Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Risk of squamous cell carcinoma and methoxsalen (psoralen) and UV-A radiation (PUVA). A meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE To assess the risk of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and the relation of dose to risk among groups of patients with psoriasis exposed to psoralen-UV-A (PUVA). DATA SOURCES Four electronic databases were searched from 1984 to 1998. STUDY SELECTION In addition to the PUVA Follow-up Study, we included all English-language studies from the United States and Europe with at least 150 patients enrolled, who were followed up for at least 5 years as identified from our bibliographic search. DATA EXTRACTION A custom-designed questionnaire was used to extract data from each of the articles. For each study, if possible, we determined the incidence of basal cell carcinomas and SCCs and the incidence rate ratio of SCC among patients exposed to low-dose (we defined as < 100 treatments or 1000 J/cm2) compared with high-dose PUVA (> 200 treatments or 2000 J/cm2). Exact methods were used to calculate the incidence rate ratios. DATA SYNTHESIS In addition to our study, we identified and reviewed 8 other studies. Overall, the incidence among patients exposed to high-dose PUVA was 14-fold higher than among patients with low-dose exposure (95% confidence interval, 8.3-24.1); a greater dose-dependent increase in risk than that observed in the PUVA Follow-up Study. CONCLUSION Although the incidence of SCC reported among groups of PUVA-treated patients followed up for at least 5 years varies greatly, compared with the risk in low-dose patients, long-term high-dose exposure to PUVA was consistently observed to significantly increase the risk of SCC in all studies reviewed.
Does the term structure predict real economic activity in Japan?

It has been empirically shown in the USA that a positive slope of the yield curve is associated with a future increase in real economic activity. However, the present study's empirical examination reveals that the term structure in Japan has almost no predictive power for real economic changes, whereas it does in Canada and the USA. Further, the additional investigation, which exploits spectral analysis, clarifies that the yield-curve's slope and real economic growth in the USA and Canada have similar cyclical components. However, the term structure in Japan exhibits few business cycle components, and this may account for the lack of predictive power.
Student Evaluation of Courses.

Questions relating to the ability of students to ob jectively evaluate their instructors' efforts have been debated in countless faculty offices and lounges. In spite of the often valid objections expressed by many faculty members, student evaluation of instruction has been firmly established. The question now should be what is the most effective way for the faculty to improve teach ing by obtaining and utilizing those worthwhile student opinions. If the primary goal of student evaluations is the im provement of instruction, then this aim should be re flected in both the methods for collecting and eventual utilization of the data. At present, the process would
Another method of relational fuzzy clustering

Clustering is generally done on individual object data representing the entities such as feature vectors or on object relational data incorporated in a proximity matrix.This paper describes another method for finding a fuzzy membership matrix that provides cluster membership values for all the objects based strictly on the proximity matrix. This is a form of relational data clustering. The fuzzy membership matrix is found by first finding a set of vectors that approximately have the same Euclidian distances as the proximities that are provided. These vectors can be of very low dimension. Fuzzy c-means (FCM) is then applied to these vectors to obtain the fuzzy membership matrix. In addition two-dimensional vectors are created to allow a visual representation of the proximity matrix. This allows comparison of the result of automatic clustering with visual clustering. The method proposed here is compared to other relational clustering methods using various proximity matrices as input. Simulations show the method to be very effective.
Fundamental and Behavioural Drivers of Electricity Price Volatility

The stochastic properties of volatility in spot electricity prices are only partially understood and present substantial modelling challenges. This paper develops and applies three complementary modelling approaches in order to uncover its fundamental and behavioural drivers over time and across intra-day trading periods. First, intra-day prices are related to systematic components, including economic fundamentals, strategic and market design effects. Then, residual volatility is attributed to: i) regular, non-linear agent reactions to market fundamentals (covariates of heteroscedasticity), ii) the adaptation of price formation due to substantial agent learning (time-varying effects), and iii) the transient extreme pricing in periods of scarcity (regime-switching dynamics). We find that, i) GARCH effects diminish, when each of the above sources of volatility is accounted for, and ii) allowing for the time-varying responses of prices to fundamentals can yield more precise volatility estimates than an explicit GARCH specification.
Political Effects on the Allocation of Public Expenditures: Empirical Evidence from OECD Countries

This paper examines the effects of political determinants on the allocation of public expenditures. Analyzing an OECD panel from 1990 to 2004, a SURE model controls for the contemporaneous correlation between the different expenditure categories (COFOG). I find that left governments set other priorities than right governments: In particular, they increase spending for "Environment protection", "Recreation; Culture and Religion" and "Education". The number of coalition partners as well as minority governments affects the allocation of public expenditures, too. In contrast, there are no election and pre-election year effects.
The Determinants of Economic Growth in the Philippines: A New Look

This paper uses a panel of 23 emerging markets for the period 1965–2008 to study the determinants of per capita GDP growth in the Philippines. The Philippines is an outlier in terms of agricultural exports, investment, research and development, population growth, and political uncertainty. Panel regressions reveal that these factors, along with the deficit, inflation, trade openness, the current account balance and the frequency of crisis episodes are siginificant determinants of growth. A growth index confirms that these determinants also capture the absolute and relative performance of each country over time and suggests that the Philippines has lacked a sustained period of relatively strong economic reforms.
Comparative effect of the addition of α-, β-, or γ-cyclodextrin on main sensory and physico-chemical parameters.

