Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Essays in applied economics

Essay 1 studies physician agency problems, which arise whenever physicians fail to maximize their patients' preferences, given available information. These agency problems are well documented, but the magnitude of their welfare consequences for patients---the losses from suboptimal treatment choice induced by agency---are unclear. I infer patient drug preference from their compliance decisions. I begin by showing that initial prescriptions respond to physician financial incentives to control costs and to pharmaceutical detailing, but compliance does not, pointing to agency problems. I then develop and estimate a model of physician-patient interactions where physician write initial prescriptions, but patients choose whether to comply. Fully eliminating agency problems increases compliance by 6.5 percentage points, and raises patient welfare by 22\% of drug spending. Contracts that better align doctor and patient preferences can improve patient welfare, but attain only half the gains from eliminating agency completely. Although physician agency problems reduce patient welfare, eliminating them is thus likely difficult. Essay 2, co-authored with Alexander M. Gelber and Damon Jones, studies frictions in adjusting earnings to changes in the Social Security Annual Earnings Test (AET) using a panel of Social Security Administration microdata on one percent of the U.S. population from 1961 to 2006. Individuals continue to "bunch" at the convex kink the AET creates even when they are no longer subject to the AET, consistent with the existence of earnings adjustment frictions in the U.S. We develop a novel estimation framework and estimate in a baseline case that the earnings elasticity with respect to the implicit net-of-tax share is 0.23, and the fixed cost of adjustment is \$152.08. Essay 3 studies the impact of health expenditure risk on annuitization. Theoretical research suggests that such risk can have an ambiguous influence on the annuitization decisions of the elderly. I provide empirical evidence on this linkage, by estimating the impact of supplemental Medicare insurance (Medigap) coverage on the annuity demand of older Americans. Medigap coverage has a strong impact on annuitization: the extensive margin elasticity is 0.39, the overall elasticity of private annuity income with respect to Medigap coverage is 0.56. These results are robust to controls for health, wealth, and preferences, as well as other robustness tests. They suggest that medical expenditure risk has a large impact on underannuitization. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Applied Economics First Advisor Uli Doraszelski This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn. edu/edissertations/1430 Second Advisor Katja Seim Subject Categories Economics This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn. edu/edissertations/1430 ESSAYS IN APPLIED ECONOMICS
Correlation of energy dispersive diffraction signatures and microCT of small breast tissue samples with pathological analysis

Identification of specific tissue types in conventional mammographic examinations is extremely limited. However, the use of x-ray diffraction effects during imaging has the potential to characterize the tissue types present due to the fact that each tissue type produces its own unique diffraction signature. Nevertheless, the analysis and categorization of these diffraction signatures by tissue type can be hampered by the inhomogeneous nature of breast tissue, leading to categorization errors where several types are present. This work aims to reduce sample categorization errors by combining spectral diffraction signature collection with sample imaging, giving more detailed data on the composition of each sample. Diffraction microCT was carried out on 19 unfixed breast tissue samples using an energy resolving translate–rotate CT system. High-resolution transmission microCT images were also recorded for comparison and sample composition analysis. Following imaging, the samples were subjected to histopathological analysis. Reconstructing on various momentum transfer regions allows different tissue types to be identified in the diffraction images. Results show a correlation between measured x-ray diffraction images and stained histopathological tissue sections. X-ray diffraction signatures generated from the measured data were categorized and analysed, with a t-test indicating that they have the potential for use in tissue type identification.
Hepatitis C Virus Genotyping : Interrogation of the 5 Untranslated Region Cannot Accurately Distinguish Genotypes 1 a and 1 b

Although the 5 untranslated region (5 UTR) is the most conserved region of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) genome, it has been suggested that interrogation of this region is sufficient for determination of the HCV genotype. We compared two methods of determination of the HCV genotype: (i) direct sequencing of the DNA of the NS-5b region and (ii) reverse line probe assay (LiPA; INNO-LiPA HCV II; Innogenetics N.V.) of the 5 UTR. There was 100% concordance between the two methods for genotype but only 80% concordance for subtype. A significant percentage of genotype 1a isolates were misclassified by LiPA as genotype 1b. Sequence analysis revealed that the only consistent difference in the 5 UTR for these genotype 1a isolates misclassified as genotype 1b was a single nucleotide (A/G) at position 99 of the HCV genome. All isolates with discordant results analyzed had a G at this position, consistent with LiPA determination of these samples as subtype 1b. However, sequence analysis of 222 nucleotides in the NS-5b region clearly identified all of these isolates as subtype 1a. Population distribution data from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center of over 200 samples analyzed by sequencing of the NS-5b region and over 1,000 samples analyzed by LiPA also indicated that INNO-LiPA HCV II cannot accurately differentiate HCV genotype 1a isolates from HCV genotype 1b isolates. We provide evidence that the A/G at position 99 represents a sequence polymorphism in the HCV genome that cannot differentiate subtype 1a from subtype 1b isolates. In conclusion, the 5 UTR is not heterogeneous enough for use in determination of the HCV subtype and cannot be used for differentiation of HCV genotypes 1a and 1b.
Terahertz Imaging Employing Graphene Modulator Arrays

