Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MERGERS AND PROFITABILITY: A MANAGERIAL SUCCESS STORY?*

Since 1983 expenditure on acquisitions in the UK has more than doubled in real terms, despite the fact that the consensus of opinion in the academic literature is that acquisitions are not, on average, performance enhancing for the acquiring firm. Such literature, however, relates mainly to the acquisition of large, public companies. Drawing on survey evidence from 146 of the UK's top 500 companies, this article reports the results from a survey which encompasses all takeovers. The study revealed that is the expected reward of increased profitabililty which is used in ex-post evaluation. The major finding of the study is, however, that managers firmly perceive that their takeover activity has been performance enhancing for their company. The evidence presented does suggest that the integration of small acquisitions into an existing organizational structure may be achieved without severe problems of loss of control, and the subsequent decline in performance which beset large acquisitions
Indium‐111‐labeled anti‐egfr‐425 scintigraphy in the detection of malignant gliomas

Background. The monoclonal antibody anti‐epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFr)antibody‐425, against the epidermal growth factor receptor, has the potential to bind specifically to gliomas and not normal brain tissue.1–3 A prospective study was conducted (1986–1988) to evaluate the use of Indium‐111 (111In)‐labeled anti‐EGFr‐425 in the localization of gliomas before radioimmunotherapy with Iodine‐125 (125I)‐labeled anti‐EGFr‐425.
Horizontal and Vertical Intra-Industry Trade: New Evidence from Korea, 1991-1999

This study tests the validity of the alternative hypotheses in the intra-industry trade (IIT) literature using information on Koreas trade between 1991 and 1999. The study refines previous studies by breaking down IIT into horizontally and vertically differentiated products, controlling for country fixed-effects, and using more variables relevant to Koreas industry data. The main results suggest that some conflicting results of previous empirical studies could be caused by the use of the aggregate approach itself. Most of all, variations of the level of IIT in Korea are better explained by vertical IIT. Furthermore, while the hypotheses derived from the theoretical models of horizontal IIT and vertical IIT are generally confirmed by the empirical analysis, the hypothesis of demand similarity was not supported. The results also favor the competitive market structure explanation for both types of IIT in Korea.
Consumption insurance between Japanese households

This paper examines the implication of the full insurance hypothesis and differences in its applicability across groups of households in Japan. Using a rare Japanese individual panel data set called the Japanese Panel Survey of Consumption, the paper first shows that the full insurance hypothesis is strongly rejected for the country as a whole. The paper further shows that the rich as well as the poor, and also college graduates as well as non-college graduates cannot insure their consumption against income shocks. In sharp contrast, urban residents can pool income shocks completely, whereas rural residents cannot. Rural residents suffer from income risks more seriously than urban residents in Japan.
Simple and Complex Market Inefficiencies: Integrating Efficient Markets, Behavioral Finance, and Complexity

Traditional capital market theory says that markets are efficient because investors are rational. The new school of behavioral finance says the opposite. Rather than solving problems "rationally," individuals tend to make biased decisions using pattern recognition techniques. However, what is rational and irrational may depend upon the type of problem we wish to solve and the method we use to solve it. If the market inefficiency is a simple objective problem, then "cool reason" should prevail. However, if the market is a complex system, then the value of data would be ambiguous making it more rational to use pattern recognition techniques. In this article we will find that rational investors would indeed keep certain types of mispricing from happening. Likewise, human behavior and the market complexity cause mispricing that cannot be arbitraged away. In the end, investors are irrational if they use the wrong method to solve a particular type of problem. By examining method and object we can find when investors are rational, when they are irrational. A non-mathematical model integrating efficient markets, behavioral finance, and complex systems is presented.
Before (and After) Roe v. Wade: New Questions About Backlash