UNLABELLED Although α-, β-, and γ-cyclodextrins (CDs) have been widely used to improve the color of different fruit juices, a comparative study of the effect of these natural CDs on other properties that also influence pear juice quality, such as odor and aroma, have not been reported yet. In this study, the comparative effect of the addition of α-, β-, and γ-cyclodextrin, the only CDs authorized to be used in the food industry by U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Union, on the pear juice quality was evaluated for the first time. Several instrumental and sensory properties of this fruit juice, such as color, volatile composition, odor, and aroma have been evaluated in the absence and presence of α-, β-, and γ-CD. A study of the aroma profile of pear juice showed that esters, aldehydes, alcohols, and terpenes were the most important chemical families. However, the addition of α-, β-, and γ-CD had different effects on both the concentration of individual volatile compounds and their chemical grouping. Furthermore, a trained sensory panel was used to evaluate color, overall odor, overall aroma, and overall quality of pear juice in the presence or absence of CDs. PRACTICAL APPLICATION After comparing the effects of the addition of α-, β-, and γ-CD on pear juice, our final recommendation is to add α-CD (the natural CD formed by 6 units of glucose) to pear juice because it will significantly increase the global quality of the juice by reducing its browning but without producing a significant reduction in the aroma quality.
Myeloid and Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells Are Susceptible to Recombinant Adenovirus Vectors and Stimulate Polyfunctional Memory T Cell Responses

Although replication-incompetent recombinant adenovirus (rAd) type 5 is a potent vaccine vector for stimulating T and B cell responses, high seroprevalence of adenovirus type 5 (Ad5) within human populations may limit its clinical utility. Therefore, alternative adenovirus serotypes have been studied as vaccine vectors. In this study, we characterized the ability of rAd5 and rAd35 to infect and induce maturation of human CD11c+ myeloid dendritic cells (MDCs) and CD123+ plasmacytoid dendritic cells (PDCs), and their ability to stimulate Ag-specific T cells. Both MDCs and PDCs were found to express the primary receptor for Ad35 (CD46) but not Ad5 (coxsackie-adenovirus receptor; CAR). Both dendritic cell (DC) subsets were also more susceptible to rAd35 than to rAd5. MDCs were more susceptible to both rAd35 and rAd5 than were PDCs. Whereas rAd35 used CD46 for entry into DCs, entry of rAd5 may be through a CAR-independent pathway. Exposure to rAd35 but not rAd5 induced high levels of IFN-α in PDCs and phenotypic differentiation in both DC subsets. MDCs and PDCs exposed to either rAd5 or rAd35 encoding for CMV pp65 were able to present pp65 and activate CMV-specific memory CD8+ and CD4+ T cells in a dose-dependent manner, but MDCs stimulated the highest frequencies of pp65-specific T cells. Responding T cells expressed multiple functions including degranulation (CD107a surface mobilization) and production of IFN-γ, IL-2, TNF-α, and MIP-1β. Thus, the ability of rAd35 to naturally target important DC subsets, induce their maturation, and appropriately present Ag to T cells may herald greater in vivo immunogenicity than has been observed with rAd5.
Few hundred parameters outperform few hundred thousand?

Knowledge Tracing plays a key role to personalize learning in an Intelligent Tutoring System including funtoot. Bayesian Knowledge Tracing, apart from other models, is the simplest well-studied model which is known to work well. Recently, Deep Knowledge Tracing based on Deep Neural Networks, was proposed with huge promises. But, soon after, it was discovered that the gains achieved by DKT were not of signiﬁcant magnitude as compared to Performance Factor Analysis [13] and BKT and its variants proposed in [6]. In the quest of examining and studying these models, we experiment with them on our dataset. We also introduce a logical extension of DKT, Multi-Skill DKT, to incorporate items requiring knowledge of multiple skills. We show that PFA clearly outperforms all the above mentioned models when the AUC results were averaged on skills while PFA and DKT, both were equally good, when they were averaged on all data points.
Chain initiation in a polycistronic message: sequential versus simultaneous derepression of the enzymes for histidine biosynthesis in Salmonella typhimurium.

