Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE ROLE AND FUNCTIONING OF BUSINESS GROUPS IN EAST ASIA AND CHILE

We compare group affiliation in seven East Asian countries and Chile, using data for more than 1,000 publicly traded firms. We document that 75 percent of listed firms in our East Asia sample are associated with business groups, but only 40 percent in Chile. We find evidence that group structures are used to diversify risks internally as firms’ market risk is influenced not only by own characteristics-such as size, price/book ratio-but also by group characteristics, especially in Chile. There are costs to groups, however. For East Asian countries, we find that group structures are used by controlling owners to expropriate other shareholders. On balance, it appears that business groups are not beneficial to shareholders.
Firm Locations and Takeover Likelihood

We examine the impact of a firm’s geographic location on its takeover likelihood with a sample of U.S. public firms from 1980 to 2005. We first show that firms located in an urban area are 8.3% more likely to receive a takeover bid and 10.5% more likely to complete the takeover transaction than firms located in a non-urban area. Our findings are robust after controlling for various firm characteristics, alternative econometric specifications, and endogeneity in firm locations. We propose three alternative hypotheses to explain the observed difference in takeover exposures between urban and non-urban firms: the information hypothesis that argues urban firms are subject to less soft information asymmetry relative to non-urban firms; the governance hypothesis that argues managers of urban firms are less entrenched than those of non-urban firms; and the synergy hypothesis that argues urban firms are able to generate higher synergies for bidders than non-urban firms. Our evidence supports the information and governance hypotheses, but does not provide any support for the synergy hypothesis.
Treatment of natural mammary gland tumors in canines and felines using gold nanorods-assisted plasmonic photothermal therapy to induce tumor apoptosis

Plasmonic photothermal therapy (PPTT) is a cancer therapy in which gold nanorods are injected at the site of a tumor before near-infrared light is transiently applied to the tumor causing localized cell death. Previously, PPTT studies have been carried out on xenograft mice models. Herein, we report a study showing the feasibility of PPTT as applied to natural tumors in the mammary glands of dogs and cats, which more realistically represent their human equivalents at the molecular level. We optimized a regime of three low PPTT doses at 2-week intervals that ablated tumors mainly via apoptosis in 13 natural mammary gland tumors from seven animals. Histopathology, X-ray, blood profiles, and comprehensive examinations were used for both the diagnosis and the evaluation of tumor statuses before and after treatment. Histopathology results showed an obvious reduction in the cancer grade shortly after the first treatment and a complete regression after the third treatment. Blood tests showed no obvious change in liver and kidney functions. Similarly, X-ray diffraction showed no metastasis after 1 year of treatment. In conclusion, our study suggests the feasibility of applying the gold nanorods-PPTT on natural tumors in dogs and cats without any relapse or toxicity effects after 1 year of treatment.
Chandra Multiwavelength Project X-Ray Point Source Catalog

We present the Chandra Multiwavelength Project (ChaMP) X-ray point source catalog with ~6800 X-ray sources detected in 149 Chandra observations covering ~10 deg2. The full ChaMP catalog sample is 7 times larger than the initial published ChaMP catalog. The exposure time of the fields in our sample ranges from 0.9 to 124 ks, corresponding to a deepest X-ray flux limit of f0.5-8.0 = 9 × 10-16 ergs cm-2 s-1. The ChaMP X-ray data have been uniformly reduced and analyzed with ChaMP-specific pipelines and then carefully validated by visual inspection. The ChaMP catalog includes X-ray photometric data in eight different energy bands as well as X-ray spectral hardness ratios and colors. To best utilize the ChaMP catalog, we also present the source reliability, detection probability, and positional uncertainty. To quantitatively assess those parameters, we performed extensive simulations. In particular, we present a set of empirical equations: the flux limit as a function of effective exposure time and the positional uncertainty as a function of source counts and off-axis angle. The false source detection rate is ~1% of all detected ChaMP sources, while the detection probability is better than ~95% for sources with counts ≳30 and off-axis angle <5'. The typical positional offset between ChaMP X-ray source and their SDSS optical counterparts is 0.7′′ ± 0.4′′, derived from ~900 matched sources.
Improving Health Promotion Using Quality Improvement Techniques in Australian Indigenous Primary Health Care