Today, many Americans blame polarizing conflict over abortion on the Supreme Court. If only the Court had stayed its hand or decided Roe v. Wade on narrower grounds, they argue, the nation would have reached a political settlement and avoided backlash. We question this court-centered backlash narrative. Where others have deplored the abortion conflict as resulting from courts “shutting down” politics, we approach the abortion conflict as an expression of politics - a conflict in which the Supreme Court was not the only or even the most important actor.In this essay, we ask what escalation of the abortion conflict in the decade before the Supreme Court decided Roe might teach about the logic of conflict in the decades after Roe. To do so, we draw on sources we collected for our recently published documentary history, Before Roe v. Wade: Voices That Shaped the Abortion Debate Before the Supreme Court’s Ruling (201'7. We begin our story at a time when more Republicans than Democrats supported abortion’s decriminalization, when Catholics mobilized against abortion reform but evangelical Protestants did not, when feminists were only beginning to claim access to abortion as a right. We show how Republicans campaigning for Richard Nixon in 1972 took new positions on abortion to draw Catholics and social conservatives away from the Democratic Party. Evidence from the post-Roe period suggests that it was party realignment that helped escalate and shape conflict over Roe in the ensuing decades.The backlash narrative suggests that turning to courts to vindicate rights is too often counter-productive, and that adjudication is to be avoided at all costs. We are not ready to accept this grim diagnosis at face value, and we urge further research into the dynamics of conflict in the decades after Roe. The stakes in understanding this history are high.
COINTEGRATION ANALYSIS OF TOURISM DEMAND FOR TURKEY

This paper estimates the tourism demand model for Turkey from 14 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Italy, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. Different approaches were used to find cointegration in the considered model for the period from 1996 to 2000 on a monthly basis. From our results we found evidence at the high significance level of a long-run cointegration relationship among the variables. We found that income plays a more important role in the holiday-making decisions of tourists than the relative prices of the holiday destination. Inclusion in the model substitution destination decreased the degree of significance of relative Turkish prices in the demand model.
The development of the BSAC standardized method of disc diffusion testing.

The BSAC Working Party on Susceptibility Testing has developed a standardized method of disc susceptibility testing that has been 'field tested' in 19 diagnostic laboratories in the UK and Ireland. The method employs semi-defined media, a semi-confluent inoculum and relates zones of inhibition with BSAC-specified MIC breakpoints to interpret susceptibility. The bacteria selected for the trial included clinical isolates and control strains from the ATCC and NCTC national collections. Organisms were chosen because they had known attributes, such as being fully susceptible or having a demonstrated mechanism of resistance. The results from this survey are very encouraging. With the commonly isolated Enterobacteriaceae, specifically Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis and Klebsiella spp. , no major problems were observed except with gentamicin and cefuroxime. In the case of gentamicin, problems were associated with resistant strains of P. mirabilis, with MICs of 2 mg/L, being falsely reported as susceptible. For cefuroxime, it is not unexpected that results were unreliable, as the MIC distribution straddles the in vitro breakpoint concentration (following the results of this study the MIC and zone diameter breakpoints have been amended to improve reporting). No major problems were encountered for Pseudomonas aeruginosa with the agents studied. The 'field survey' has shown that disc testing is unreliable for determining the susceptibility of coagulase-negative staphylococci to teicoplanin, and that the detection of glycopeptide resistance in enterococci is improved by incubation for a full 24 h. Inconsistencies observed with fastidious organisms were associated with incorrect inocula. Zone diameter data for the control strains studied provide information that can be utilized by diagnostic laboratories to monitor the daily performance of testing.
Caring for Dying People: Attitudes Among Iranian and Swedish Nursing Students

Aim: To compare the attitudes of Iranian and Swedish nursing students toward caring for dying persons. Materials and Methods: Their attitudes were measured with the Frommelt’s Attitude Toward Caring of the Dying and the Death Attitude Profile Revised. Results: The results indicated that the participating Iranian students were more afraid of death and less likely to give care to dying persons than the Swedish participants. Conclusion: It is suggested that theoretical education should be individualized and culturally sensitive in order to positively influence the students’ attitudes, and promote professional development.
Economic Partnership Agreements between the European Union and African, Caribbean, and Pacific Countries: What is at Stake for Senegal?

