Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
In Vivo Diagnosis of Esophageal Cancer Using Image-Guided Raman Endoscopy and Biomolecular Modeling

The aim of this work was to evaluate the biochemical foundation and clinical merit of multimodal image-guided Raman endoscopy technique for real-time in vivo diagnosis of cancer in the esophagus during clinical endoscopic examinations. A novel fiber-optic Raman endoscopy system was utilized for in vivo esophageal Raman measurements at 785 nm laser excitation within 0.5 second under the multimodal wide-field endoscopic imaging (white light reflectance (WLR) imaging, narrow-band imaging (NBI) and autofluorescence imaging (AFI) guidance. A total of 75 esophageal tissue sites from 27 patients were measured, in which 42 in vivo Raman spectra were from normal tissues and 33 in vivo Raman spectra were from malignant tumors as confirmed by histopathology. The biomolecular modeling (non-negativity-constrained least-squares minimization (NNCLSM) utilizing six basis reference spectra from the representative biochemicals (i.e., actin, collagen, DNA, histones, triolein and glycogen) were employed to estimate the biochemical compositions of esophageal tissue. The resulting diagnostically significant fit coefficients were further utilized through linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and leave-one tissue site-out, cross validation method to develop diagnostic algorithms for esophageal cancer diagnosis. High-quality in vivo Raman spectra in the range of 800–1800 cm−1 can be acquired from normal and cancerous esophageal mucosa in real-time under multimodal endoscopic imaging guidance. Esophageal cancer tissue showed distinct Raman signals mainly associated with cell proliferation, lipid reduction, abnormal nuclear activity and neovasculation. The fit coefficients for actin, DNA, histones, triolein, and glycogen were found to be most significant for construction of the LDA diagnostic model, giving rise to an accuracy of 96.0% (i.e., sensitivity of 97.0% and specificity of 95.2%) for in vivo diagnosis of esophageal cancer. This study demonstrates that multimodal image-guided Raman endoscopy technique in conjunction with biomolecular modeling has promising potential for the real-time, in vivo diagnosis and detection of esophageal cancer during clinical endoscopic examination.
Transaction Costs, Collective Action and Survival of Heterogeneous Co-management Institutions: Case Study of Forest Management Organisations in West Bengal, India

Abstract Cost-effective natural resource management is important for equity and efficiency. Yet transaction costs of cooperation may pose a challenge to heterogeneous co-management institutions. We conducted a survey in seven Forest Protection Committees of West Bengal, India to examine this hypothesis empirically. We find that: (1) among several factors, caste heterogeneity, distance to forest, political heterogeneity, land inequality and trust systematically influence transaction costs and collective action; and (2) robust institutions bear less costs of cooperation. The implication is that transaction costs related to heterogeneity may exert significant influence on successes or failures of co-management.
Understanding brand’s value: advancing brand equity tracking to brand equity management

Once strictly the purview of the marketing department, savvy organizations now see the value in using brand as a focal point for their overall business strategies. Many are using it as a guidepost for internal actions and interactions with customers and other key stakeholders. C‐level executives, led by the chief executive as brand champion, keep a keen eye on how their actions impact on brand equity, which in turn has an effect on the overall value of the business.
Life-Cycle Portfolio Choice with Additive Habit Formation Preferences and Uninsurable Labor Income Risk

This article explores the implications of additive and endogenous habit formation preferences in the context of a life-cycle model of an investor who has stochastic uninsurable labor income. To solve the model, I analytically derive the habit-wealth feasibility constraints and show that they depend on the worst possible path of future labor income and on the habit strength, but not on the probability of the worst income. When there is only a slim chance of a severe income shock, the model implies much more conservative portfolios. The model also predicts that for some low to moderately wealthy households, the portfolio share allocated to stocks increases with wealth. Because of this feature, the model can generate more conservative portfolios for younger than for middle-aged households. The effects of habits on portfolio choice are robust to income smoothing through borrowing or flexible labor supply. One controversial finding is that for high values of the habit strength parameter, usually required for the resolution of asset pricing puzzles in general equilibrium, the life-cycle model predicts counterfactually high wealth accumulation. (JEL: G11, G12) Copyright 2007, Oxford University Press.
Essays in financial contract theory

This thesis contains three theory essays on the role of contracting in financial markets. The first essay, called Procyclical Promises, shows that in the presence of two contracting frictions—capital diversion and renegotiation—increasing the cyclicality of an entrepreneur’s output can increase his debt capacity with potentially important implications for the macroeconomy and government policy. The second essay, called The Downside of Public Information in Contracting, studies a principal-agent problem with a verifiable public signal. It demonstrates that when agents are competitive, decreasing the precision of the public signal can be Pareto improving in a wide class of environments. We apply the framework to a problem of delegated portfolio management and argue that our results suggest that regulators should insist that credit ratings agencies coarsen their ratings categories. The third essay, called Credit Market Competition and Corporate Investment, uses a general equilibrium framework to study the effect of the price and supply of credit on firms’ project choices. It shows that for only intermediate levels of credit market competition do firms choose efficient projects.
Psychometric Evaluation of Dietary Self-Efficacy and Outcome Expectation Scales in Female College Freshmen

