Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A New Perspective on Post‐Earnings‐Announcement‐Drift: Using a Relative Drift Measure

Prior research finds that there is a delayed reaction to both analyst&#8208;based earnings surprises and random&#8208;walk&#8208;based earnings surprises. Focusing on the market reaction from the post&#8208;announcement window, prior studies show that analyst&#8208;based drift is larger than random walk&#8208;based drift. This finding is counter&#8208;intuitive if we believe large, sophisticated investors tend to trade on analysts&#8217; forecast earnings news and thus react faster and more completely than smaller and less sophisticated investors react to random walk earnings news. In this study, we construct a relative measure of post&#8208;earnings&#8208;announcement drift (PEAD) (i.e., drift as a proportion of total market reaction to earnings news) which we refer to as the &#8216;drift ratio&#8217;, and we provide evidence, consistent with our intuition, that analyst&#8208;based drift ratio is smaller (not greater) than random&#8208;walk&#8208;based drift ratio. We find that this difference is more pronounced in more recent periods and for firms with more sophisticated investors. Our approach to measure the PEAD is more intuitive than that in traditional PEAD literature. Our results thus complement existing research findings by utilizing the drift ratio measure to generate new insights about the drift phenomenon.
AMethod for Routing Packets Across Multiple Paths in NoCs with In-Order Delivery and Fault-Tolerance

Networks on Chips (NoCs) are required to tackle the increasing delay and poor scalability issues of bus-based communication architectures. Many of today’s NoC designs are based on single path routing. By utilizing multiple paths for routing, congestion in the network is reduced significantly, which translates to improved network performance or reduced network bandwidth requirements and power consumption. Multiple paths can also be utilized to achieve spatial redundancy, which helps in achieving tolerance against faults or errors in the NoC. A major problem with multipath routing is that packets can reach the destination in an out-of-order fashion, while many applications require in-order packet delivery. In this work, we present a multipath routing strategy that guarantees in-order packet delivery for NoCs. It is based on the idea of routing packets on partially nonintersecting paths and rebuilding packet order at path reconvergent nodes. We present a design methodology that uses the routing strategy to optimally spread the traffic in the NoC to minimize the network bandwidth needs and power consumption. We also integrate support for tolerance against transient and permanent failures in the NoC links in the methodology by utilizing spatial and temporal redundancy for transporting packets. Our experimental studies show large reduction in network bandwidth requirements (36.86% on average) and power consumption (30.51% on average) compared to single-path systems. The area overhead of the proposed scheme is small (a modest 5% increase in network area). Hence, it is practical to be used in the on-chip domain.
A Data Mining Study on Pressure Ulcers

Nurses follow well-defined guidelines in order to avoid the occurrence of pressure ulcers (pU) in patients under their care, not being always successful. This work intends to produce prediction models using Data Mining (DM) techniques in order to anticipate uP treatment. The work was conducted in the Oporto Hospital Center (CHP). For the construction of this DM study, the phases of the CRISP DM methodology were taken into account. In particular, the DM focus is to show that the time factor and frequency of interventions may influence the prediction of pU classification models. To prove this, we used a data set (containing 1339 records) where different classification techniques were applied using WEKA tool. Through the classification technique (decision tree), it was possible to create a guideline that contains all the scenarios and instructions that the professional can use in order to avoid patients to develop pU. For its construction we used the model that presented a higher percentage of sensitivity (number of positive cases correctly classified as "NO" developed pU). The conclusions were: the factors studied are good predictors of PU and the guideline obtained, through automatic techniques, can help professionals apply care to the patient more quickly.
Technology to overcome therapeutic inertia.

Clinical inertia or therapeutic inertia is a major health problem in type 2 diabetes (T2D). So much so that the American Diabetes Association (ADA) recently kicked off a multi-year campaign to identify the issues, address barriers and develop solutions (1). Therapeutic inertia is defined as “ the failure to initiate or intensify therapy in a timely manner according to evidence - based clinical guidelines . ” (2). The term therapeutic implies that both patients and healthcare providers (HCPs) are together part of the problem and the solution. A recent systematic review documented that on average it took more than 1 year from the start of treatment intensification until an A1C target was achieved (2). And in some studies, the range was more than 7 years! In the United States we are not meeting goals for diabetes management despite the multitude of new medications on the market to manage T2D and up-to-date clinical guidelines (3).
Much ado about nothing: Sovereign ratings and government bond yields in the OECD