"In recent years the European Union has sought to transform its trading regime with the ACP countries by advocating reciprocal free trade agreements with them through Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). As a result, the EPA talks were launched in 2002 and were expected be completed by the end of 2007. Nevertheless, many African countries, including Senegal did not reach agreements with the European Union in 2007 amid rising concerns that such agreements do not represent the interests of developing countries. This policy shift from preferential trade to free trade would imply drastic changes for Senegal's economy, which currently enjoys relatively good access to European market (but also to the U.S. through the African Growth Opportunity Act) while applying a high domestic protection on all sources of imports. As a result, this type of reform would result in improved access to foreign markets only for the EU. Furthermore, the EPA implies a loss of tariff revenues from liberalization, which has been a key concern for ACP countries from the beginning of talks because they constitute a high level of public receipts there. Finally this kind of reform could lead to trade diversion in Senegal while creating not enough trade. Using the MIRAGE computable general equilibrium model the study examines the potential impact of Economic Partnership Agreements on ACP countries with a special focus on Senegal. " from Author's Abstract
Combined Internal Medicine—Psychiatry and Family Medicine—Psychiatry Training Programs, 1999–2000: Program Directors' Perspectives

Purpose Despite tremendous growth in the number of combined-training residency programs, little is known about their directorships, financing, recruitment, curricula, and attrition rates, and the practice patterns of graduates. The authors surveyed residency program directors from combined internal medicine—psychiatry (IM/PSY) and family medicine—psychiatry (FP/PSY) programs to provide initial descriptive information. Method Programs' directors were determined from the American Medical Association's Graduate Medical Education Directory and FREIDA online database. Three mailings of a pretested questionnaire were sent to the 40 identified combined IM/PSY and FP/PSY residency programs. Results A total of 32 directors from 29 programs responded. Most programs were under the dual directorship of representatives from both the psychiatry department and either the internal medicine or the family medicine program. Although most directors responded that the residency program was based in psychiatry, both departments shared in administrative, recruiting, and financial responsibilities. Curricula varied widely, with limited focus on combined training experiences. Graduates (n = 41) tended to practice in academic settings (37%), where both aspects of training could be used. Others practiced in either community mental health centers or traditional private practice settings. The estimated attrition rate from combined residencies was 11%. Conclusions Combined-training programs are directed by a diverse group of individuals, including dual-boarded physicians. Curricula vary widely, but most programs are within recommended guidelines. Further prospective studies are warranted to determine predictors of attrition and future practice plans.
Influence of Diabetes on the Interpretation of PET Scans in Patients With Esophageal Cancer.

PURPOSE Patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) can have altered sugar transport into cells, potentially affecting the results of 18-FDG PET scans. The specific aim of this study was to determine the effect of DM on pre- and post-treatment standard uptake value (SUV) scores in patients undergoing chemoradiotherapy for esophageal cancer. METHODS Patients with locally advanced esophageal carcinoma undergoing preoperative or definitive chemoradiotherapy underwent pre- and posttreatment 18-FDG PET scans. Maximum SUV score was measured from the tumor before chemoradiotherapy and 3 to 4 weeks after chemoradiotherapy (preoperatively). Patients were identified as having DM by medical record review. Random serum glucose measurements were obtained prior to 18-FDG PET scans. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to test for differences in SUV scores between patients with and without DM, and a generalized linear model with backward selection was applied to search for significant predictors of initial and posttreatment SUV scores. RESULTS Sixty-three patients underwent 18-FDG PET scans during the course of treatment for esophageal malignancies between 6/02 and 8/05. Fifty-four patients received chemotherapy. The median radiation dose was 46.8 Gy. Eighteen patients had DM, six were insulin-dependent DM (IDDM). There was no difference in initial SUV scores between DM and non-DM patients (P > .05). There was also no difference in initial SUV scores between IDDM and non-IDDM groups. Patients with tumors at the gastroesophageal junction had lower initial SUV scores compared to patients with tumors in the lower or mid-esophagus (P = .05). T stage was associated with initial SUV score (T2 lower than T3, P = .014). Older age (P = .03), diabetes (P = .007), higher T stage (P = .002), and presence of nodes (P = .05) were each positively associated with posttreatment SUV scores. Blood glucose levels prior to 18-FDG PET scan, endoscopic tumor length, and tumor location were not predictive of posttreatment SUV scores. Patients with DM had significantly lower posttreatment SUV scores compared to patients without DM (P = .04). Pathologic complete response or percent SUV decrease did not differ between patients with or without DM. CONCLUSION Regardless of glucose levels, DM and IDDM do not influence pretreatment SUV scores in patients with localized esophageal cancer. However, DM may influence posttreatment SUV scores and thus complicate interpretation of treatment response. Further confirmatory study in a larger cohort of DM patients to evaluate the relationship of posttreatment SUV score to pathologic response is warranted.
Cerebral blood flow decreases during intermittent hemodialysis in patients with acute kidney injury, but not in patients with end-stage renal disease.

