Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hypertension is associated with dysfunction of both peripheral and central auditory system

Objectives: Arterial hypertension negatively influences the peripheral auditory system, causing sensorineural hearing loss. Much less is known about the detrimental effects of hypertension on the central auditory functions. Methods: We tested 32 arterial hypertension patients and 32 age and sex-matched healthy volunteers with the expanded tonal audiometry (0.125–12.5 kHz), distortion product otoacoustic emissions (0.75–8 kHz), horizontal minimum audible angle test for eight azimuths with binaural stimulation and the random gap detection test. Results: Peripheral hearing of the hypertensive patients was impaired in comparison with the controls within all audiometric frequencies (0.125–12.5 kHz) and within specific groups of frequencies. Distortion product otoacoustic emission results were significantly lower for frequencies 4 (P = 0.04) and 6 kHz (P < 0.001). The sound localization ability in the horizontal minimum audible angle test was significantly worse in the hypertensive patients in the 0°, 45°, 90°, 135°, and 270° azimuth when the interaural pure tone average (0.5–1–2 kHz) was set less than 20 dB hearing level (P < 0.05), and in the 0°, 90°, 225°, and 270°azimuth when the binaural pure tone average (0.5–1–2 kHz) was set 20 dB or less hearing level (P < 0.05). Gap detection thresholds in the random gap detection test did not differ between the two groups. Conclusion: Arterial hypertension is independently related to the damage of the peripheral part of the auditory system resulting in high-frequency hearing loss. Hypertensive disturbances of central auditory processing are more discrete and concern the spatial hearing resolution.
Appendicular osteosarcoma in small-breed dogs: 51 cases (1986-2011).

OBJECTIVE To describe outcomes for small-breed dogs with appendicular osteosarcoma. DESIGN Multi-institutional retrospective case series. ANIMALS 51 small-breed dogs. PROCEDURES Records from participating Veterinary Society of Surgical Oncology members were searched for dogs that weighed ≤ 15 kg (33 lb) with a histologic diagnosis of appendicular osteosarcoma. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to determine median survival times (MSTs), and Cox regression was performed to identify variables associated with survival time. RESULTS Tumors were most commonly located on the humerus (n = 15) and femur (14). Of the 51 study dogs, 9 were treated nonsurgically, 16 underwent amputation of the affected limb only, and 26 underwent curative-intent treatment, with MSTs of 112, 257, and 415 days, respectively. The MST did not differ significantly between dogs in the amputation-only and curative-intent groups. For dogs in the nonsurgical group, MST decreased significantly as the tumor histologic score increased. For dogs in the amputation-only group, MST decreased as body weight increased. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE For the small-breed dogs with appendicular osteosarcoma of the present study, tumor histologic grade and mitotic index were subjectively lower and MST following amputation of the affected limb without adjuvant chemotherapy was longer, compared with those for similarly affected larger dogs. Results indicated no significant advantage in MST for dogs that underwent curative-intent treatment versus dogs that underwent amputation only, and further investigation of the importance of adjuvant chemotherapy is warranted.
Generic Entry in a Regulated Pharmaceutical Market

This paper examines generic entry into the Japanese pharmaceutical market. Relatively little is known about generic entry in regulated markets. Using micro data between 2003 and 2005, I find that generic entry is sensitive to the prescription pattern driven by the price regulation and healthcare system. Fewer generics enter if the drug is more frequently prescribed at large hospitals and at medical institutions where prescribing and dispensing are separated. Economies of scope in entering multiple markets also affect entry decisions. Brand revenues, which are an important determinant in unregulated markets, also explain generic entry in the regulated market.
Sequential blind beamforming algorithm using combined CMA/LMS for wireless underground communications

In this contribution, we propose a new smart antenna array (SAA) structure using sequential blind beamforming for multipath correlated signals in an underground mining environment. This adaptive receiver is dedicated to underground environments, where the multipath problem is more severe than the co-channel interference. In this confined area, the received path arrivals are not only highly correlated but actually belong to the same signal source. Consequently, we exploit the idea that these arrival paths are delayed replicas from an identical source. Simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed blind beamformer. It outperforms the CMA beamformer by approximately 2.5 dB and 4.1 dB for Gaussian and Rayleigh channels, respectively.
Share Repurchases, the Clustering Problem, and the Free Cash Flow Hypothesis

We examine the market reaction to announcements of actual share repurchases, events that cluster both within and across firms. Using a multivariate regression model, we find that the market reacts positively to the events, indicating that these announcements provide additional information to that contained in the initial repurchase intention announcements. Further, the market response is especially favorable for firms with overinvestment problems as measured by Tobin's q, and is not related to signaling costs as measured by the size of the repurchase. Our findings generally support the hypothesis that share repurchases reduce the agency costs of excessive free cash flow.
Conformational Analysis of Neuropeptide Y Segments by CD, NMR Spectroscopy and Restrained Molecular Dynamics

