Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Controlled type II diabetes mellitus has no major influence on platelet micro-RNA expression

Summary Diabetes mellitus as a major contributor to cardiovascular disease burden induces dysfunctional platelets. Platelets contain abundant miRNAs, which are linked to inflammatory responses and, thus, may play a role in atherogenesis. While diabetes mellitus affects plasma miRNAs, no data exist on platelet miRNA profiles in this disease. Therefore, this study sought to explore the miRNA profile of platelets in patients with diabetes mellitus that is unrelated to the presence or absence of coronary artery disease (CAD). Platelet miRNA profiles were assessed in stable diabetic and non-diabetic patients (each n=30); 15 patients in each group had CAD. Platelet miRNA was isolated from leucocyte-depleted platelet-rich plasma, and miRNA profiling was performed using LNA micro-array technology (miRBase18.0, containing 1,917 human miRNAs). Effects of diabetes mellitus were explored by univariate statistical tests for each miRNA, adjusted for potential confounders, and by developing a multivariable signature; evaluated by resampling techniques. Platelets in non-diabetic patients demonstrated miRNA expression profiles comparable to previous data. The miRNA profiles of platelets in diabetics were similar. Statistical analysis unveiled three miRNAs (miR-377–5p, miR-628–3p, miR-3137) with high reselection probabilities in resampling techniques, corresponding to signatures with modest discriminatory performance. Functional annotation of predicted targets for these miRNAs pointed towards an influence of diabetes mellitus on mRNA processing. We did not find major differences in platelet miRNA profiles between diabetics and non-diabetics. Minor differences pertained to miRNAs associated with mRNA processing. Thus, described differences in plasma miRNAs between diabetic and non-diabetic patients cannot be explained by plain changes in platelet miRNA profile.
The Rise of the Maquiladoras: A Mixed Blessing

Mexico experienced a tremendous expansion of its export‐processing maquila sector during the 1990s. Since one of the main objectives of the maquiladora program was to promote formal employment, we study how the rapid increase in maquiladora activity has affected labor market outcomes and welfare in Mexico. We develop a heterogeneous‐firm model with imperfect labor markets that captures salient features of the Mexican economy such as the differences between maquila and non‐maquila manufacturing plants and the existence of an informal sector. We calibrate the model's parameters to match key cross‐sectional moments characterizing the Mexican economy. We find that the expansion of the maquila sector during the 1990s was a mixed blessing for Mexico. Our quantitative model indicates that the skill premium decreased by 2.7%, informality increased by 0.9%, and overall welfare decreased by 3.7%.
Dopaminergic Control of Inflammation and Glycemia in Sepsis and Diabetes

Most preclinical treatments for sepsis failed in clinical trials in part because the experimental models of sepsis were performed on healthy animals that do not mimic septic patients. Here, we report that experimental diabetes worsens glycemia, inflammation, and mortality in experimental sepsis. Diabetes increases hyperglycemia, systemic inflammation, and mortality in sepsis. Diabetes exacerbates serum tumor necrosis factor (TNF) levels in sepsis by increasing splenic TNF production. Both serum from diabetic mice and glucose increase cytokine production in splenocytes. Anti-inflammatory treatments cannot control hyperglycemia and are less effective in diabetic patients. By contrast, dopaminergic agonist type-1, fenoldopam, attenuates hyperglycemia, and systemic inflammation in diabetic septic mice by inhibiting splenic p65NF-kB phosphorylation. Fenoldopam inhibits TNF production in splenocytes even at high glucose concentrations and inhibits the canonical NF-kB pathway by inhibiting p65RelA and p50NF-kB1 phosphorylation without affecting the non-canonical NF-kB proteins. Treatment with fenoldopam rescues diabetic mice from established polymicrobial peritonitis even when the treatment is started after the onset of sepsis. These results suggest that dopaminergic agonists can control hyperglycemia, systemic inflammation and provide therapeutic advantages for treating diabetic patients with sepsis in a clinically relevant time frame.
Reducing Managers' Incentives to Cannibalize: Managerial Stock Options when Shareholders are Diversified