BACKGROUND Cerebral blood flow (CBF) may decrease during intermittent hemodialysis (IHD). Patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) may be more vulnerable to cerebral hypoperfusion than patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), due to concomitant critical illness and hemodynamic instability. METHODS In this observational, prospective study, we measured mean flow velocity at the level of the middle cerebral artery by transcranial Doppler at the start, after 2 h and at the end of a hemodialysis session in 15 consecutive patients with AKI and critical illness referred to the nephrological intensive care unit of a university hospital and in 12 patients with ESRD on regular treatment thrice weekly, who served as controls. We compared end-dialysis changes from baseline in mean flow velocity between the study groups and examined the correlation between this change and that of other relevant clinical parameters. RESULTS Mean flow velocity decreased significantly at end-dialysis in the patients with AKI, but not in those with ESRD (P = 0.02). This difference persisted after adjusting for baseline mean flow velocity and net ultrafiltration volume. No significant correlations were found in either group between changes in mean flow velocity and changes in mean blood pressure (AKI: r = -0.27, P = 0.34; ESRD: r = 0.15, P = 0.68), SUN (AKI: r = -0.33, P = 0.25; ESRD: r = 0.06, P = 0.85), plasma HCO(3)(-) (AKI: r = -0.52, P = 0.24; ESRD: r = -0.18, P = 0.59), hematocrit (AKI: r = 0.08, P = 0.71; ESRD: r = -0.19, P = 0.65) or arterial oxygen content (AKI: r = -0.17, P = 0.36; ESRD: r = -0.33, P = 0.43). CONCLUSIONS Our data suggest that AKI patients may be more vulnerable than ESRD patients to cerebral hypoperfusion during IHD. Our findings do not support a clear-cut role of rapid changes in blood osmolarity, rheological properties or vasoreactivity of the cerebral circulation to O(2) supply in modulating CBF during hemodialysis.
VLSI Implementation of an Adaptive Block Partition Decision Object-Detection Design for Real-Time 4K2K Video Display

In this paper, an adaptive block partition decision methodology is presented for very large-scale integration (VLSI) implementation of object-detection for real-time ultrahigh-definition (4K2K) resolution video displaying. The proposed adaptive block partition decision algorithm includes a data controller, a gray-level generator, a subblock difference module, and an edge detector. The edge detector is designed for discovering edges in images using an efficient edge-catching technique. An adaptive block partition decision technique was added to enhance the shapes of objects and to decrease the edge distortion effects. Furthermore, a threshold constraint is used to set parameters for different sizes of blocks. A statistic methodology of object detection is also used to determine whether it is necessary to trigger an alert signal or not. The VLSI architecture of the proposed design contains 6.99-K gate counts. Its power consumption is 1.63 mW and its operating frequency is to 374.5 MHz by using a 90-nm CMOS technology. Compared with previous designs, the proposed design not only achieves reduction of more silicon area, but also increases the processing throughput, and accuracy of object-detection for real-time video display.
Integrated Programs: Curriculum or Pedagogy?.