Neuropeptide Y (NPY), a peptide amide comprising 36 residue has been shown to act as a potent vasoconstrictor. In order to shed light on the structural requirements for the biological activities with respect to the different prerequisites for affinity to the NPY receptor subtypes Y1 and Y2, in the present study the syntheses and conformational analyses of two C‐terminal segments, NPY(18–36) and NPY(13–36), are described.
The Political Economy of Resale Price Maintenance

Although many economists argue that resale price maintenance (RPM) enhances the efficiency of distribution systems, RPM has proven politically unpalatable. Opposition to RPM arises primarily from concern that it raises prices, an empirical judgment based on comparisons of prices in RPM states with prices in "free-trade" (non-RPM) jurisdictions. We develop a model of RPM pricing that shows that prices chosen by manufacturers under universal RPM are close to those chosen without RPM. Manufacturers "pay" for dealer services through lowered wholesale prices. When jurisdictions are mixed, manufacturers select compromise wholesale prices, and retail prices in RPM jurisdictions exceed those in free-trade states. We use the theoretical results as a basis for the analysis of the evolution of political attitudes toward RPM.
Bioaccumulation kinetics of the conventional energetics TNT and RDX relative to insensitive munitions constituents DNAN and NTO in Rana pipiens tadpoles

The manufacturing of explosives and their loading, assembling, and packing into munitions for use in testing on training sites or battlefields has resulted in contamination of terrestrial and aquatic sites that may pose risk to populations of sensitive species. The bioaccumulative potential of the conventional explosives 2,4,6‐trinitrotoluene (TNT) and hexahydro‐1,3,5‐trinitro‐1,3,5‐triazine (RDX) and of the insensitive munitions (i.e., less shock sensitive) compound 2,4‐dinitroanisole (DNAN) were assessed using the Northern leopard frog, Rana pipiens. Trinitrotoluene entering the organism was readily biotransformed to aminodinitrotoluenes, whereas no transformation products were measured for RDX or DNAN. Uptake clearance rates were relatively slow and similar among compounds (1.32–2.19 L kg−1 h−1). Upon transfer to uncontaminated water, elimination rate was very fast, resulting in the prediction of fast time to approach steady state (5 h or less) and short elimination half‐lives (1.2 h or less). A preliminary bioconcentration factor of 0.25 L kg−1 was determined for the insensitive munitions compound 3‐nitro‐1,2,4‐trizole‐5‐one (NTO) indicating negligible bioaccumulative potential. Because of the rapid elimination rate for explosives, tadpoles inhabiting contaminated areas are expected to experience harmful effects only if under constant exposure conditions given that body burdens can rapidly depurate preventing tissue concentrations from persisting at levels that may cause detrimental biological effects. Environ Toxicol Chem 2015;34:880–886. © 2014 SETAC
Housing and social policy futures

This topical book transforms the analysis of housing problems into a lively, interesting and contentious subject of social scientific study, addressing themes of residential experience, inclusion/empowerment, sustainability and professionalism/managerialism, which lie at the heart of the housing and social policy debate. Each chapter considers a specific social category - such as class, gender, or disability - and evaluates the experience and understanding of housing and social policy under this category. With innovative approaches to conceptualising housing and a clear, defined structure, Housing and Social Policy encourages students and practitioners in both arenas to think reflexively about housing as a central instrument of social policy and social experience.
Perceived investment in employee development, intrinsic motivation and work performance

The purpose of this study was to explore alternative relationships between perceived investment in employee development, intrinsic motivation and different facets of work performance. Three cross-sectional surveys of a total of 826 respondents from organisations located in Norway showed that the relationship between perceived investment in employee development and work effort was mediated by intrinsic motivation. In addition, intrinsic motivation was found to moderate the relationship between perceived investment in employee development and organisational citizenship behaviour. The form of the moderation revealed a positive relationship only for employees with high levels of intrinsic motivation.
High prevalence of diabetes‐specific autoimmunity in first‐degree relatives of Sardinian patients with type 1 diabetes

The incidence of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) in Sardinia is among the highest in the world (44.8 cases/100,000 person‐years). Recommendations of the Immunology of Diabetes Society advise evaluating autoantibody positivity in first‐degree relatives (FDRs) of patients with T1DM, for their higher risk to develop the disease. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of beta‐cell autoimmunity in FDRs of T1DM patients in Sardinia.
Radiofrequency exposure: a review of non cancer related in vivo and in vitro studies