We analyze the relative advantage of option grants compared to stock compensation when shareholders are diversified. Our analysis recognizes a conflict that is largely neglected in the corporate finance literature. Shareholders want to maximize their portfolio value while capital budgeting rules direct managers to choose projects that maximize firm (equity) value. Options can reduce this conflict by motivating managers to avoid projects that enhance the value of one firm at the expense of another firm. Also, in our framework, relative performance evaluation destroys value for shareholders as it encourages firms to engage in cannibalistic activity. Consistent with the predictions of our model we find that firms with lower insider ownership, higher institutional ownership, and lower leverage tend to provide more option grants as compensation to their executives.
Length of Stay: Price and Income Semi‐Elasticities at Different Destinations in Italy

In this paper, we estimate price and income semi-elasticities of the length of stay at different destinations in Italy using the ‘Multipurpose survey on tourism demand, holidays and trips’ provided by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT). We derive the conditional demand function for the length of stay, which depends on tourists' socio-demographic characteristics, travel characteristics, income and price of touristic services. Since income was not reported in our database, we use the propensity score matching to retrieve this information from the ‘Survey on household income and wealth (SHIW)’, and we use quantile regression to account for the multimodality of the length of stay. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The impact of maternal positive and negative affect on fetal physiology and diurnal patterns.

BACKGROUND While research has shown that maternal mood (depression and/or anxiety) can have effects on the fetus, little is known about whether maternal positive and negative affect influences the fetus. METHOD We examined fetal vascular and heart rate changes at 36 weeks gestation in 53 euthymic mothers according to their Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) scores. RESULTS Mothers who reported high levels of negative affect showed reduced uterine artery flow, decreased fetal heart rate (fHR) variability, an altered diurnal pattern, and decreased uterine artery cross-sectional area compared to mothers who reported low levels of negative affect. Mothers with low positive affect had a steeper diurnal pattern in fHR accelerations and decreased uterine artery mean velocity flow than mothers with high positive affect. LIMITATIONS Our observational study suffers from a small sample size. CONCLUSION Even in the absence of an Axis I Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), variations in maternal affect appear to be associated with variations in fetal and uterine physiology.
An empirical analysis of municipal choice in Portugal

Abstract In assessing specific combinations of supply and demand influences on local public choice, four policy issues with differing ideological attributes were compared over a period of two electoral terms in Portuguese municipalities. Results confirmed the significance of ideology and the non-neutrality of the electoral agenda in shaping specific expenditure issues (culture and urban waste management). There was also some evidence demonstrating the political influence of interest groups, especially in reference to less visible issues. The findings draw attention to the possibility of opportunistic cycles and for political discrimination in central government investment allocation among municipalities.
What Difference Does the Location Make?: A Social Capital Perspective on Transfer of Knowledge from Multinational Corporation Subsidiaries Located in China and Finland

This article proposes that MNC subsidiaries located in economically highly developed countries will transfer more knowledge to other corporate units than will subsidiaries located in less developed countries. The direct effect of subsidiary location is tested, as well as the interaction effects of location and social capital, on outward knowledge transfer from subsidiaries to other MNC units. The analysis is based on a sample of 164 MNC subsidiaries located in Finland (an economically highly developed country) and China (a less developed country). Results indicate that subsidiaries located in Finland tend to engage more actively in outward knowledge transfer than do their peer units located in China. The conclusion is therefore that this negative ‘country-of-origin’ effect increases the need for promoting trust and shared vision among individuals and units in the MNC.
Study of GaN-Based Light-Emitting Diodes Grown on Chemical Wet-Etching-Patterned Sapphire Substrate With V-Shaped Pits Roughening Surfaces

We investigate the mechanism responding for performance enhancement of gallium nitride (GaN)-based light-emitting diode (LED) grown on chemical wet-etching-patterned sapphire substrate (CWE-PSS) with V-Shaped pit features on the top surface. According to temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) measurement and the measured external quantum efficiency, the structure can simultaneously enhance both internal quantum efficiency and light extraction efficiency. Comparing to devices grown on planar sapphire substrate, the threading dislocation defects of LED grown on CWE-PSS are reduced from 1.28 times 109/cm2 to 3.62 times 108/cm2, leading to a 12.5% enhancement in internal quantum efficiency. In terms of the theoretical computing of radiation patterns, the V-Shaped pits roughening surface can be thought of as a strong diffuser with paraboloidal autocorrelation function, increasing the escape probability of trapped photons and achieving a 20% enhancement in light extraction efficiency. Moreover, according to the measurement of optical diffraction power, CWE-PSS demonstrated superior guided light extraction efficiency than that of planar sapphire substrate, thus an extra 7.8% enhancement in light extraction efficiency was obtained. Therefore, comparing to the conventional LED, an overall 45% enhancement in integrated output power was achieved.
Explaining Variability in External Audit Fees

