate drought, enable the plants to maintain the balance between transpiration and absorption areas and increase the capacity of plants to generate new roots.
An Evaluation of Hysterosalpingography Results in Infertile Females

DOI: 10.4328/JCAM.4403 Received: 18.02. 2016 Accepted: 15.03. 2016 Printed: 01.07. 2016 J Clin Anal Med 2016;7(4): 505-9 Corresponding Author: Alev Özer, Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam Üniversite Hastanesi, Kahramanmaraş, Türkiye. T. : +90 3442803434 F. : +90 3443113005 E-Mail: serdarztb78@gmail.com Özet Amaç: İnfertil kadınlarda yapılan histerosalpingografinin (HSG) tanısal bulgularının sunulması amaçlanmıştır. Gereç ve Yöntem: Ocak-Aralık 2015 tarihleri arasında üniversite infertilite kliniğinde yapılan HSG kayıtları geriye dönük olarak değerlendirilmiştir. Anormal olarak değerlendirilen HSG sonuçlarındaki tanısal bulgular analiz edilmiştir. Bulgular: Çalışma süresi boyunca yapılmış olan 610 HSG işleminin kayıtları incelendi. Hastaların ortalama yaşı 26.7±5.9 olarak saptandı. Yapılan HSG işlemlerinin 145’ inde (%23,8) en az bir anormallik mevcuttu. Tubal oklüzyon en sık saptanan anormallik olup toplam 77 (%12,6) olguda (56 (%9,1) olguda tek taraflı , 21 (%3,5) olguda çift taraflı) izlendi. Üç (%0,5) olguda uterin kavitede, üç (%0,5) olguda servikal kanalda dolum defekti saptandı. Toplam 51 (%8,4) olguda müllerian anomali (üç (%0,5) olguda uterus didelfis, yedi (%1,2) olguda uterus unikornis, 34 (%5,6) olguda bikornu/septat uterus, yedi(%1,2) olguda arkuat uterus) saptandı. 17 (%2,8) olguda hidrosalpinks mevcuttu. Beş (%0,8) olguda peritoneal dağılım izlenmedi. Tartışma: Çalışmamızda anormal olarak değerlendirilen HSG oranı %23,8 olarak saptanmıştır. İnfertilite değerlendirmesinin temel unsurlarından biri olan HSG ucuz ve kolay uygulanabilir bir işlemdir. Gereksiz çekilen HSG sayısının azaltmak ve bu şekilde HSG’nin saptama oranını arttırmak için HSG endikasyonları belirlenirken daha seçiçi davranılmalıdır.
Soil moisture in a regional climate model: Simulation and projection

Regional climate simulations driven by three sets of initial and lateral boundary conditions—analyzed observations, GCM control climate, and GCM enhanced greenhouse‐gas scenario climate—are used to assess model accuracy in predicting soil moisture and to examine changes in soil moisture in the scenario climate. Simulated soil moisture does not show noticeable drift during the 10‐year simulations. Observed and simulated soil moisture for Illinois and Iowa correspond reasonably well for the top 10 cm soil layer but a consistent low bias is present in the top 1 m. Growing season depletion of soil water is simulated well but recharge after growing season is slower than observed, at least in part due to underprediction of precipitation in autumn. This suggests that improvements in simulating soil moisture depend greatly on improvements in simulating precipitation. The climate change scenario produces drier soil in the top 10 cm during winter but wetter top soil in warm seasons because of greater precipitation, while top l m soil is wetter in all seasons.
Reliability of the italian version of the 16-item Prodromal Questionnaire ( iPQ-16 ) for psychosis risk screening in a young help-seeking community sample Summary

Methods We included 151 individuals, aged 13-35 years, seeking help at the Reggio Emilia outpatient mental health services in a large semirural catchment area (550.000 inhabitants). Participants completed the Italian version of the PQ-16 (iPQ-16) and were subsequently evaluated with the Comprehensive Assessment of At-Risk Mental States (CAARMS). We examined test-retest reliability, internal consistency and diagnostic accuracy (i.e. sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and positive and negative likelihood ratios) between PQ-16 and CAARMS UHR-defined criteria using coefficient of stability (k), Cronbach’s alpha and Cohen’s kappa, respectively.
The Early Ontogeny of Social Norms

Recent research has produced new insights into the early development of social cognition and social learning. Even very young children learn and understand social activities as governed by conventional norms that (a) are arbitrary and shared by the community, (b) have normative force and apply to all participants, and (c) are valid in context-relative ways. Importantly, such understanding is revealed both in the fact that children themselves follow the norms, and in the fact that they actively enforce them toward third parties. Human social cognition thus has a fundamental normative dimension that begins early. This norm psychology plausibly evolved due to its role in stabilizing group coordination and cooperation, and is one of the foundations of what is uniquely human social learning and culture.
An Analysis of The Rationality of The Structure of Digitalize Troop's Information Network Based on Complex Network

To construct the information network of Digitalize Troops and analyze its efficiency, we must face the actual need of the battlefield, obey the standard of the capability of our arming; and while insuring the balance of network values structurally, actions must be taken to promote the comprehensive capability of the whole network. This article first expatiates on the structure of Digitalize Troop’s information network, communication links, relative node units, and then use the knowledge from complex network to analyze the rationality of absolute link and downright flat structure of information network by setting plus-models of network value, and at the same time puts forward the relative index bound and requirements of the reasonable structure of network from a fix-quantify angle, thus providing references for the construction of the information network of the Digitalize Troops of our army macroscopically. KeywordsComplex Network, Digitalize Troop’s Information Network, the Rationality of the Structure
Using the method of fundamental solutions in conjunction with the degenerate kernel in cylindrical acoustic problems