Although some areas of clinical health care are becoming adept at implementing continuous quality improvement (CQI) projects, there has been limited experimentation of CQI in health promotion. In this study, we examined the impact of a CQI intervention on health promotion in four Australian Indigenous primary health care centers. Our study objectives were to (a) describe the scope and quality of health promotion activities, (b) describe the status of health center system support for health promotion activities, and (c) introduce a CQI intervention and examine the impact on health promotion activities and health centers systems over 2 years. Baseline assessments showed suboptimal health center systems support for health promotion and significant evidence-practice gaps. After two annual CQI cycles, there were improvements in staff understanding of health promotion and systems for planning and documenting health promotion activities had been introduced. Actions to improve best practice health promotion, such as community engagement and intersectoral partnerships, were inhibited by the way health center systems were organized, predominately to support clinical and curative services. These findings suggest that CQI can improve the delivery of evidence-based health promotion by engaging front line health practitioners in decision-making processes about the design/redesign of health center systems to support the delivery of best practice health promotion. However, further and sustained improvements in health promotion will require broader engagement of management, senior staff, and members of the local community to address organizational and policy level barriers.
A Comparison of Student Attitudes towards Languages Other than English (LOTEs) in Turkey and in the USA.

The study aimed at investigating learners’ attitudes towards languages other than English (LOTEs). The study also explored participant instructors’ views on students’ attitudes towards LOTEs. In order to collect data, a language attitude questionnaire was designed by adapting Students’ Attitude Toward Foreign Language (SAFL) instrument. The study sampled a total of 316 students, 261 from Turkey, 55 from the USA. University students enrolled in a second language course in the USA and Turkey were compared in terms of their responses to SAFL items as well as their attitude scores for each of the 4 dimensions. Separate confirmatory factor analyses were conducted for each sample with 4 varimax rotated, orthogonal factors. Factor scores for each individual were computed based on the weights identified by the factor analysis to obtain general measures of motivation, students’ effort and instructor's role, self-confidence and self-interest, and students' anxiety. According to the research findings students learning LOTEs have favorable attitudes towards the language they are learning both in Turkey and the USA due to their interests in the cultural products of the countries speaking those languages and increasing educational opportunities.
Comparison of Dermal Substitutes in Wound Healing Utilizing a Nude Mouse Model

Background: Dermal skin substitutes have become a standard of care in burn treatment. Objective: To compare and assess wound contracture reduction and histologic incorporation into the wound, dermal substitutes were implanted into full-thickness skin wounds in nude mice. Materials and Methods: Thirty-seven mice received a full-thickness 2 × 2 cm dorsal skin wound, and were either implanted with an acellular dermal matrix, Alloderm, Dermagraft-TC, Dermalogen, or Integra or assigned to the control group (with no dermal substitute). At 28 days postsurgery, the wounds were assessed for contraction, epithelialization, and other histological characteristics. Results: Each dermal substitute decreased wound contracture, but Alloderm and the acellular dermal matrix did so significantly compared to the control (P < .01 and P < .03, respectively). Within-group and control comparisons showed no significant differences with respect to the presence of dystrophic calcification, squamous hyperplasia, infiltration of neutrophils, fibroblasts, and macrophages, epidermal keratinocyte stratification, or collagen fiber configuration. Conclusions: Integra elicited the greatest foreign body response. Although the Dermalogen group had the thickest elastin fiber fragments, Dermagraft may have initiated the earliest elastin fiber formation in the wounds. While all dermal substitutes were incorporated into the wound bed and wound contracture was decreased, acellular dermal matrix and Alloderm, both human skin–derived products, produced less contraction and the thickest new “dermis” in the healed wounds compared to the control or synthetic dermal substitutes.
Spelling Scoring Metrics in Malay Language: An Investigation among Young Spellers

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship among three spelling scoring metrics, namely, words spelled correctly (WSC), correct letter sequences (CLS), and phonological coding (PC) in Malay language. The relationship between spelling measure and word reading measure was studied. There were 866 Primary 1 (Grade 1 equivalent) students from 11 randomly selected public primary schools in Kuching, Sarawak Malaysia who participated in this study. The study showed that the scores from each scoring metric were highly correlated to each other. There was a strong relationship between each spelling outcome to word reading.
Shopping Cost and Brand Exploration in Online Grocery

This paper explores differences in consumers' grocery shopping behavior when they shop online and in a brick-and-mortar store. To do so, I assemble a new scanner dataset that tracks customers' grocery purchases in-store and on the Internet. This allows comparison in behavior of the same households, shopping in the same chain, for identical items and for identical prices, eliminating many possible confounding factors. I focus on the breakfast cereals category, and start by documenting that brand exploration is systematically more prevalent in-store than online. I propose three possible explanations for this finding: (i) shocks to the instantaneous utility of time correlated with the decision to shop online (ii) features of the grocer's website; and (iii) difficulty in assessing quality of unknown items while shopping online. I then continue by developing and estimating a model of consumer behavior that allows me to quantify each effect. I find that all of these effects contribute to hamper trial of new brands online. The counterfactual shows that altering the design of the website to remove potential obstacles to new trials increases brand exploration by 23%. More generally, in contrast to the conventional wisdom of the Internet reducing entry barriers, my work points to features of the online environment that in certain contexts actually could make entry of new brands more difficult.
From Tinkering to Going “Rogue”: How Principals Use Agency When Enacting New Teacher Evaluation Systems

