Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improvement in Quality of Life after Therapy for Mycobacterium abscessus Group Lung Infection. A Prospective Cohort Study.

RATIONALE Mycobacterium abscessus group lung infection is characterized by low cure rates. Improvement in quality of life may be a reasonable treatment goal. OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to evaluate change in quality of life in response to therapy, predictors of improvement in quality of life, and association of quality of life with traditional outcome measures. METHODS Forty-seven patients were treated for Mycobacterium abscessus group lung infection (including one with Mycobacterium chelonae) and were followed prospectively for 2 years between December 2009 and May 2012. St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) was administered, chest computed tomography (CT) imaging was carried out, and culture data were collected at multiple time points. Predictors of improvement in the SGRQ total score greater than or equal to a minimal clinically important difference (MCID) at 12 months were evaluated. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Patients were 85% female and 94% white, with a mean age of 65 years. Nine (20%) had a genetic diagnosis of cystic fibrosis (none F508del homozygous). Coinfection with Mycobacterium avium complex occurred in 28% and Pseudomonas in 26%. Chest CT imaging universally indicated bronchiectasis and nodules; 51% had lung cavities. Treatment included a mean of 17 months of antibiotics, and lung resection in 34%. Seventeen patients with M. avium complex (36%) and one with Mycobacterium kansasii were treated for coinfection. The mean SGRQ total score (SD) at baseline was 35 (20). At all follow-up time points, the mean SGRQ total score (SD) was significantly lower (better) than at baseline: 27 (17) at 3 months, P < 0.01; 27 (19) at 6 months, P < 0.01; 27 (20) at 12 months, P < 0.01; and 30 (22) at 24 months, P = 0.02. At 12 and 24 months, respectively, 60% and 56% had improvement greater than or equal to the MCID in SGRQ total score. Improvement greater than or equal to the MCID at 12 months was positively associated with a history of respiratory exacerbation, isolate susceptible to imipenem-cilastatin, and lung resection surgery, and negatively associated with nodules >4 mm in diameter on chest CT imaging, but these associations were not statistically significant in multivariable analysis. At 24 months, 16 patients (48%) with complete data were culture negative for 1 year and had discontinued M. abscessus group treatment. CONCLUSIONS Quality of life was a sensitive indicator of treatment response and has the potential to be a useful parameter to guide treatment.
Journal of Systems and Information Technology The impact of business intelligence on organization ’ s effectiveness : an empirical study

Purpose – The purpose of this study was to identify the influence of organizational strategy, structure, process and culture on organizational effectiveness and the possible mediating role of business intelligence (BI) systems among them. Design/methodology/approach – Sample data for this study were collected from 225 organizational units in Bangladesh and analyzed using the partial least squares method, a statistical analysis technique based on the structural equation modeling. Findings – The results revealed that organizational factors, such as organizational strategy, structure, process, and culture positively affect both BI systems’ effectiveness and organizational effectiveness. Furthermore, BI systems’ effectiveness partially mediates the impact of organizational strategy, structure, process and culture on organizational effectiveness. Originality/value – BI systems are context-specific and can influence organizational effectiveness. Dearth in research on the influence of organizational factors to BI systems motivates this study to contribute in BI systems literature by proposing a theoretical model and investigating the mediating role of BI systems among various organizational factors and organizational effectiveness.
Equine Dental Pathology

Equine dental pathology frequently goes undiagnosed. The reasons for this range from a lack of knowledge and appropriate instrumentation to the common dislike many practitioners have for equine dentistry. Dental pathology, however, is very common as shown in multiple cadaver head studies. Pathologic findings include 60% with periodontal disease and 79% with infindibular caries over age 15; 12.9% with developmental or eruption abnormalities; 29.3% with caries and 6.5% with pulp exposure. 1 These numbers do not include common malocculsions which are frequently the initiating factor in more serious pathology.
Sentence-State LSTM for Text Representation

Bi-directional LSTMs are a powerful tool for text representation. On the other hand, they have been shown to suffer various limitations due to their sequential nature. We investigate an alternative LSTM structure for encoding text, which consists of a parallel state for each word. Recurrent steps are used to perform local and global information exchange between words simultaneously, rather than incremental reading of a sequence of words. Results on various classification and sequence labelling benchmarks show that the proposed model has strong representation power, giving highly competitive performances compared to stacked BiLSTM models with similar parameter numbers.
Investigating Unpaid Overtime Working Among the Part‐Time Workforce