This report reviews the current state of the scientific evidence of the effects of RF-EMF exposure focussing especially on cell phones and base stations signals on human health. Laboratory studies covering the systems, district and physiological conditions are addressed. The main topics briefly described are: nervous and neuroendocrine systems, auditory system, immune system, cardiovascular effects, fertility, development, and behavior.
Serum levels of GM‐CSF are elevated in patients with thrombocytopenia

Serum levels of GM‐CSF, IL‐3 and IL‐6 were measured in patients with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), non‐immune thrombocytopenia (NIT), autoimmune haemolytic anaemia (AIHA) and neutropenia. 8/10 children with ITP had elevated serum levels of GM‐CSF (mean 18.4 pg/ml) while thrombocytopenic, but only two had detectable levels (mean 4.5 pg/ml) after normalization of the platelet count. In patients with NIT a significant inverse correlation between platelet count and serum levels of GM‐CSF was observed. IL‐3 and IL‐6 levels were not significantly elevated in thrombocytopenic patients and only two of the nine patients with either AIHA or neutropenia had detectable levels of GM‐CSF. Thus, GM‐CSF may play a role in the response to severe thrombocytopenia.
Climate change vulnerability, impacts, and adaptation: Why does gender matter?

Gender-related inequalities are pervasive in the developing world. Although women account for almost 80 per cent of the agricultural sector in Africa, they remain vulnerable and poor. Seventy per cent of the 1.3 billion people in the developing world living below the threshold of poverty are women. It is important that the consequences of climate change should not lead already marginalised sections of communities into further deprivation. But key development issues have been at best sidetracked, and at worst blatantly omitted, from policy debates on climate change. The threats posed by global warming have failed to impress on policy-makers the importance of placing women at the heart of their vision of sustainable development. This article argues that if climate change policy is about ensuring a sustainable future by combining development and environment issues, it must take into account the interests of all stakeholders. The Global Environment Facility and the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol can play a role in ensuring sustainable development, provided they are implemented in a way that does not disadvantage women and the poor.
Quality of experience in digital mobile multimedia services

People like to consume multimedia content on mobile devices. Mobile networks can deliver mobile TV services but they require large infrastructural investments and their operators need to make trade-offs to design worthwhile experiences. The approximation of how users experience networked services has shifted from the inadequate packet level Quality of Service (QoS) to the user perceived Quality of Experience (QoE) that includes content, user context and their expectations. However, QoE is lacking concrete operationalizations for the visual experience of content on small, sub-TV resolution screens displaying transcoded TV content at low bitrates. The contribution of my thesis includes both substantive and methodological results on which factors contribute to the QoE in mobile multimedia services and how. I utilised a mix of methods in both lab and field settings to assess the visual experience of multimedia content on mobile devices. This included qualitative elicitation techniques such as 14 focus groups and 75 hours of debrief interviews in six experimental studies. 343 participants watched 140 hours of realistic TV content and provided feedback through quantitative measures such as acceptability, preferences and eye-tracking. My substantive findings on the effects of size, resolution, text quality and shot types can improve multimedia models. My substantive findings show that people want to watch mobile TV at a relative size (at least 4cm of screen height) similar to living room TV setups. In order to achieve these sizes at 35cm viewing distance users require at least QCIF resolution and are willing to scale it to a much lower angular resolution (12ppd) then what video quality research has found to be the best visual quality (35ppd). My methodological findings suggest that future multimedia QoE research should use a mixed methods approach including qualitative feedback and viewing ratios akin to living room setups to meet QoE’s ambitious scope.
Different paths to power: The rise of Brazil, India and China at the World Trade Organization

ABSTRACT New powers, such as China, India and Brazil, are challenging the traditional dominance of the US in the governance of the global economy. It is generally taken for granted that the rise of new powers is simply a reflection of their growing economic might. In this article, however, I challenge this assumption by drawing on the case of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to show that the forces driving the rise of new powers are more heterogeneous and complex than suggested by a simple economic determinism. I argue that these countries have in fact taken different paths to power: while China's rise has been more closely tied to its growing economic might, the rise of Brazil and India has been driven primarily by their mobilization and leadership of developing country coalitions, which enabled them to exercise influence above their economic weight. One important result is that Brazil and India have assumed a more aggressive and activist position in WTO negotiations than China and played a greater role in shaping the agenda of the Doha Round. Thus, although the new powers are frequently grouped together (as the ‘BRICs’, for example), this masks considerable variation in their sources of power and behaviour in global economic governance.
Motion planning with many degrees of freedom-random reflections at C-space obstacles