In this paper we propose and experimentally demonstrate arrays of graphene electro-absorption modulators as electrically reconfigurable patterns for terahertz cameras. The active element of these modulators consists of only single-atom-thick graphene, achieving a modulation of the THz wave reflectance > 50% with a potential modulation depth approaching 100%. Although the prototype presented here only contains 4x4 pixels, it reveals the possibility of developing reliable low-cost video-rate THz imaging systems employing single detector. THz imaging and sensing for security applications—explosives, weapons and drugs, " Semicond. " Terahertz imaging for non-destructive evaluation of mural paintings, " Opt. Terahertz imaging and spectroscopy of large-area single-layer graphene, " Opt. An introduction to medical imaging with coherent terahertz frequency radiation, " Phys. Terahertz imaging diagnostics of cancer tissues with a chemometrics technique, " Appl. A single-pixel terahertz imaging system based on compressed sensing, " Appl. A spatial light modulator for terahertz beams, " Appl. Unique prospects for graphene-based terahertz modulators, " Appl. " Broadband graphene terahertz modulators enabled by intraband transitions, " Nat Commun 3, 780 (2012). Extraordinary control of terahertz beam reflectance in graphene electro-absorption modulators, " Nano Lett. Switching terahertz waves with gate-controlled active graphene metamaterials, " Nat. Mater. Large-area synthesis of high-quality and uniform graphene films on copper foils, " A 570-630 GHz frequency domain spectroscopy system based on a broadband quasi-optical Schottky diode detector, " Int. A broadband quasi-optical terahertz detector using a zero bias Schottky diode, " IEEE Microw. A unified mobility model for device simulation – I. Model equations and concentration dependence, " Solid-State Electron. Transport in a clean graphene sheet at finite temperature and frequency, " Int. J. A new class of electrically tunable metamaterial terahertz modulators, " Opt. Efficient terahertz electro-absorption modulation employing graphene plasmonic structures, " Appl.
Collagen Scaffolds with Controlled Insulin Release and Controlled Pore Structure for Cartilage Tissue Engineering

Controlled and local release of growth factors and nutrients from porous scaffolds is important for maintenance of cell survival, proliferation, and promotion of tissue regeneration. The purpose of the present research was to design a controlled release porous collagen-microbead hybrid scaffold with controlled pore structure capable of releasing insulin for application to cartilage tissue regeneration. Collagen-microbead hybrid scaffold was prepared by hybridization of insulin loaded PLGA microbeads with collagen using a freeze-drying technique. The pore structure of the hybrid scaffold was controlled by using preprepared ice particulates having a diameter range of 150–250 μm. Hybrid scaffold had a controlled pore structure with pore size equivalent to ice particulates and good interconnection. The microbeads showed an even spatial distribution throughout the pore walls. In vitro insulin release profile from the hybrid scaffold exhibited a zero order release kinetics up to a period of 4 weeks without initial burst release. Culture of bovine articular chondrocytes in the hybrid scaffold demonstrated high bioactivity of the released insulin. The hybrid scaffold facilitated cell seeding and spatial cell distribution and promoted cell proliferation.
Prevalence and cluster of cardiometabolic biomarkers in overweight and obese schoolchildren: results from a large survey in southwest Germany.

BACKGROUND Obesity is associated with substantial metabolic changes and subclinical inflammation. We explored associations between body mass index (BMI) and cardiometabolic biomarkers and their clustering in overweight and obese schoolchildren. METHODS In this population-based, cross-sectional study among 450 children 10 years old, we measured adiponectin, leptin, inflammatory markers, apolipoprotein (apo) AI and B, and lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A(2) (Lp-PLA(2)). Except for adiponectin and apoAI (10th percentile) the 90th percentile was used as cutoff point. Body weight was categorized in age- and sex-specific BMI percentiles and overweight and obesity according to International Obesity Task Force definitions. RESULTS In linear regression models, all cardiometabolic markers except apoB were statistically significantly associated with overweight. In logistic regression models, compared with the reference category (25th-75th percentile of BMI), overweight was associated with increased concentrations of leptin [odds ratio (OR) 59.80; 95% CI 16.68-214.39], C-reactive protein (6.30; 2.95-13.45), fibrinogen (2.82; 1.33-6.01), and low apoAI (2.62; 1.19-5.75). Overweight was positively associated with interleukin-6, Lp-PLA(2), and apoB concentrations and inversely with adiponectin concentrations. Most importantly, in obese children 35% showed one, 20% two, 10% three, and 15% four or more abnormal cardiometabolic biomarkers. The number of abnormal cardiometabolic markers increased in overweight (p(trend) <0.001) and obese (p(trend) <0.001) children. CONCLUSIONS Overweight and obesity in children are associated with complex metabolic changes and a low-grade inflammatory response, and thus might not only accelerate cardiovascular disease later on, but may also be associated with the initiation of atherosclerosis in early life.
Effects of design aspects in advertising on odour perception of consumers