This paper considers whether unpaid overtime working relates to contracted working hours (i.e. whether an employee works part-time or full-time) in Britain. It uses the authoritative 2004 British data set Workplace Employment Relations Survey to derive a sample of 4,530 workers, from 735 workplace establishments, who worked unpaid overtime. It tests hypotheses linking contracted working hours to unpaid overtime, and whether this link is moderated by gender, occupational group and the availability of flexible working arrangements. Part-time workers were found to work significantly more unpaid overtime hours compared with their full-time counterparts. Gender, occupation and flexible working practices moderated this relationship, where the extent to which part-timers work more unpaid overtime than their full-time counterparts was greater for men than for women, was greater for professional/managerial part-time workers compared with other occupations, and was more evident in establishments less likely to offer flexible working arrangements. The findings raise concerns about the exploitation of part-time workers.
Gender and Ethnic Diversity Among UK Corporate Boards

This paper investigates the ethnic and gender diversity of the corporate board of UK companies, placing particular emphasis on links to board size and industry characteristics. We employ a novel dataset that covers a large sample of UK PLCs and describes a director’s gender, ethnicity and position held. We find both ethnic and gender diversity to be very limited, and that diversity is somewhat less pronounced among executive positions. We find significant cross‐sector variation in gender diversity, with an above average prevalence of women in Retail, Utilities, Media and Banking, while such variation in ethnic diversity is considerably less pronounced. Our evidence suggests that a close proximity to final consumers plays a more significant role in shaping board diversity than does the female presence among the industry’s workforce. We argue that this shows that board diversity is influenced by a firm’s external business environment and particularly an imperative to reflect corresponding diversity among its customers.
Traumas oculares no serviço de urgência da Fundação Banco de Olhos de Goiás

PURPOSE: To study and analyze the types of ocular trauma in the emergency department of Goias Eye Bank Foundation, Goiânia - Brazil and guide general physicians about the first medical contact. METHODS: An analysis was done in 351 visits between december, 2010 and february, 2011. The ocular trauma cases were evaluated by gender, age, origin, trauma type and treatment performed. RESULTS: Three hundred fifty-one emergency medical visits were analyzed and were found 153 ocular traumas (43.6%), showing predominance of 131 cases (85.6%) of men. The most frequent age was 20 to 39 year-old young male in 90 cases (58.8%). Goiânia was the most frequent origin with 89 (58.2%). The superficial foreign body mechanical trauma was the most common trauma type with 95 cases (66.4%). Clinical treatment was performed in 149 cases (97%). CONCLUSION: Concerning the ocular trauma, superficial foreign bodies predominated in males in working age coming from Goiânia treated clinically. There is a strong relationship with occupational accidents requiring special attention to prevention.
Employment of People with Disabilities Following the Ada

Studies finding a negative effect of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on the employment of people with disabilities have used the work disability measure, which has several potential problems in measuring employment trends. Using Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) data that permit alternative measures of disability, this study finds decreased employment among those reporting work disabilities in the first few years after the ADA was passed but increased employment when using a more probably appropriate measure of ADA coverage (functional and activity limitations that do not prevent work). State-by-state variation in labor market tightness is used to find that people with disabilities may have especially procyclical employment, but the contrary results in overall employment trends remain after accounting for labor market tightness. Given the problems in measuring who is covered by the ADA, there is reason to be cautious of both positive and negative findings.
The role of total productive maintenance in business excellence

Many companies now participate in an international market, which oVers huge opportunities for broadening the customer base, with the associated drawback of increased competition. To be successful, companies must draw up realistic business strategies. Market research to establish the extent of the demand for a product or service is essential. The company must deliver a reliable product, or service, on time and ensure that customer requirements are satis® ed. Research and development are needed for the company to stay ahead of changing customer requirements. The price of the product or service must be kept low enough to be competitive whilst providing a suYcient margin for the business to be pro® table and capable of funding research and development. In particular, the reduction and the eventual elimination of unnecessary costs associated with waste of time or materials should be one of a company’s vital goals. It follows that great attention should be paid to the reliability of the production lines in order to achieve the highest product quality at a minimum cost. In a typical manufacturing scenario, the desirable productivity, cost, inventory and quality all depend on the eYcient functioning of the company’s production facilities. It has been widely recognized that automation and even unmanned production might not necessarily remove the need for strategic human intervention. In most cases it is true that only the manufacturing operations have been automated, and the maintenance activities still depend heavily on human input which in turn requires an appropriate maintenance organization for its eVective and eYcient application. Total productive maintenance (TPM) is a programme for the fundamental improvement of the maintenance functions in an organization, which involves its entire human resources. When implemented fully, TPM dramatically improves productivity and quality, and reduces costs (Nakajima, 1988). TPM is productive maintenance carried out by all employees through well-planned small-group activities. For example, ` In TPM the machine operator is responsible for the maintenance of the machine, as well as its operation. The implementation of TPM can generate considerable cost savings through increased productivity of the machinery. The greater the degree of factory automation, the greater the cost reduction generated by TPM’’ (Nakajima, 1988). One of the main aims of TPM is to increase the
Arbitrage and the Evaluation of Linear Factor Models in UK Stock Returns