Lifestyle interventions commonly measure psychosocial beliefs as precursors to positive behavior change, but often overlook questionnaire validation. This can affect measurement accuracy if the survey has been developed for a different population, as differing behavioral influences may affect instrument validity. The present study aimed to explore psychometric properties of self-efficacy and outcome expectation scales—originally developed for younger children—in a population of female college freshmen (N = 268). Exploratory principal component analysis was used to investigate underlying data patterns and assess validity of previously published subscales. Composite scores for reliable subscales (Cronbach’s α ≥ .70) were calculated to help characterize self-efficacy and outcome expectation beliefs in this population. The outcome expectation factor structure clearly comprised of positive (α = .81-.90) and negative outcomes (α = .63-.67). The self-efficacy factor structure included themes of motivation and effort (α = .75-.94), but items pertaining to hunger and availability cross-loaded often. Based on cross-loading patterns and low Cronbach’s alpha values, respectively, self-efficacy items regarding barriers to healthy eating and negative outcome expectation items should be refined to improve reliability. Composite scores suggested that eating healthfully was associated with positive outcomes, but self-efficacy to do so was lower. Thus, dietary interventions for college students may be more successful by including skill-building activities to enhance self-efficacy and increase the likelihood of behavior change.
Attitudes and Policy Responses to Australian Farm Dam Safety Threats: Comparative Lessons for Water Resources Managers

The safety of medium- and large-scale dams is addressed in many countries, but limited attention is paid to problems associated with smaller farm dams, particularly potential cumulative threats posed in larger catchments. Farmers in Australia often overlook the common law obligation to review and design dams in line with current standards. The result is downstream communities, property and environment placed at risk. This paper demonstrates the significance of this problem with case studies undertaken in policy-absent South Australia, policy-driven Victoria and policy-strong New South Wales, including empirical evidence on attitudes and responses of landholders and key policy actors. This demonstrates need for supervision of small dams. Tasmania is included as a case study as it represents a policy-model state on how this can be best achieved in line with international best-practice. The four cases provide useful comparative lessons. Policy guidelines applicable to any jurisdiction are included; their application is illustrated with the case studies. The paper considers the policy implications of these lessons for Australia in particular and the world in general.
Comparative Analysis of Determinants of Executive Remuneration in the UK Financial Services Sector

This paper analyses the determinants of executive remuneration in the UK financial services sector. For this purpose, the determinants of executive remuneration of demutualized societies are compared with those of building societies, which have retained their mutual status, traditional retail banks, and their pre-demutualization positions. The results show that the determinants of remuneration differ in the UK mutual and plc organizational forms, and that the role of the determinants changed after demutualization. In particular, the relationships between remuneration and size disappeared after demutualization. The results also imply that remuneration committees use only industry norms to attract and retain executives irrespective of performance.
Role of group-conserved residues in the helical core of β2-adrenergic receptor

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) belonging to class A contain several highly conserved (>90%) amino acids in their transmembrane helices. Results of mutational studies of these highly conserved residues suggest a common mechanism for locking GPCRs in an inactive conformation and for their subsequent activation upon ligand binding. Recently, a second set of sites in the transmembrane helices has been identified in which amino acids with small side chains, such as Gly, Ala, Ser, Thr, and Cys, are highly conserved (>90%) when considered as a group. These group-conserved residues have not been recognized as having essential structural or functional roles. To determine the role of group-conserved residues in the β2-adrenergic receptor (β2-AR), amino acid replacements guided by molecular modeling were carried out at key positions in transmembrane helices H2–H4. The most significant changes in receptor expression and activity were observed upon replacement of the amino acids Ser-161 and Ser-165 in H4. Substitution at these sites by larger residues lowered the expression and activity of the receptor but did not affect specific binding to the antagonist ligand dihydroalprenolol. A second site mutation, V114A, rescued the low expression of the S165V mutant. Substitution of other group-conserved residues in H2–H4 by larger amino acids lowered receptor activity in the order Ala-128, Ala-76, Ser-120, and Ala-78. Together these data provide comprehensive analysis of group-conserved residues in a class A GPCR and allow insights into the roles of these residues in GPCR structure and function.
[Quality of service provided to heart surgery patients of the Unified Health System-SUS].

