Continuous

The companies with low entropy of financial statements, due to lower information risk and investor confidence, have lower financing costs. These companies have more operational action in achieving optimal capital structure. The main objective of this research is to investigate the effects of entropy of financial statements on the adjustment speed of capital structure in the companies listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange, using the data of 154 companies in the period 2006 to 2016 (totally 1694 years-company). To test the hypotheses, the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) was used. To estimate the adjustment speed of capital structure, the partial adjustment model was used, and to measure the entropy of financial statements, the entropy, the continuous entropy of Renyi and Shannon were applied. Findings indicated that the entropy factor of financial statements have inverse relationship with the speed of companies in reaching their optimal capital structure. The results showed that the rates of modification for the companies with high and low entropy are 59% and 72%, respectively.

OBJECTIVE—Recent studies have confirmed that improved glycemic control decreases the risk of diabetic complications in type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients. The Minimed glucose sensor allows continuous 72-h glucose monitoring and represents a potentially important tool to improve diabetes management. Its use is currently limited to the health care team. Our aim was to evaluate the reproducibility of data provided by the device by comparing data provided by two sensors worn simultaneously by the same subject. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—A total of 11 subjects (6 type 1 and 3 type 2 diabetic patients and 2 healthy subjects) agreed to wear two sensors and perform at least four daily finger-stick glucose determinations during 72 h. The simultaneous glucose values provided by the sensors were compared. To determine the clinical implications of the glucose data, each day was divided into eight periods, and for each period the glucose range was rated as satisfactory, too high, or too low by...

ABSTRACT. Published guidelines suggest that after an episode of severe peritonitis that requires Tenckhoff catheter removal, peritoneal dialysis can be resumed after a minimum of 3 wk. However, the feasibility of resuming peritoneal dialysis after Tenckhoff catheter removal remains unknown. One hundred patients were identified with peritonitis that did not respond to standard antibiotic therapy in a specific center. Their clinical course was reviewed; in all of them, Tenckhoff catheters were removed and reinsertion was attempted at least 4 wk later. In 51 patients, the Tenckhoff catheter was successfully reinserted and peritoneal dialysis was resumed (success group). In the other 49 pateints, reinsertion failed and the patient was put on long-term hemodialysis (fail group). The patients were followed for 18.5 ± 16.8 mo. The overall technique survival was 30.8% at 24 mo. In the success group, 11 patients were changed to long-term hemodialysis within 8 mo after their return to continu...

XML and its associated languages are emerging as powerful authoring tools for multimedia and hypermedia web content. Furthermore intelligent presentation generation engines have begun to appear as have models and platforms for adaptive presentations. However XML-based models are limited by their lack of expressiveness in presentation and animation. As a result authors of dynamic adaptive web content must often use considerable amounts of script or code. The use of such script or code has two serious drawbacks. First ...

We consider the nonlinear filtering model with signal and observation noise independent, and show that in case the signal is continuous in probability, the filter admits a version whose paths are continuous. The analysis is based on expressing the nonlinear filter as a Wiener functional via the Kallianpur–Striebel Bayes formula.

This paper develops the theme established in the first of the series where six key criteria for a CVP were identified and discussed with respect to a novel design of the continuous pan. At the time the first of those pans were being installed. This paper reports improvements made over time and the results of third party investigations into the performance of the pans on both high grade (A) and low grade (C) massecuites, including the use of tracer technology. The pans were evaluated against the criteria of evaporation performance, energy efficiency, crystal quality, sucrose recovery, operability and pan availability It is concluded that, by drawing on the best features of established designs and adding innovative improvements, the new pan has been able to meet or exceed conventional performance standards for each of the key criteria.

Objective To compare, in Chinese continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients, the creatinine kinetics method (LBM-CK) and the anthropometric method (LBM-AM) for determining lean body mass (LBM). Design Single-center cross-sectional study. Patients and Methods We studied 151 unselected CAPD patients (78 males, 73 females). We calculated LBM-CK and LBM-AM using standard formulas. The results of the two methods were then compared by the Bland and Altman method. Dialysis adequacy and other nutritional indices, including total Kt/V, weekly creatinine clearance (CCr), residual glomerular filtration rate (GFR), protein nitrogen appearance (PNA), subjective global assessment (SGA), and serum albumin, were measured simultaneously. Results The mean age of the patients was 55.6 ± 12.2 years, and the mean duration of dialysis was 33.6 ± 28.5 months. The mean body mass index (BMI) was 22.7 ± 3.7. The average LBM-AM was 43.6 ± 8.0 kg; the average LBM-CK was 33.0 ± 9.3 kg. The differ...