Despite major changes to teacher evaluation since 2009, scant research examines how principals enact these policies. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 44 principals in 13 Connecticut districts, we use structure-agency theory to characterize how principals improvised when implementing the state evaluation model. We find that principals’ use of discretion varied across the system’s components, took different forms, and appeared aimed at varied outcomes. Particular forms of discretion supported the system’s goals, while others likely undermined them. Principals tended to use their discretion to further the system’s development aims as opposed to its accountability goals. Our findings have implications for the enactment of teacher evaluation policy, the roles of district administrators, and principals’ work as instructional leaders in an accountability context.
Genetic Variation at Selected SNPs in the Leptin Gene and Association of Alleles with Markers of Kidney Disease in a Xhosa Population of South Africa

Background Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a significant public health problem that leads to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) with as many as 2 million people predicted to need therapy worldwide by 2010. Obesity is a risk factor for CKD and leptin, the obesity hormone, correlates with body fat mass and markers of renal function. A number of clinical and experimental studies have suggested a link between serum leptin and kidney disease. We hypothesised that variants in the leptin gene (LEP) may be associated with markers of CKD in indigenous black Africans. Methodology/Principal Findings Black South Africans of Xhosa (distinct cultural Bantu-speaking population) descent were recruited for the study and four common polymorphisms of the LEP (rs7799039, rs791620, rs2167270 and STS-U43653 [ENSSNP5824596]) were analysed for genotype and haplotype association with urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR), estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), Serum creatinine (Scr) and serum leptin level. In one of the four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) we examined, an association with the renal phenotypes was observed. Hypertensive subjects with the T allele (CT genotype) of the ENSSNP5824596 SNP had a significantly higher eGFR (p = 0.0141), and significantly lower Scr (p = 0.0137). This was confirmed by haplotype analysis. Also, the haplotype GAAC had a modest effect on urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio in normotensive subjects (p = 0.0482). Conclusions/Significance These results suggest that genetic variations of the LEP may be associated with phenotypes that are markers of CKD in black Africans.
Effect of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation According to the Stimulation Site in Stroke Patients With Dysphagia

Objective To investigate the effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) according to the stimulation site in subacute stroke patients with dysphagia. Methods This study was designed as a matched comparative study. Twenty-four patients who had dysphagia after ischemic stroke were recruited, and they were divided into two groups after matching for age and stroke lesion. The patients in group A received rTMS over the brain cortex where motor evoked potential (MEP) was obtained from the suprahyoid muscle. Group B received rTMS over the brain cortex where MEP was obtained from the abductor pollicis brevis muscle. rTMS was performed at 110% of MEP threshold, 10 Hz frequency for 10 seconds, and then repeated every minute for 10 minutes. Dysphagia status was measured by the Functional Dysphagia Scale (FDS), the Penetration-Aspiration Scale (PAS), and the Dysphagia Outcome and Severity Scale (DOSS) using the results of a videofluoroscopic swallowing study. These evaluations were measured before, immediately, and 4 weeks after rTMS. Results Group A showed significant improvement compared to group B in the DOSS score immediately and 4 weeks after rTMS. There were no significant differences in the changes of FDS and PAS scores between groups A and B immediately and 4 weeks after rTMS. Conclusion rTMS over a hot spot for the suprahyoid muscle caused more improvement in swallowing function when compared to that over the interconnected site.
How can the perceptions and experiences of medical educator stakeholders inform selection into medicine? An interpretative phenomenological pilot study

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Background Attempts to utilise the experiences of stakeholders to better inform selection into medicine are rare in the literature. Published scholarship to date reflects a myriad of competing goals for selecting and graduating ‘good doctors’ amidst increasingly complex health care environments. This includes debates around what is the ‘good doctor’, selection methods, health care decision-making, the doctor-patient relationship, patient-centredness, professionalism and stakeholder experiences with doctors. Within the complexity manifested by these multiple dimensions, decisions about the characteristics and capabilities on which selection should be based may have privileged some stakeholder groups over others, with patient experiences particularly de-emphasised. The aims of this pilot study were to focus on front-line medical educators as stakeholders whose experiences might be valuable for informing selection into medicine and to inform a larger-scale study of the topic from the perspectives of a more diverse group of stakeholders, including patients. Method Fourteen (14) medical educator participants were recruited for a semi-structured group interview at an international conference for health professional educators. The audio-recording was transcribed verbatim and the raw data were de-identified and organised with the aid of computer assisted data analysis software. Coding was initiated and Smith’s interpretative phenomenological analytical (IPA) method employed ( Smith, Flowers, & Larkin, 2009). Results Initial analysis yielded four broad phenomenological themes: perceptions of ‘good doctors’, selection processes, selection-related challenges and possible solutions. The more deeply experiential data were captured in an analytical commentary of first-person accounts that may be useful for informing future selection strategies. Participant experiences mirrored the major debates in medical selection but their accounts revealed a negativity and cynicism about the topic that was concerning and warrants further investigation. Conclusion This study contributes to medical student selection research through offering an account of the ‘lived experiences’ of front-line medical educator stakeholders.
Iterative KNN imputation based on GRA for missing values in TPLMS