Abstract This paper proposes applications of the method of fundamental solutions (MFS) to exterior acoustic radiation and scattering problems. By using the two‐point function of fundamental solutions, the coefficients of influence matrices are easily determined. It is found that this method also pordoces irregular frequencies as well as the boundary element method does. The position of the irregular frequency depends on the source point location. To avoid this numerical instability, the mixed‐layer potential method is employed to deal with the problem. Based on the circulant properties and degenerate kernels, an analytical scheme in the discrete system of a cylinder is achieved to demonstrate the existence of irregular frequencies. Three numerical examples of uniform radiation, nonuniform radiation and scattering problems of a circular cylinder are examined and are compared with the results by using direct BEM.
Carbon Fibers in Biomedical Applications

Three-dimensional growth of fibroblasts on carbon fibre mesh and assessment of biocom - patibilty by in vitro and in vivo examination was done. Suitable size carbon fiber mesh after sterilization, placed in six well cell culture plate. The mesh was co-cultured with p-MEF cells. At different time intervals the viability and proliferation of the p-MEF cells was evaluated. The primary objective of this study was biological evaluation of carbon fibre mesh which can be used for creation of three-dimensional scaffolds for tissue engi -neering. Among the possible forms of implants, fibrous matrices are highly promising for the tissue regeneration by acting as a cell-supporting scaffold. Results of in vitro observa tions of the morphology p-MEF cells seeded on the surface of carbon fibre mesh shows adhesions and attachment of fibroblasts cells to carbon fibres on day 3 post seeding. They attached firmly and were uniformly spread along the fibres on day 5 postseeding and mostly spindle-shaped and cover almost all their surface on day 7 postseeding and such a spreading of cells indicates good adhesions and biocompatibility of carbon fibres. In vivo examination of retrieved sample on day 30 post implantation shows that carbon fibre mesh was covered by dense thick fibrous connective tissue. use of different types of carbon fibers of different physical, structural and chemical properties, resulting from many technological parameters. Most of the papers concerning examinations of CFs for medical purposes describe neither the type of carbon fibers used nor their funda mental properties determining their behavior in a biological environment. We will discuss the use of carbon fibers in biomedical applications under different headings:
Assessing Climate Change Impacts on Ecosystem Services and Livelihoods in Ghana: Case Study of Communities around Sui Forest Reserve

The link between climate change, ecosystem services and livelihood in developing countries has been well established. Tropical forest ecosystems are particularly of great importance to the livelihood of millions of people. Recent decades of escalating climate change impacts on ecological systems and livelihoods worldwide and the vulnerability of forest dependent communities raise concerns about the consequences of ecosystem changes for human well-being. Applying the human ecological approach, this paper examines climate change impacts on ecosystem services and livelihoods of the communities around the Sui River Forest Reserve (SRFR) in the Sefwi Wiawso District in the Western Region of Ghana, the main drivers of the change, the vulnerabilities and adaptation strategies being used by the communities. The results of the study indicate that climate change impacts are decreasing the capability of the SRFR ecosystem to provide essential services to the communities. The principal livelihood sources affected by the climate change impacts are agriculture, forest resources and water resources. To minimize the impacts of climate change, the communities around the reserve have adopted various adaptation and coping strategies to improve agriculture, biodiversity conservation, and water resources management. The paper also suggests strategies that will enable policy-makers to effectively improve ecosystem services and climate change mitigation and adaptation in Ghana.
Silver nanoparticles: Novel antimicrobial agent synthesized from an endophytic fungus Pestalotia sp. Isolated from leaves of Syzygium cumini (L)

We report the extracellular synthesis of silver nanoparticles using an endophytic fungus Pestalotia sp. isolated from leaves of Syzygium cumini (L) and their antibacterial activity against human pathogenic bacteria viz. Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC-25923) and Salmonella typhi (ATCC-51812) alone and in combination with commercially available antibiotics. Detection of synthesized silver nanoparticles was carried out using UV-Visible spectrophotometer analysis, which showed a peak at 415 nm indicating the formation of nanoparticles. Further characterization includes the Fourier Transform Infra-Red spectroscopic analysis for the detection of proteins as capping agents on nanoparticles. Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis Syatem (LM-20) analysis and TEM analysis confirmed the formation of spherical and polydispersed nanoparticles in the range of 10-40 nm having average size of 12.40 nm. Biologically synthesized silver nanoparticles showed significant antibacterial activity but their efficacy was increased in combination of antibiotics like gentamycin and sulphamethizole. Silver nanoparticles in combination with gentamycin showed maximum activity (30 mm) against S. aureus followed by sulphamethizole (25 mm). Similar results were reported in case of S. typhi where silver nanoparticles in combination with gentamycin (28 mm) showed more activity than combination of silver nanoparticles and sulphamethizole (24 mm). Biosynthetic approach using an endophytic fungus is a novel way towards the development of safe, economically viable and green method for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles and thus synthesized silver nanoparticles can be used in antibacterial formulations.