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the service quality provided to heart surgery patients during their hospital stay, identifying the patient's expectations and perceptions. To associate service quality with: gender, age and the use of extracorporeal circulation. METHODS We studied 82 elective heart surgery patients (52.4% females and 47.6% males), operated by midsternal thoracotomy, age: 31 to 83 years (60.4 +/- 13.2 years); period: March to September 2006. Service quality was evaluated in two instances: the expectations at pre-operative and the perceptions of the service received on the 6th post-operative; through the application of the modified SERVQUAL scale (SERVQUAL-Card). The result was obtained by the difference of the sum of the scores on perception minus those of the expectations, and through statistical analysis. RESULTS The SERVQUAL-Card scale was statistically validated, showing adequate level of internal consistency. We found a higher frequency of myocardial revascularization 55 (67.0%); first heart surgery 72 (87.8%) and the use of ECC 69 (84.1%). We noticed high mean values for expectations and perceptions with significant results (P<0.05). We observed a significant relationship between the quality of service with: gender, in empathy (P= 0.04) and age, in reliability (P = 0.02). There was no significant association between ECC and quality of service. CONCLUSION Service quality was satisfactory. The patient demonstrated a high expectation to hospital medical service. Women present a higher perception of quality in empathy and younger people in reliability. The use of ECC is not related to service quality in this sample. The data obtained in this study suggest that the quality of this health service can be monitored through the periodical application of the SERVQUAL scale.
Union Commitment and Activism in Britain and the United States: Searching for Synthesis and Synergy for Renewal

We propose a fuller synthesis between two relatively disjointed literatures to create synergy. Union commitment research has a long tradition and a relatively rigorous orientation grounded in industrial psychology. Recently, it has been eclipsed by emerging research on union renewal, and specifically that on union organizing. Renewal research has largely ignored union commitment research even though union renewal literature stresses the importance of activism, and this concept is strongly linked to commitment. A critical synthesis of these literatures yields progress in terms of addressing key qualitative and quantitative aspects of the contemporary crisis of labour unionism. A tentative framework is constructed that stipulates the main components and variables, and offers guidance for future research.
Concurrency techniques for arithmetic coding in JPEG2000

JPEG2000 is a recently standardized image compression algorithm. The heart of this algorithm is the coding scheme known as embedded block coding with optimal truncation (EBCOT). This contributes the majority of processing time to the compression algorithm. The EBCOT scheme consists of a bit-plane coder coupled to a MQ arithmetic coder. Recent bit-plane coder architectures are capable of producing symbols at a higher rate than the existing MQ arithmetic coders can absorb. Thus, there is a requirement for a high throughput MQ arithmetic coder. We examine the existing MQ arithmetic coder architectures and develop novel techniques capable of absorbing the high symbol rate from high performance bit-plane coders, as well as providing flexible design choices
Cardiac autonomic dysfunction in anabolic steroid users

This study aimed to evaluate if androgenic‐anabolic steroids (AAS) abuse may induce cardiac autonomic dysfunction in recreational trained subjects. Twenty‐two men were volunteered for the study. The AAS group (n = 11) utilized AAS at mean dosage of 410 ± 78.6 mg/week. All of them were submitted to submaximal exercise testing using an Astrand–Rhyming protocol. Electrocardiogram (ECG) and respired gas analysis were monitored at rest, during, and post‐effort. Mean values of VO2, VCO2, and VE were higher in AAS group only at rest. The heart rate variability variables were calculated from ECG using MATLAB‐based algorithms. At rest, AAS group showed lower values of the standard deviation of R‐R intervals, the proportion of adjacent R‐R intervals differing by more than 50 ms (pNN50), the root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD), and the total, the low‐frequency (LF) and the high‐frequency (HF) spectral power, as compared to Control group. After submaximal exercise testing, pNN50, RMSSD, and HF were lower, and the LF/HF ratio was higher in AAS group when compared to control group. Thus, the use of supraphysiological doses of AAS seems to induce dysfunction in tonic cardiac autonomic regulation in recreational trained subjects.
Political Support for Decentralization: An Analysis of the Colombian and Venezuelan Legislatures

A worldwide trend of decentralizing political power, fiscal authority, and the responsibility for providing services to subnational governments has been especially evident in Latin America over the past decade. This article focuses on variation in intracountry support for decentralization, using data on bill initiation from Colombia and Venezuela to determine the domestic sources of this policy. While the data support prior findings that decentralization is supported by parties whose future electoral prospects are better at the subnational level, the analysis also shows that citizen's trust in government and greater wealth affect a deputies' support for decentralization.
Evolutionary novelties in islands: Drosophila santomea, a new melanogaster sister species from São Tomé