The pathway for histidinle biosyinthesis in Salmonella typhimurium, elucidated largely through the efforts o:f Dr. B. N. Ames and co-workers, 1-5 is shown in Figure 1. The figure also shows that portioin of the pathway for puriine biosynthesis which involves the further metabolism of 4-amino-5-imidazole carboxamide riboinucleotide (phosphoribosyl-AIC). 6 Dr. Phillip Hartmain and his colleagues have shown that the structural genes for the enzymes catalyziing the reactioins of the histidine pathway are localized in a small segment of the bacterial chromosome, the histidine operon.7' 8 The phenomenoni of coordiniate derepressioin of the histidine enzymes was originally described by Ames and Garry, 9 who found that the histidine operon functions as a single unit in response to the level of histidiine available to the organism. Evidence presented by Martin10 inidicates that the histidinie operon is transcribed into a polycistroiiic messenger-RNA, anid studies oIn polarity in the histidine operon7' 11,12 suggest that this messenger-RNA is trainslated from the end which
The Left's Dirty Job

As today's headlines make clear, corporate restructuring is only one aspect of a global transformation that is challenging businesses and governments alike. W. Rand Smith examines a central question in this process: what choices exist for governments of industrialized democracies as they seek to help older, core industries adjust to changes in demand, technology and new sources of competition? This question is especially important for governments dominated by leftist political parties, which are torn between their commitment to social solidarity and the capitalist imperative of efficiency. Pledged to defend workers' interests (including their jobs), leftist governments also face market pressures often requiring huge job cuts. Given this conflict, can leftist governments forge a distinctive restructuring strategy? ""The Left's Dirty Job"" addresses this question by comparing the experiences of recent socialist governments in France and Spain. Because of their longevity and initial reform aspirations, the governments of Francois Mitterand (1981-1995) and Felipe Gonzalez (1982-1996) provide a key test of whether a leftist approach to industrial restructuring is possible. This study argues that, in fact, both governments' policies generally resembled those of other European governments in their emphasis on market-adapting measures that eliminated thousands of jobs while providing income support for displaced workers. The study also argues that despite broadly similar policies, the restructuring process in France and Spain differed in three important aspects: trajectory, dynamics and impact. W. Rand Smith develops these conclusions through comparisons of French and Spanish macroeconomic policy, public-sector management and restructuring in the steel and automobile industries. Building an explanation rooted in a resource-mobilization perspective, he focuses on the internal politics of the governing coalitions of Socialist parties and their labour union allies, arguing that these coalitions strongly affected their governments' restructuring strategies. Featuring extensive field work and interviews with over one hundred political, labour and business leaders, this study is the first systematic comparison of these important Socialist governments.
CN-Wheat, a functional-structural model of carbon and nitrogen metabolism in wheat culms after anthesis. II. Model evaluation.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Simulating resource allocation in crops requires an integrated view of plant functioning and the formalization of interactions between carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) metabolisms. This study evaluates the functional-structural model CN-Wheat developed for winter wheat after anthesis. METHODS In CN-Wheat the acquisition and allocation of resources between photosynthetic organs, roots and grains are emergent properties of sink and source activities and transfers of mobile metabolites. CN-Wheat was calibrated for field plants under three N fertilizations at anthesis. Model parameters were taken from the literature or calibrated on the experimental data. KEY RESULTS The model was able to predict the temporal variations and the distribution of resources in the culm. Thus, CN-Wheat accurately predicted the post-anthesis kinetics of dry masses and N content of photosynthetic organs and grains in response to N fertilization. In our simulations, when soil nitrates were non-limiting, N in grains was ultimately determined by availability of C for root activity. Dry matter accumulation in grains was mostly affected by photosynthetic organ lifespan, which was regulated by protein turnover and C-regulated root activity. CONCLUSIONS The present study illustrates that the hypotheses implemented in the model were able to predict realistic dynamics and spatial patterns of C and N. CN-Wheat provided insights into the interplay of C and N metabolism and how the depletion of mobile metabolites due to grain filling ultimately results in the cessation of resource capture. This enabled us to identify processes that limit grain mass and protein content and are potential targets for plant breeding.
Extent and Determinants of Household Poverty in Rural Ethiopia: A Study of Six Villages