This study examines the effects of design aspects in advertising on the odour perception of consumers. Research proved that visual design aspects of advertising affects consumer perceptions. Also, congruency of these design aspects plays a major role in transferring effects on consumer perceptions. Based on these findings, four hypotheses concerning the effects of design aspects (flask shape, colour hue and slogan) and the aspect of congruency on odour perception were created. To test the hypotheses, eight perfume advertisements composed of a 2 (flask shape: thin vs. thick) x 2 (colour hue: bright red vs. mild red) x 2 (slogan: like a tropical sun-bath vs. feel the spring) design were created as manipulation stimuli. Some of these attributes represent freshness and some sultriness. After seeing one of the eight advertisements, participants had to evaluate the odour of an unknown, neutral perfume. The results indicate that the design aspect “flask shape” strongly affects the odour perception of consumers, whereas the hypotheses concerning “slogan” and “colour hue” are only partly confirmed. Regarding the “congruency” hypothesis, it is demonstrated that congruent combinations of design aspects in advertising lead to better evaluations of the perfume odour than incongruent combinations. The limitations of this study, practical implications and suggestions for further research are discussed.
EFFECT OF OLMESARTAN AND LABETALOL ON OXIDATIVE STRESS AND ANTIOXIDANT STATUS IN SOUTH INDIAN HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS

Objective: To evaluate the glutathione (GSH), lipid peroxidation, total antioxidant status levels (TAS), and liver function parameters such as serum aspartate transaminase (AST) and serum alanine transaminase (ALT) in South Indian hypertensive patients before and after olmesartan and labetalol treatment. Methods: Total 69 subjects were selected for the study. Out of 69 subjects, 29 were healthy volunteers (HVs) and 40 subjects were hypertensive patients. The patients both male and female within the age group of 20-65 years were selected. GSH, lipid peroxidation, TAS, AST, and ALT levels in serum were estimated using reported methods. Individual methods were standardized, standard graphs were plotted, and the parameters were measured. Results: Significantly fewer levels of GSH and TAS and more levels of malondialdehyde were observed in untreated hypertensive patients as compared with HVs. After drug treatment, there was significant raise in the levels of GSH and TAS as compared with untreated patients. No significant changes in AST and ALT were observed in both olmesartan and labetalol group as compared with HVs. Conclusions: The antioxidant supplementation is warranted to protect from oxidative stress attack, and the drugs such as olmesartan and labetalol were showing the significant protection against oxidative stress which can significantly reduce blood pressure and prevent possible complications in hypertensive patients. Keywords: Hypertension, Oxidative stress, Olmesartan, Labetalol, Antioxidant.
Edge-aware point set resampling

Points acquired by laser scanners are not intrinsically equipped with normals, which are essential to surface reconstruction and point set rendering using surfels. Normal estimation is notoriously sensitive to noise. Near sharp features, the computation of noise-free normals becomes even more challenging due to the inherent undersampling problem at edge singularities. As a result, common edge-aware consolidation techniques such as bilateral smoothing may still produce erroneous normals near the edges. We propose a resampling approach to process a noisy and possibly outlier-ridden point set in an edge-aware manner. Our key idea is to first resample away from the edges so that reliable normals can be computed at the samples, and then based on reliable data, we progressively resample the point set while approaching the edge singularities. We demonstrate that our Edge-Aware Resampling (EAR) algorithm is capable of producing consolidated point sets with noise-free normals and clean preservation of sharp features. We also show that EAR leads to improved performance of edge-aware reconstruction methods and point set rendering techniques.
How Coaches’ Motivations Mediate Between Basic Psychological Needs and Well-Being/Ill-Being

Purpose: The purpose of the present research was to test how behavioral regulations are mediated between basic psychological needs and psychological well-being and ill-being in a sample of team-sport coaches. Based on self-determination theory, we hypothesized a model where satisfaction and thwarting of the basic psychological needs predicted coaches’ behavioral regulations, which in turn led them to experience well-being (i.e., subjective vitality, positive affect) or ill-being (i.e., perceived stress, negative affect). Method: Three-hundred and two coaches participated in the study (Mage = 25.97 years; 82% male). For each instrument employed, the measurement model with the best psychometric properties was selected from a sequence of nested models sustained by previous research, including exploratory structural equation models and confirmatory factor analysis. These measurement models were included in 3 structural equation models to test for mediation: partial mediation, complete mediation, and absence of mediation. Results: The results provided support for the partial mediation model. Coaches’ motivation mediated the relationships from both relatedness need satisfaction and basic psychological needs thwarting for coaches’ well-being. In contrast, relationships between basic psychological needs satisfaction and thwarting and ill-being were only predicted by direct effects. Conclusion: Our results highlight that 3 conditions seem necessary for coaches to experience psychological well-being in their teams: basic psychological needs satisfaction, especially relatedness; lack of basic psychological needs thwarting; and self-determined motivation.
Interaction Style Recognition Based on Multi-Layer Multi-View Profile Representation