The finding of new melanogaster sister species may help us in understanding more about how the emergence of genetic novelties, particularly in insular habitats, can result in speciation. Here we report on the discovery of Drosophila santomea, which is the first melanogaster sibling found off West–equatorial Africa, on São Tomé, one of the Gulf of Guinea islands. Although the eight other melanogaster sister species are remarkably conservative in their morphology except for their terminalia, the new find has a morphological trait distinguishing it from all of these: a pure yellow body coloration of both sexes without the normal black abdominal banding. Evidence from the terminalia, polytene and mitotic chromosomes, period gene and allozymes are provided indicating that it is nonetheless the nearest relative of Drosophila yakuba with which it coexists on the island. The new find is a clear–cut taxon as shown by the production of sterile male hybrids, eventually with developmental defects, in both directions of cross with yakuba and by the existence of an altitudinal divide accompanied by a hybrid zone at mid–elevation on the island. Molecular and karyotypic data further support this conclusion. In contrast to the significant divergence of their nuclear DNAs, an intriguing similarity in their cytochrome b sequences was observed indicating a recent coalescence common to santomea, yakuba and also teissieri cytoplasms. These were shown to harbour the same Wolbachia endosymbiotic bacteria which could possibly be responsible for mitochondrial DNA hitchhiking across the species barrier.
Are Delays in Academic Publishing Necessary

Researchers perpetually complain about long decision lags. Glenn Ellison (2002a,b) confirms that delays are being longer. He suggests an evolving social norm as a possible explanation, with more demands made on authors for their work to be published. Time delays have the additional effect, however, of limiting the flow of submissions. In the absence of time delays and other significant submission costs, the best strategy is to start at the most prestigious journal and work down until the article is accepted. Better journals are unlikely to welcome this. The major submission cost is the long and unpredictable length of time spent waiting for a decision. Ellison notes that time lags are longer for the top five economics journals, at around six to eleven months longer than the rest. Despite the increasing prestige of top journals, the number of submissions remains fairly static.
New viewpoint of bit-serial/parallel normal basis multipliers using irreducible all-one polynomial

Recently, normal bases have been an appealing technique for hardware implementation in many applications, especially when finite fields are very large, such as the public key cryptosystems. In this article, a new viewpoint is introduced for performing the multiplication in the normal basis representation over binary field where the field defining irreducible polynomial is an all-one polynomial. The proposed multipliers carry out the normal basis multiplication by using extended polynomial basis multiplier to construct two architectures. These two classes of architectures are in bit-serial and bit-parallel which reduce the cost of space and time respectively
Malawi: The Impact of Pricing Policy on Smallholder Agriculture 1971-88

This article assesses the achievements of this pricing policy over the last 18 years, and in particular, the World Bank’s prescriptions under three Structural Adjustment Loans (SALs) during the 1980s. The analysis indicates that two objectives, namely, the achievement of food self-sufficiency and the promotion of cash-crop exports, have determined the nature of price policy. During the 1970s price instruments were used to tax smallholder production of non-food crops (tobacco, cotton and groundnuts) with the resulting revenues being channelled into the estate sector in order to promote exports from large-scale farm enterprises (Kydd and Christiansen, 1982). At the same time, the smallholder sector was used as a source of domestic food staples (maize and rice). In the 1980s a conflict arose between the food-crop and export-crop objectives, with the World Bank prescribing the use of parity pricing to encourage smallholder
THE REST-FRAME SUBMILLIMETER SPECTRUM OF HIGH-REDSHIFT, DUSTY, STAR-FORMING GALAXIES

We present the average rest-frame spectrum of high-redshift dusty, star-forming galaxies from 250 to 770 GHz. This spectrum was constructed by stacking Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) 3 mm spectra of 22 such sources discovered by the South Pole Telescope and spanning z = 2.0–5.7. In addition to multiple bright spectral features of 12CO, [C i], and H2O, we also detect several faint transitions of 13CO, HCN, HNC, HCO+, and CN, and use the observed line strengths to characterize the typical properties of the interstellar medium of these high-redshift starburst galaxies. We find that the 13CO brightness in these objects is comparable to that of the only other z > 2 star-forming galaxy in which 13CO has been observed. We show that the emission from the high-critical density molecules HCN, HNC, HCO+, and CN is consistent with a warm, dense medium with Tkin ∼ 55 K and cm−3. High molecular hydrogen densities are required to reproduce the observed line ratios, and we demonstrate that alternatives to purely collisional excitation are unlikely to be significant for the bulk of these systems. We quantify the average emission from several species with no individually detected transitions, and find emission from the hydride CH and the linear molecule CCH for the first time at high redshift, indicating that these molecules may be powerful probes of interstellar chemistry in high-redshift systems. These observations represent the first constraints on many molecular species with rest-frame transitions from 0.4 to 1.2 mm in star-forming systems at high redshift, and will be invaluable in making effective use of ALMA in full science operations.