I examine the impact of the no arbitrage restriction on the estimation and evaluation of linear factor models in UK stock returns. The no arbitrage restriction reduces volatility and eliminates most of the negative values of the fitted stochastic discount factor models. All of the factor models are rejected and there are significant differences in the pricing performance between models under the no arbitrage restriction. The no arbitrage restriction can have a significant impact on both the parameter estimates and pricing errors for some models.
Predicting the Outcome of Tennis Matches From Point-by-Point Data

Mathematical tennis modelling is increasing in popularity and mostly being driven by recently sparked worldwide interest in data analytics, which is spawning a whole new segment of the sport industry. Open source software packages for computational statistics that are making the application of more advanced algorithms easier even for non specialists which are making their way into sport betting, and the traction of online betting exchanges are also factors for a strong interest in sports predictions. Bettors use predictive modelling to estimate the probability of a player winning a match and place bets based on their predictions. Millions of pounds are invested in different tennis betting markets around the world at any time of the tennis season. The majority of published papers use a Hierarchical Markov chain model to describe a tennis match, to which estimates of a player’s probability of winning a point on serve are passed as parameters. Estimates are generally based on overall match statistics working under the assumption that the parameters do not change during the match and are not updated with live point by point data. This paper presents possible improvements to the common tennis model by deviating from the common opponent model and basing predictions on point by point data. The question of what is the optimum combination of historical and current data for making match outcome predictions is explored, and experimental solutions are presented. By knowing how much weight should be put on historical data better match outcome predictions can be made. The methods described are shown to perform better than methods used in previous published research which rely on historical data only.
Effectiveness of Internet‐based cognitive behaviour therapy for panic disorder in routine psychiatric care

Guided Internet‐based cognitive behaviour therapy (ICBT) for panic disorder has been shown to be efficacious in several randomized controlled trials. However, the effectiveness of the treatment when delivered within routine psychiatric care has not been studied. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of ICBT for panic disorder within the context of routine psychiatric care.
An Integrated Multi-Criteria Decision Making Model for Evaluating Wind Farm Performance

The demands for alternative energy resources have been increasing exponentially in the 21st century due to continuous industrial development, depletion of fossil fuels and emerging environmental consciousness. Renewable energy sources, including wind energy, hydropower energy, geothermal energy, solar energy, biomass energy and ocean power, have received increasing attention as alternative means of meeting global energy demands. After Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant disaster in March 2011, more and more countries are having doubt about the safety of nuclear plants. As a result, safe and renewable energy sources are attracting even more attention these days. Wind energy production, with its relatively safer and positive environmental characteristics, has evolved in the past few decades from a marginal activity into a multi-billion dollar industry. In this research, a comprehensive evaluation model is constructed to select a suitable location for developing a wind farm. The model incorporates interpretive structural modeling (ISM), benefits, opportunities, costs and risks (BOCR) and fuzzy analytic network process (FANP). Experts in the field are invited to contribute their expertise in evaluating the importance of the factors and various aspects of the wind farm evaluation problem, and the most suitable wind farm can finally be generated from the model. A case study is carried out in Taiwan in evaluating the expected performance of several potential wind farms, and a recommendation is provided for selecting the most appropriate wind farm for construction.
Treatment of central precocious puberty and early puberty with GnRH analog in girls with Williams-Beuren syndrome