XML and its associated languages are emerging as powerful authoring tools for multimedia and hypermedia web content. Furthermore, intelligent presentation generation engines have begun to appear, as have models and platforms for adaptive presentations. However, XML-based models are limited by their lack of expressiveness in presentation and animation. As a result, authors of dynamic, adaptive web content must often use

Coronary artery fistulas vary widely in their morphological appearance and presentation. These fistulas are congenital or acquired coronary artery abnormalities in which blood is shunted into a cardiac chamber, great vessel, or other structure, bypassing the myocardial capillary ...

Geospatial datasets of forest characteristics are modeled representations of real populations on the ground. The continuous spatial character of such datasets provides an incredible source of information at the landscape level for ecosystem research, policy analysis, and ...

In this article, the time-dependent behavior of continuous composite beams with partial interaction is investigated using a space-exact, time-discretized finite element formulation. The effects of creep and shrinkage taking place in a concrete slab are considered by using age-dependent linear viscoelastic models. The Euler–Bernoulli’s kinematical assumptions are considered for both the connected members and the shear connection is modeled through

A mixed culture of human fecal bacteria was grown for 120 days in a three-stage continuous culture system. To reproduce some of the nutritional and pH characteristics of the large gut, each vessel had a different operating volume (0.3, 0.5, and 0.8 liter) and pH (6.0, 6.5, and 7.0). A mixture of polysaccharides and proteins was used as carbon and nitrogen sources. Measurements of H2, CH4, S2-, sulfate reduction rates, sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB), and volatile fatty acids were made throughout the experiment. After 48 days of running, porcine gastric mucin (5.8 g/day) was independently fed to vessel 1 of the multichamber system. The mucin was extensively degraded as evidenced by the stimulation of volatile fatty acid production. In the absence of mucin, sulfate-reducing activity was comparatively insignificant and methanogenesis was the major route for the disposal of electrons. The reverse occurred upon the addition of mucin; sulfate reduction predominated and methanogenesis was ...

When lateral osteotomies are performed as part of a rhinoplasty, the nose and paranasal region invariably change in three dimensions. The PURPOSE of this study is to compare the effect of the percutaneous perforating and endonasal continuous osteotomy techniques concerning the degree of postoperative swelling using three dimensional (3D) stereophotogrammetry. A prospective follow-up study was conducted. Patients requiring bilateral osteotomies were included and randomly underwent a percutaneous osteotomy on one side and an endonasal osteotomy on the other side. Pre- and postoperative 3D photos were acquired using 3D stereophotogrammetry. Volumetric measurement data were acquired from the paranasal region using 3D software. Measurements were compared using Student`s t-test and Wilcoxon signed rank test statistics. Twenty patients were included. A percutaneous osteotomy was performed on the right side in nine patients and on the left side in 11 patients. The total volume, the volume o...

A multidisciplinary education program is an attractive approach for improving the quality of care of pre-dialysis patients. However, it is not known whether this kind of program can reduce the need for urgent dialysis and/or hospitalizations in patients who subsequently receive ...

Forty-three strains of coagulase-negative staphylococci were obtained from dialysis effluent during 41 episodes of CAPD peritonitis. Eighty per cent of these were found to be Staphylococcus epidermidis but several other species also occurred. A recurrent infection lasting 15 weeks was caused by Staph. haemolyticus. Multiple antibiotic resistance was found to be common. Of 13 antibiotics tested, only vancomycin was active against all strains although most strains were also sensitive to rifampicin, netilmicin and cefamandole. Vancomycin was chosen for the initial treatment of CAPD peritonitis caused by coagulase-negative staphylococci and eradicated the organism in 29 of 30 episodes.

Attempts to measure the maximum specific growth rate (µmax) using the method of wash-out were made on two Pseudomonas spp. with different abilities for biofilm formation. The apparent “µmax” of the strain with the highest biofilm activity (P. putida ATCC 11172) was governed by the dilution rate of the steady-state preceding the wash-out experiment. The apparent “µmax” was increased from 0.4 to 3.8 h-1 by changing the dilution rate of the preceding steady-state from 0.3 to 2.5 h-1. The µmax determined from a single batch culture was 0.59 h-1.

The Prisoner’s Dilemma, a 2-person game in which the players can either cooperate or defect, is a common paradigm for studying the evolution of cooperation. In real situations cooperation is almost never all or nothing. This observation is the motivation for the Continuous Prisoner’s Dilemma, in which individuals exhibit variable degrees of cooperation. It is known that in the presence of spatial structure, when individuals “play against” (i.e. interact with) their neighbours, and “compare to” (“learn from”) them, cooperative investments can evolve to considerable levels. Here we examine the effect of increasing the neighbourhood size: we find that the mean-field limit of no cooperation is reached for a critical neighbourhood size of about five neighbours on each side in a Moore neighbourhood, which does not depend on the size of the spatial lattice. We also find the related result that in a network of players, the critical average degree (number of neighbours) of nodes for which de...