In this paper, we propose a new method to assess the impact of sovereign ratings on sovereign bond yields. We estimate the impulse response of the interest rate, following a change in the rating. Since ratings are ordinal and moreover extremely persistent, it proves difficult to estimate those impulse response functions using a VAR modeling ratings, yields and other macroeconomic indicators. However, given the highly stochastic nature of the precise timing of ratings, we can treat most rating adjustments as shocks. We thus no longer rely on a VAR for shock identification, making the estimation of the corresponding IRFs well suited for so called local projections - that is estimating impulse response functions through a series of separate direct forecasts over different horizons. Yet, the rare occurrence of ratings makes impulse response functions estimated through that procedure highly sensitive to individual observations, resulting in implausibly volatile impulse responses. We propose an augmentation to restrict jointly estimated local projections in a way that produces economically plausible impulse response functions. We develop a semiparametric local projections method where smoothness can be imposed as constraint without assuming a specific functional form. The degree of smoothing can be assessed using a standard information criterion. While rating downgrades can play some role, we find no evidence for an impact of ratings in the most critical case of countries that are unusually well rated compared to their debt situation. Rather, ratings seem to be adjusted when the market evaluation of the risk associated with the high level of debt has already peaked.
Perceived relevance of university physics problems by pre-service physics teachers: personal constructs

ABSTRACT Pre-service physics teachers often do not recognise the relevance for their future career in their university content knowledge courses. A lower perceived relevance can, however, have a negative effect on their motivation and on their academic success. Several intervention studies have been undertaken with the goal to increase this perceived relevance. A previous study shows that conceptual physics problems used in university physics courses are perceived by pre-service physics teachers as more relevant for their future career than regular, quantitative problems. It is however not clear, what the students’ meaning of the construct ‘relevance’ is: what makes a problem more relevant to them than another problem? To answer this question, N = 7 pre-service teachers were interviewed using the repertory grid technique, based on the personal construct theory. Nine physics problems were discussed with regards to their perceived relevance and with regards to problem properties that distinguish these problems from each other. We are able to identify six problem properties that have a positive influence on the perceived relevance. Physics problems that are based on these properties should therefore potentially have a higher perceived relevance, which can have a positive effect on the motivation of the pre-service teachers who solve these problems.
WiEat: Fine-grained Device-free Eating Monitoring Leveraging Wi-Fi Signals

Eating well plays a key role in people’s overall health and wellbeing. Studies have shown that many health-related problems such as obesity, diabetes and anemia are closely associated with people’s unhealthy eating habits (e.g., skipping meals, eating irregularly and overeating). Thus, keeping track of diet is becoming more important. Traditional eating monitoring solutions relying on self-report remain an onerous task, while the recent trends requiring users to wear dedicated yet expensive hardware are cumbersome. To overcome these limitations, in this paper, we develop a device-free eating monitoring system using WiFi-enabled devices (e.g., smartphone or laptop). Our system aims to automatically monitor users’ eating activities by identifying the fine-grained eating motions and detecting the minute movements during chewing and swallowing. In particular, our system distinguishes eating from non-eating activities by using K-means clustering with principal component analysis on the extracted Channel State Information (CSI) from WiFi signals. It further adopts a soft decision-based eating motion classification through identifying the utensils (e.g., using a folk, knife, spoon or bare hands) in use. Moreover, we propose a minute motion reconstruction method to identify chewing and swallowing through detecting users’ minute facial muscle movements. The derived fine-grained eating monitoring results are beneficial to the understanding of users’ eating behaviors and estimation of food intake types and amounts. Extensive experiments with 20 users over 1600-minute eating show that the proposed system can recognize the user’s eating motions with up to 95% accuracy and estimate the chewing and swallowing amount within 10% percentage error.
Updated application of a photo-identification based assessment model to southern right whales in South African waters, focussing on inferences to be drawn from a series of appreciably lower counts of calving females over 2015 to 2017

This paper extends the analyses of Brandão et al. (2013) which applied the three-mature-stages (receptive, calving and resting) model of Cooke et al. (2003) to photo-identification data available from 1979 to 2012 for southern right whales in South African waters, by taking five further years of data into account. The lower counts of calving females over 2015 to 2017 are indicated to be a reflection of time variability in the probability that a resting whale rests another year, rather than of any mass mortality. The 2017 number of parous females is estimated to be 1 765, the total population (including males and calves) 6 116, and the annual population growth rate 6.5%. This reflects a small decrease to the 6.6% increase rate estimated previously; even in the instance of lesser numbers seen in recent years than estimated previously. Information from resightings of grey blazed calves as adults with calves allows estimation of first year survival rate of 0.852, a slight increase from the previous estimate of 0.850, compared to a subsequent annual rate of 0.988. INTRODUCTION This paper updates the results of Brandão et al. (2013) of a photo-id based assessment of southern right whales in South African waters using the three-mature-stages (ovulating also termed “receptive”, calving and resting) model of Cooke et al. (2003). The application of the approach is near-identical to that of Cooke et al. (2003), except that here the starting population is not assumed to reflect a steady age-structure corresponding to the Leslie matrix model describing the population dynamics. The photo-id data for grey blazed calves, which are known to be female and are identifiable when giving birth themselves, are used to link the dynamics of the mature females with the output of their reproduction by allowing for estimation of parameters for first-year mortality and the maturity ogive. The data used to fit the models has been described in detail in Brandão et al. 1 MARAM (Marine Resource Assessment and Management Group), Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa. 2 Mammal Research Institute Whale Unit, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, South Africa. 3 Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Zonnebloem, Cape Town, South Africa
The threat of wild habitat to scab resistant apple cultivars