Missing values are an unavoidable problem in a number of real world applications and how to impute these missing values has become a challenging issue in industrial production. Even though there are some popular imputation methods proposed, these methods perform poorly in the estimation of missing values in the trash pickup logistics management system (TPLMS). The problem of missing values in the TPLMS is significant and may result in unserviceable decision-making. Thus this paper introduces an iterative KNN imputation method which associates with weighted k nearest neighbor (KNN) imputation and the grey relational analysis (GRA). This method is an instance based imputation method that takes advantage of the correlation of attributes by using a grey relational grade instead of Euclidean distance or other similarity measures to search k-nearest neighbor instances. The plausible values for the missing values are estimated from these nearest neighbor instances iteratively. In addition, the iterative imputation allows all available values including the attribute values in the instances with missing values and the imputed values from previous iteration to be utilized for estimating the missing values. Specifically, the imputation method can fill in all the missing values with reliable data regardless of the missing rate of the TPLMS dataset. We experiment our proposed method on several TPLMS datasets at different missing rates in comparison with some existing imputation methods. The experimental results suggest that the proposed method gets a better performance than other methods in terms of imputation accuracy and convergence speed.
Comparison between two progesterone sources and two oestradiol formulations in a Heatsynch protocol for postpartum cycling dairy cows in pasture

To compare an injectable progesterone (MAD-4) with an intravaginal device (IPD), and natural O17 with synthetic oestradiol (OB) in a synchronisation protocol, 51 cows were divided into four groups. Each group was treated with one of the two sources of progesterone and one of the two oestradiol formulations. Oestrus behaviour, follicle diameter, and pregnancy rates were evaluated. Oestrus behaviour (p = 0.902), numbers of cows in oestrus (p = 0.917), follicle diameter (p = 0.416), and pregnancy rates (p = 0.873) were similar among the four groups. More cows in the group treated with the IPD and OB scored > 200 oestrus behaviour points compared to the other groups (p = 0.038). A longer interval between the end of treatment and oestrus was observed among cows treated with MAD-4 than cows given the IPD (p = 0.030), but no differences were found between animals receiving the two oestradiol formulations (OB and O17). While the use of MAD-4 requires further testing, similar responses to natural oestradiol observed in the present study could allow the use of this formulation in reproductive protocols because it is not associated with the potential human health risks of OB.
Region-based fusion of infrared and visible images using Bidimensional Empirical Mode Decomposition

Region-based image fusion schemes have been studied a lot, but they are all based on some common decomposition, such as pyramid, wavelet and contourlet transform. In this paper, we present a novel region-based image fusion scheme using BEMD (Bidimensional Empirical Mode Decomposition) for infrared and visible images. BEMD is a new 2D signal analysis method extended from EMD and it decomposes the signal into a series of IMFs (Intrinsic Mode Functions) from finest to coarsest. Region segmentation is of vital importance in the fusion process. Real images are always intensity inhomogeneous, e.g. infrared and visible images, so we use an LBF (Local Binary Fitting) model which aims at segmenting intensity inhomogeneous images to extract our regions. Experiments show that the proposed fusion scheme works effectively compared with traditional fusion schemes.
Tradeoffs for VLSI models with subpolynomial delay

The effect of delay along long wires in VLSI on the area-time complexity of computing certain functions has been investigated recently [CMSl(a), CMSl(b), Ag83]. However, in these papers, tradeoffs have been established only for the cases where the delay is a polynomial in the length of the wire. On the other hand, most researchers [Th80, Ra82, BPP82, NMB83] believe that a more pragmatic model is one that has e( log I) delay along a wire of length 1. Although, Thompson indicated some area-time bounds in his influential thesis [Th80], no serious effort has gone into establishing optimal tradeoffs or lower bounds in this model. In this paper, we attempt to eliminate this deficiency by investigating bounds on area and time for computing certain transitive functions and addition in the subpolynomial delay models. In particular, we demonstrate some truly surprising results which contradict both intuition as well as some widely held conjectures. (See (PRS81] and remark (21 for details.)