16 If we are to critically examine how outdoor education operates in public schools, then a distinction needs to be made as to the purpose of utilizing this field of education: Is it methodological or is it centred on content? The reason suggested for this clarification is that by each approach, the use (and limitation) of outdoor education can be framed differently based on the program objectives. Programs may attempt to blend both uses of outdoor education in practice, but it is important to identify when the how of practice is changing.
Internet CV surveys – a cheap, fast way to get large samples of biased values?

With the current growth in broadband penetration, Internet is likely to be the data collection mode of choice for contingent valuation (CV) and stated preference research in the not so distant future. However, little is known about how this survey mode may influence data quality and welfare estimates. In a controlled field experiment as part of a large national CV survey estimating willingness to pay (WTP) for biodiversity protection plans, we assign two groups sampled from the same panel of respondents, either to an Internet or in-person interview mode. Our design is better able than previous mode comparison studies to isolate measurement effects from sample composition effects. Looking in particular for indications of social desirability bias and satisficing (shortcutting the response process) we find little evidence in our data. We find that the extent of “don’t know”, zeros and protest responses to the WTP question (with a payment card) is very similar between modes. Mean WTP is somewhat higher in the interview sample, though we cannot reject equality on the 10 percent level. We also consider equivalence, i.e. whether the WTP difference is larger than a practically trivial predetermined bound. We can reject that the difference is larger than 30 percent, but fail to reject an equivalency bound of 20 percent on the 10 percent level. Results are quite encouraging for the use of Internet as values do not seem to be significantly different or substantially biased compared to in-person interviews.
International Cooperation, Spoiling, and Transnational Terrorism

Do interstate relations influence the sources and targets of transnational terrorism? A considerable body of recent research suggests that the answer to this question is yes, and that one state may sponsor terrorist attacks to weaken the bargaining positions of other states. We suggest, in contrast, that positive or cooperative actions invite terrorist attacks from a different source: nonstate groups wishing to spoil interstate cooperation that they oppose. We assess this argument with a dyadic dataset using monthly data on transnational terrorist attacks and cooperative and noncooperative actions between states. Our results suggest that spoiling in response to interstate cooperation is an important determinant of transnational terrorism.
On the Confusion of Planck Feedback Parameters

The Planck feedback parameter Λ0 is the most fundamental quantity in the theory of global warming, because the surface temperature change ΔTs,0 is calculated by—(radiative forcing due to CO2 doubling)/Λ0 in the absence of feedbacks other than that of surface temperature change. The following three groups of Planck feedback parameters are found in the literature depending on the choice of temperature Ts and the outgoing long wave radiation (OLR) at the top of atmosphere in equation of Λ0 = −4OLR/Ts, which is derived from the Stefan-Boltzmann Law. GROUP A: Ts = 288K and OLR = 231–243W/m2 Λ0 = −3.21 − −3.37(W/m2)/K GROUP B: Ts = 255K and OLR = 242W/m2, Λ0 = −3.8(W/m2)/K GROUP C: Ts = 288K and OLR = 492–514W/m2 Λ0 = −6.8 – −7.1(W/m2)/K This study shows that Λ0 of GROUP C is a theoretically relevant choice for Ts and OLR, rather than those of GROUP A and GROUP B, while the IPCC adopted Λ0 of GROUP A. Although the surface temperature change Δ Ts is 3.0K with Λ0 = −3.21(W/m2)/K for CO2 doubling when lapse rate, water vapor, surface albedo and cloud feedbacks are included in the IPCC AR4, it is shown to be 0.5–0.75K with Λ0 = −6.8(W/m2)/K in the present study. Since the IPCC overestimates the threat of carbon dioxide by 4–6 times, the revaluation will be needed for the CO2 reduction policies in terms of cost and potential hazards.