Evaluations of plant resistance to pathogens are rarely made using isolates from wild habitats, although the heterogeneity of such habitats may generate pathogen diversity which could be a source of new virulence in cultivated habitats. The aim of this study was to investigate whether scab resistance factors, identified and characterized in apples using isolates of Venturia inaequalis from a cultivated habitat, remained effective against isolates from a wild habitat. Three V. inaequalis core collections originating from the cultivated apple Malus × domestica and from two wild species, M. sieversii and M. sylvestris, were established to maximize pathogen diversity. For each core collection, 10 isolates were inoculated in mixtures onto 51 genotypes from an apple progeny segregating for two qualitative resistance genes and six quantitative resistance loci (QRL). On each apple genotype, isolates that contributed to the scab symptoms were identified within the mixture using microsatellite markers. The most frequently detected isolates were inoculated singly to compare their aggressiveness according to their host origin. The results showed that isolates from a wild habitat were able to infect the susceptible apple genotypes. However, these isolates were never more aggressive than isolates from the cultivated habitat on the resistance factors tested. It can therefore be concluded that the resistance factors used in this study, identified with V. inaequalis isolates from a cultivated habitat, remained effective against isolates from M. sylvestris and M. sieversii.
Prey Delivery Rates as Estimates of Prey Consumption by Eurasian Kestrel Falco tinnunculus Nestlings

Steen R. , Løw L.M. , Sonerud G.A. , Selås V. & Slagsvold T. 2011. Prey delivery rates as estimates of prey consumption by Eurasian Kestrel Falco tinnunculus nestlings. Ardea 99: 1–8. In altricial birds the type of prey selected by parents for their nestlings may affect the allocation of time and energy spent on hunting, preparing prey and feeding the nestlings, which in turn may affect the rate of provisioning. Raptors take relatively large prey items, which facilitates the quantification of rates of prey items and prey mass delivered to nestlings. Estimates of rates of prey delivery in raptors are nevertheless few and have been based on direct observations from a hide in combination with analyses of prey remnants and regurgitated pellets. To obtain better estimates we video monitored prey deliveries at 55 nests of Eurasian Kestrels Falco tinnunculus. Of the 2282 prey items recorded, voles were most abundant by number, followed by birds, shrews and lizards, while insects and frogs were rare. An average brood of 4.3 nestlings was estimated to consume 18.3 g/h, hence a nestling consumed on average 4.2 g/h. This is equivalent to 67.8 g/d, given an average daily activity period of 16.1 h. The estimated delivery rate of prey items required to feed an average brood in our study was 91 per h if the kestrels had provided only insects, and 3.4, 1.9, 0.83 and 0.52 if they had provided only lizards, shrews, voles or birds, - respectively. This corresponds to one prey delivery per 40 s if feeding solely on insects and one per 18, 32, 75 and 120 min if feeding solely on lizards, shrews, voles or birds, respectively. We argue that kestrels in the boreal forest would be unable to raise an average brood solely on insects or lizards, unlikely to do so solely on shrews, but able to do so solely on voles in a vole peak year.
Cache-aware load balancing of data center applications

Our deployment of cache-aware load balancing in the Google web search backend reduced cache misses by ~0.5x, contributing to a double-digit percentage increase in the throughput of our serving clusters by relieving a bottleneck. This innovation has benefited all production workloads since 2015, serving billions of queries daily. A load balancer forwards each query to one of several identical serving replicas. The replica pulls each term's postings list into RAM from flash, either locally or over the network. Flash bandwidth is a critical bottleneck, motivating an application-directed RAM cache on each replica. Sending the same term reliably to the same replica would increase the chance it hits cache, and avoid polluting the other replicas' caches. However, most queries contain multiple terms and we have to send the whole query to one replica, so it is not possible to achieve a perfect partitioning of terms to replicas. We solve this via a voting scheme, whereby the load balancer conducts a weighted vote by the terms in each query, and sends the query to the winning replica. We develop a multi-stage scalable algorithm to learn these weights. We first construct a large-scale term-query graph from logs and apply a distributed balanced graph partitioning algorithm to cluster each term to a preferred replica. This yields a good but simplistic initial voting table, which we then iteratively refine via cache simulation to capture feedback effects.
Melitid amphipods of Barrow Island, Western Australia Part II - recent discoveries