Interaction Style (<italic>IS</italic>) refers to patterns of interaction containing highly contextual and innate information. Awareness of our <italic>IS</italic> can help us discover interpersonal conflicts and guide us how to interact with others. Recently, automatic <italic>IS</italic> recognition is becoming increasingly important in the design of a dialogue system for harmonious interaction. With the goal to select appropriate responses, four <italic>IS </italic> types proposed by Berens are selected as the basis for our study. In this study, multiple views (multi-views) of the utterances during interaction, including emotions and dialogue topics, are recognized first. Inspired by the emotion profile theory, the <italic>IS</italic> profiles are then extracted using the multi-view features to better characterize the <italic>IS</italic> of the interactional utterances. Similar to the multilayer architectures in deep neural networks, a multi-layer multi-view <italic>IS</italic> profile representation method, structured layer by layer through embedding the multi-views, is proposed to better interpret intermediate representations in the feature space of the interactional utterances based on a probabilistic fusion model. The <italic>IS</italic> is finally recognized by using the Support Vector Machine (SVM) based on the obtained <italic>IS</italic> profiles. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieved an encouraging <italic>IS</italic> recognition accuracy and outperformed the previous method.
Fooling Ourselves: Evaluating the Globalization and Growth Debate

This paper evaluates how much of the economics profession has evaluated the evidence on the relationship between international trade and economic growth. The paper highlights the basic approaches to the trade and growth question that the literature has adopted. The case is made that more attention needs to be paid to the mechanisms by which trade impacts growth and that future research should move away from a focus on outcomes and look instead at these mechanisms.
ON THE PROSPECT OF CONSTRAINING BLACK HOLE SPIN THROUGH X-RAY SPECTROSCOPY OF HOTSPOTS

Future X-ray instrumentation is expected to allow us to significantly improve the constraints derived from the Fe K lines in active galactic nuclei, such as the black hole angular momentum (spin) and the inclination angle of the putative accretion disk. We consider the possibility that measurements of the persistent, time-averaged Fe K line emission from the disk could be supplemented by the observation of a localized flare, or “hotspot,” orbiting close to the black hole. Although observationally challenging, such measurements would recover some of the information loss that is inherent to the radially integrated line profiles. We present calculations for this scenario to assess the extent to which, in principle, black hole spin may be measured. We quantify the feasibility of this approach using realistic assumptions about likely measurement uncertainties.
Mitochondrial Myopathy and Rhabdomyolysis Associated with a Novel Nonsense Mutation in the Gene Encoding Cytochrome c Oxidase Subunit I

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations associated with rhabdomyolysis are rare but have been described in sporadic cases with mutations in the cytochrome b and cytochrome c oxidase (COX) genes and in 3 cases with tRNALeu mutation. We report a novel heteroplasmic G6708A nonsense mutation in the mtDNA COI gene encoding COX subunit I in a 30-year-old woman with muscle weakness, pain, fatigue, and one episode of rhabdomyolysis. Histochemical examination of muscle biopsy specimens revealed reduced COX activity in the majority of the muscle fibers (∼90%) and frequent ragged red fibers. Biochemical analysis showed a marked and isolated COX deficiency. Analysis of DNA extracted from single fibers revealed higher levels of the mutation in COX-deficient fibers (> 95%) compared with COX-positive fibers (1%-80%). The mutation was not detected in a skin biopsy, cultured myoblasts, or blood leukocytes. Nor was it identified in blood leukocytes from the asymptomatic mother, indicating a de novo mutation that arose after germ layer differentiation. Western blot analysis and immunohistochemical staining revealed that reduced levels of COX subunit I were accompanied by reduced levels of other mtDNA encoded subunits, as well as nuclear DNA encoded subunit IV, supporting the concept that COX subunit I is essential for the assembly of complex IV in the respiratory chain.
Inflammatory and endothelial markers in women with polycystic ovary syndrome

Background Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) carry a pattern of cardiovascular risk factors. Endothelial dysfunction and chronic inflammation are early findings in the atherosclerotic process. The purpose of the study was to investigate the coexistence of active inflammation markers and endothelial dysfunction in young women with PCOS, and their relationship with metabolic and hormonal abnormalities of the syndrome.