Abstract Objective: Little has been published on treatment of precocious puberty in girls with Williams-Beuren syndrome (WBS), a condition occurring frequently in this group. We analyzed our own data on growth/age at menarche of now adult female patients with WBS being diagnosed with central precocious puberty or early puberty. Data of patients treated with gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analog (n=13) were compared with those not treated (control group, n=11). Patients: Longitudinal data on the somatic development of 24 now adult female patients were analyzed. Results: Medium final height was 157.2±6.5 cm compared to 151.4±5.6 cm in the control group. No significant difference could be found in the discrepancy of genetic target height and final height. Prepubertally girls were normal weight in both groups; in adulthood the majority of patients were overweight/obese. Menarche commenced 11 months after cessation of therapy. Conclusion: As already known from other studies, hormonal suppression via GnRH analog was well tolerated.
Using Economic Incentives to Reduce Electricity Consumption: A field Experiment in Matsuyama, Japan

This study examines the effectiveness of economic incentives in promoting electricity-conservation behavior among Japanese households. Fifty-three Japanese households participated in a field experiment and were offered monetary rewards depending on their rate of reduction in electricity consumption. To avoid bias in sample selection, which is typically present in previous studies, we adopted a request-based approach for recruiting participants. Results showed that only 34% of the participants succeeded in reducing their electricity consumption, and the average reduction rate was –4.8%. Econometric analysis confirmed that monetary rewards had a positive influence on the electricity conservation behavior, especially of family members who typically stay at home on weekdays. Responses to the questionnaires administered before and after the experiment suggest that participants may have underestimated the marginal costs of the electricity conservation behavior. The efficacy of economic incentives, established in our study, offers a potential measure for encouraging electricity-conservation behavior among Japanese households.
An analysis of open reduction of irreducible supracondylar fractures of the humerus in children.

OBJECTIVES To review experience with irreducible supracondylar fractures requiring open reduction in children, and to propose guidelines for an open approach to supracondylar fractures. DESIGN A chart review. SETTING The Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), a pediatric centre with a large referral base. PATIENTS Forty-one children (18 boys 23 girls, average age 7 years), who had open reduction of irreducible supracondylar fractures at the CHEO over a 10-year period (1985 to 1995). Of these 41 children, 7 were lost to direct follow-up. INTERVENTIONS After closed reduction of displaced supracondylar fractures of the humerus failed, all patients underwent open reduction and percutaneous fixation in the operating room. Before operation, 6 had no radial pulse, 5 lost their pulse with flexion after reduction and 4 had unstable fracture patterns. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Assessment of elbow range of motion and carrying angle, distal neurovascular status and radiographic measurement of the Baumann angle and the humerocapitellar angle. RESULTS In 25 children, the humerus was found to have "buttonholed" through the brachialis muscle; 1 had entrapment of the common flexor muscle at its origin and 1 had entrapment of the triceps. In 15 children there was entrapment or tethering of the median nerve and radial nerve or brachial artery, or both, but this was not predictive of preoperative neurovascular deficit, which was recorded in 21 patients (fully recovered). At follow-up, the Baumann angle and the humerocapitellar angle differed by an average of 2 degrees and 5.3 degrees respectively compared with the unaffected arm. Range of motion was satisfactory in 94% of patients, and there was no significant cubitus varus. CONCLUSION Open reduction of supracondylar fractures is a safe and effective procedure, for which orthopedists should should lower their threshold, given certain appropriate indicators.
Financial Liberalization and Corporate Investments: Evidence from Korean Firm Data*

This paper examines whether financial liberalization procedures introduced in Korea in the early 1990s succeeded in relaxing financing constraints on firms. Because external funds are more costly than internal funds in an imperfect capital market, corporate investments depend on the availability of internal funds. As financial liberalization mitigates constraints on firms, the sensitivity of investments to cash flow can be reduced. Using panel data on Korean firms, we found that cash-flow effects on investment spending decreased drastically during the liberalization period. In particular, small, non-chaebol and established firms that were severely constrained gained most from liberalization. Chaebol firms appeared to lose preferential access to credit after liberalization. Copyright 2004 East Asian Economic Association.
Market Potential, Spatial Dependences and Spillovers in European Regions

Bruna F. , Lopez-Rodriguez J. and Faíña A. Market potential, spatial dependences and spillovers in European regions, Regional Studies. This paper reinterprets the new economic geography (NEG) ‘wage’ equation by distinguishing two different types of spatial dependences: a global spatial trend and local spatial autocorrelation. A measure of the variable Market Potential in this equation can capture both a global core–periphery pattern and spillovers, while the standard weights matrices of spatial econometrics tend to be designed to capture short-distance interactions among neighbours. Using cross-sectional European regional data, the paper compares different weighting schemes to build spatial lags. The estimation of spatial models of an NEG equation for gross value added per capita (GVApc) reveals new research challenges.