The objective of this study was to examine extent and determinants of income poverty in selected rural villages located in different parts of the country. Data were collected through a detailed structured household survey, and descriptive statistics and econometric modelling were employed to analyze the data. Results confirm that there was abject rural poverty in the study areas; annual average per capita income was estimated at Birr 1092.30 (1.0 USD ~9.6 Birr). Some 66 per cent of the sample households (n = 240) were found to be below a poverty line, defined in official documents and adjusted for inflation in this study. The analysis of determinants of household poverty showed family size, land and livestock holdings, diversification in crop production, engagement in non-farm activities and utilization of microfinance services to be important correlates. Increased livelihood asset holdings, in terms of land and livestock, crop diversification, and engagement in non-farm activities were positively related to improved household welfare. Differences in community level natural resource endowments in terms of quality of land resources and microclimatic conditions appeared to have significant influence on the probability of households to be non-poor, through its impacts on crop productivity, as annual incomes were higher in villages where crop production constituted the primary source of household income. These results underline the importance of enhancing the poor's livelihood asset endowments, agricultural intensification, livelihood diversification and pursuing of geographically differentiated strategies in poverty reduction efforts. The need for promoting family planning was also shown by the inverse relationship between household sizes and poverty status of households.
Business angels in Germany: An empirical study

Since the mid-1980s in the USA and since the start of the 1990s in Great Britain, the investment activities of business angels and their motives have been the subject of careful examination through empirical survey and analysis. These evaluations have not been undertaken in Germany. It was assumed that the results from the USA and Great Britain could be applied to the behaviour of German business angels. However, this ignores social and cultural differences between countries. The aim of this study is to close this information gap by providing some basic information on German business angels, notably their motivations and reasons for investing, with the practical objective of highlighting to students how to attract business angels to their own start-ups. The research is based on interviews with more than 230 business angels.
Designing for commitment in regional strategic networks

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to model the impact of structural factors and activities on commitment in a regional strategic network (RSN) context. Design/methodology/approach - A longitudinal case study examines two regional strategic networks acting in different business areas in mid Sweden. Findings - Competition-neutral, social, and personal goals were found to be powerful drivers promoting shared values and commitment among competitors, whereas business-related goals worked well for complementary firms, providing a more stable basis for network commitment. In the RSN with a large number of members, sensitivity to absence was low, but it took longer for members to get to know one another, slowing commitment development. The RSN including members with complementary resources proved a more favorable setting than did the RSN including competitors, and frequent activities that favored social relationship development increased commitment. Research limitations/implications - This study identifies important factors influencing the development of commitment in network contexts, but is limited to two cases. The topic merits further research: other factors need consideration, and the factors discussed here should be evaluated in other contexts. Practical implications - The impact on network commitment of the factors discussed here needs to be considered by RSN initiators and hubs. Originality/value - Few studies treat commitment in RSN contexts. This paper addresses this deficit by identifying structural factors and activities that influence commitment development.
Analysis of Litter Size and Average Litter Weight in Pigs Using a Recursive Model

An analysis of litter size and average piglet weight at birth in Landrace and Yorkshire using a standard two-trait mixed model (SMM) and a recursive mixed model (RMM) is presented. The RMM establishes a one-way link from litter size to average piglet weight. It is shown that there is a one-to-one correspondence between the parameters of SMM and RMM and that they generate equivalent likelihoods. As parameterized in this work, the RMM tests for the presence of a recursive relationship between additive genetic values, permanent environmental effects, and specific environmental effects of litter size, on average piglet weight. The equivalent standard mixed model tests whether or not the covariance matrices of the random effects have a diagonal structure. In Landrace, posterior predictive model checking supports a model without any form of recursion or, alternatively, a SMM with diagonal covariance matrices of the three random effects. In Yorkshire, the same criterion favors a model with recursion at the level of specific environmental effects only, or, in terms of the SMM, the association between traits is shown to be exclusively due to an environmental (negative) correlation. It is argued that the choice between a SMM or a RMM should be guided by the availability of software, by ease of interpretation, or by the need to test a particular theory or hypothesis that may best be formulated under one parameterization and not the other.
An empirical note on external debt and defence expenditures in Turkey

It is often argued that defence expenditures, and in particular arms imports, are one of the main reasons for the recent increasing trend of Turkey's external debt. This paper empirically examines the relationships between Turkey's defence expenditure and external debt for the period 1979–2000 using Engle–Granger methodology. The findings show no clear evidence of defence–debt relationships for the period analysed.
Outcomes of Preservice Teacher's Technology Use

At a time of scrutiny, when technology integration is being examined in teacher preparation programs, this article provides a closer look at technology use and its adoption by preservice teachers. Current technology integration models provide the framework of the importance of putting technology into the hands of the preservice teachers. Going one step further and taking a "learning with technology" stance, this study engaged preservice teachers in meaningful and effective uses of the AlphaSmart 3000 ® and enabled them to become active thinkers. Three major research questions were addressed: (a) Are there differences between actual and perceived success by pre-service teachers on traditional and technology delivered assessments? (b) When given the opportunity to learn and use technology, do such experiences impact the decision to use technology in their future classroom? and (c) Are performance scores positively or negatively impacted by the use of technology? The outcomes of this study provide insight to teachers' perceptions and use of technology.