This paper describes a motion planner that automatically avoids collisions with obstacles. A transformation of obstacles into configuration space (C-space) is not necessary. Given a polyhedral description of robot, load and environment the algorithm first computes (off-line) a graph which roughly represents the skeleton of the freespace. Due to the way of its computation this graph does not preserve connectivity, although the freespace is a connected set, which is assumed throughout this paper. Reflecting randomly at C-space obstacles a connection between subgraphs is generated. In a second step (online) a connection between a start and a goal configuration to the graph is searched for. The impact of this algorithm concerning movable obstacles is discussed. This method is general and four examples are presented to demonstrate its feasibility by applying it to different kinematic structures with 3, 6 and 12 degrees of freedom. <<ETX>>
Alliances, Credibility, and Peacetime Costs

Alliances are not perfectly credible. Although alliances raise the probability of intervention into war, many allies do not honor their promise in wartime. A formal model of alliances as signals of intentions to explore the credibility of alliances is presented. One state threatens another. A third state shares an interest with the second in preventing the demands of the first. A simple model of a crisis among these three is solved first without an alliance between the second and the third states. The author then allows them the chance to form an alliance before the crisis. Alliances have two effects: (1) the ability of the allies to fight together is increased, and (2) peacetime costs on the allies are imposed. The model with alliances produces a wide range of strategic behaviors. The implications of the model for the formation, credibility, and deterrent effects of alliances are broadly consistent with stylized facts in the literature.
Understanding occupational (sub) culture – a precursor for reform

Over the past two decades successive British governments, both Conservative and Labour, have attempted to implement reforms within the English and Welsh police service. The latest Labour government proposals have resulted in new legislation which paves the way for wide‐scale reforms of how the police are managed, financed and judged against specific performance targets. Further, the introduction of the UKs first “national policing plan” has led to the belief that this is a sign of the British government's intention to reduce/remove the historical, political neutrality identified through “constabulary independence”. Past experiences suggest that greater “nationalisation” of policing in the UK is unlikely to meet government expectations owing to the strength of police (sub) culture to adopt and yet resist reform and that the governments failure to pay attention to this may result in the failure of reform.
Perceptions of corporate social and environmental accounting and reporting practices from accountants in Bangladesh

Purpose - The aim of this study is to elicit accountants' perceptions regarding corporate social and environmental accounting and reporting practices in a developing country such as Bangladesh. Design/methodology/approach - Members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) were surveyed to determine their perceptions on issues pertaining to social and environmental accounting and reporting practices in Bangladesh. Findings - Whilst the findings show that accountants have positive attitudes toward corporate social and environmental accounting, progress is limited, with the absence of ICAB in making any noticeable effort to develop such practices. Research implications - Unlike prior studies, the implications of this study suggest that without international influence, it is less likely that institutional forces in Bangladesh (ICAB and the government) would be effective in dealing with social and environmental accounting and reporting issues. Originality/value - While prior studies advocate proactive roles of the accounting profession, this study argues that proactive roles are less likely to prevail in the context of Bangladesh without direct intervention from institutional and regulatory authorities in the international arena.
HCN4 Dynamically Marks the First Heart Field and Conduction System Precursors

Rationale: To date, there has been no specific marker of the first heart field to facilitate understanding of contributions of the first heart field to cardiac lineages. Cardiac arrhythmia is a leading cause of death, often resulting from abnormalities in the cardiac conduction system (CCS). Understanding origins and identifying markers of CCS lineages are essential steps toward modeling diseases of the CCS and for development of biological pacemakers. Objective: To investigate HCN4 as a marker for the first heart field and for precursors of distinct components of the CCS, and to gain insight into contributions of first and second heart lineages to the CCS. Methods and Results: HCN4CreERT2, -nuclear LacZ, and -H2BGFP mouse lines were generated. HCN4 expression was examined by means of immunostaining with HCN4 antibody and reporter gene expression. Lineage studies were performed using HCN4CreERT2, Isl1Cre, Nkx2.5Cre, and Tbx18Cre, coupled to coimmunostaining with CCS markers. Results demonstrated that, at cardiac crescent stages, HCN4 marks the first heart field, with HCN4CreERT2 allowing assessment of cell fates adopted by first heart field myocytes. Throughout embryonic development, HCN4 expression marked distinct CCS precursors at distinct stages, marking the entire CCS by late fetal stages. We also noted expression of HCN4 in distinct subsets of endothelium at specific developmental stages. Conclusions: This study provides insight into contributions of first and second heart lineages to the CCS and highlights the potential use of HCN4 in conjunction with other markers for optimization of protocols for generation and isolation of specific conduction system precursors.