Investigation of new sites of underground waters on Barrow Island, Western Australia, yielded amphipods of the families MeIitidae and Bogidiellidae at seven locations not previously sampled. Described species of the genus Nedsia, family Melitidae, were found at several of these locations; three new species of the genus are described from two sites. Keys to the known species of Nedsia are extended to include the three new ones. across the greater area of the island, and permanent surface waters are absent. Aquatic invertebrates nevertheless abound, but are restricted to cave systems and ground water, which are widespread. As reported previously (Bradbury and Williams 1996a, b, 1997; Humphreys 1993a,b, 1999, 2000), extensive sampling, commonly associated with oil exploration and exploitation, has revealed the frequent presence of amphipod species. In all, seven species of the genus Nedsia (Barnard and Williams 1995) attributed to the family Melitidae, one species of the genus Bogidomma (Bradbury and Williams 1996a), family Bogidiellidae, and one species of the genus Liagoceradocus, family Hadziidae, have been described from Barrow Island (Bradbury and Williams 1996b). Amphipod species of the melitoid (hadzioid) complex are distributed widely over the continent (Bradbury and Williams, 1999). The melitoid (hadzioid) complex is not, however, clear! y demarcated and has been the subject of review for some time, as yet without resolution. For the time being, therefore, and following Barnard and Williams (1995), taxa described here are attributed to the family Melitidae. Melitids of Barrow Island, the Nullarbor Plain and the Flinders Ranges all appear to be marine strandings and/or invaders from periods of inundation during the Cretaceous, between 120 and 100 million years ago (Bradbury and Williams, 1997; Paine, 1990). These once marine regimens encompass much of inland Australia, as well as many coastal regions, and considerable numbers of new species might reasonably be expected among collections yet to be analysed; eleven species have been described to date (Barnard and Williams, 1995; Bradbury and Williarns, 1996a; Bradbury and Eberhard, 2000). All such melitids are hypogean and have well developed stygobiont characteristics, including blindness, lack of pigmentation, fragility and attenuation of the appendages (Holsinger, 1994), and in some regions display considerable endemism (Bradbury, 2000). This paper reports on the analysis of a further twenty samples, taken between October 1998 and April 1999, from seven sites on Barrow Island. Three new species of the genus Nedsia, family Melitidae are described. All are small, ranging in size between 2 and 4 mm. Species of the family Bogidiellidae were also present in small numbers; these shall be described at a later date.
STUDIES ON ANTHOSTOMA DECIPIENS INVOLVED IN CARPINUS BETULUS DECLINE

Carpinus betulus L. (European or common hornbeam) is well known for its rustic nature and adaptability, which make it a very important tree in private and public green areas. During the last few years, many cases of decline and death of these trees were reported in different Italian regions, and because of its lethal outcome, this disease was termed “Carpinus betulus decline. ” Laboratory analysis aimed at isolating the etiological agents of this disease ascertained the frequent presence of two different fungi in the same canker, and experimental infections confirmed that both fungi are hornbeam pathogens. The aim of this work is to describe the taxonomic determination of one of the fungi. On the bases of symptoms, morphocultural and micromorphological characteristics, this fungus, which produces red-spore masses on hornbeam bark, was identified as Anthostoma decipiens (DC.: Fr) Nitschke, anamorph Cytospora decipiens Sacc. To date, no Anthostoma- related DNA sequences have been published, and comparison of ITS1, ITS2, and partial beta-tubulin nucleotide sequences with those present in the international databases gave no help in identifying the pathogen. Therefore, the sequences obtained were deposited in the EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Database. A specific primer, to be used for PCR reactions in combination with the standard primer ITS4, and located 80 nucleotides next to the 3’-end of ITS1 primer, named REX, was selected, synthesized, and tested.
Effects of stand age on net primary productivity of boreal black spruce forests in Ontario, Canada

Quantification of the effects of stand age on its net primary productivity (NPP) is critical for estimating for - est NPP and carbon budget at regional to global scales. This paper reports a practical method for quantifying age-NPP relationships using existing normal yield tables, biomass equations, and measurements of fine-root turnover and litterfall. Applying this method, we developed mean age-NPP relationships for black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP) stands in Ontario. We define "mean age-NPP relationship", as the changes in NPP that occur with age under long-term mean environmental conditions. These relationships indicate that NPP at more productive sites culminates to a higher value and at an earlier age and also declines more rapidly thereafter. A further component analysis indicates that the decrease in biomass growth of woody tissues is the main contributor to the decline with age. Finally, error as - sessment suggests that the uncertainty in NPP estimates can be substantially reduced with a better quantification of fine-root turnover and litterfall, which are the two dominant NPP components, particularly in the later stages of stand development. With new techniques now available, more accurate measurement of these components is possible, and thus strongly recommended.