Abstract This study examines the effect of several factors on the level of external audit fees using a multiple regression model. Audit fee data were provided by 95 US publicly held companies for the years 1983 to 1985. Variables measuring client industry membership and auditor involvement in the security registration process were proxies for client regulatory aspects. These variables were significant and provide support for the hypothesis that scale economies and/or specialization effects accrue to audit firms in dealing with the regulatory complexities faced by clients. Variables measuring auditee size and complexity, auditee/auditor loss sharing risk, and audit firm size were also significant in explaining variability in external audit fees.
A simple histogram modification scheme for contrast enhancement

Histogram equalization (HE) is a widely used contrast enhancement (CE) method in image processing applications. The algorithm can be easily implemented; however, it tends to transform the average brightness of an image toward the middle of the gray scale. In addition, unpleasant artifacts often appear in the enhanced images. In order to overcome these drawbacks, various HE-based methods which aim at specific issues were proposed. Some of them might overlook the problems inherent in the implementations of histogram equalization and histogram specification (HS). This paper presents a simple histogram modification scheme to solve those problems according to the characteristic of implementation. Two boundary values of the support of histogram are found and set to corresponding values, respectively. The probability density function of an image is then recomputed and the updated mapping function is used to perform histogram equalization. Experimental results show that the proposed approach can effectively improve the quality of images enhanced by histogram equalization and specification methods, and even histogram redistribution methods such as gray-level grouping (GLG).
Effects of Inclusion of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and Antioxidants on Spermatozoa Morphology of Potchefstroom Koekoek Cockerels

This study was conducted to determine the effects of increasing dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and antioxidants (Se and vitamin E) on spermatozoa morphology. At 24 weeks of age, Potchefstroom Koekoek cockerels (n = 60) were selected from the base population. Cockerels were randomly allocated into five dietary treatments with 12 cockerels per dietary treatment. The diets consisted of commercial layer diet (CL), commercial cockerel diet (CC), modified layer diet (ML), modified layer diet +PUFA (MLP), and modified layer +PUFA+ antioxidants (MLPA) diet. At 36 weeks of age, six cockerels with ≥ 75% sperm motility rate following analysis by Computer Aided Sperm Analysis (CASA) were selected from the base population in each dietary treatment group. Semen volume, sperm cells concentration and dead cells did not differ significantly among any of the groups. However, live and normal spermatozoa were significantly higher in the MLPA group. The bent mid-piece, bent mid-piece plus droplets, proximal droplets and distal droplets were significantly lower in the MLPA group. From this study it can be concluded that supplementation of polyunsaturated fatty acids and antioxidants may be of vital importance for normal morphology characteristics of spermatozoa in Potchefstroom Koekoek cockerels.
Strategies for the Probabilistic Lot-Sizing Problem with Service-Level Constraints

We formulate a stochastic-demand version of the single-stage lot-sizing problem with time-varying demand, incorporating a service-level constraint on the probability of a stockout. Three strategies are studied. The "static uncertainty" strategy, in which lot-sizing decisions for every period must be made at the beginning of period 1, is shown to yield an equivalent deterministic problem with time-varying demands for which optimal or good heuristic solutions exist. The procedure by which this equivalent problem is obtained is computationally simple. The "dynamic uncertainty" strategy allows subsequent lot sizes to be chosen on the basis of demands that have become known at a later point in time. The "static-dynamic" uncertainty approach combines features of the above two strategies and yields an equivalent linear program for any given order schedule. Relationships are suggested between these strategies and various aspects of rolling horizon production planning. Arguments are given that in such an environment, the static uncertainty strategy is the most straightforward to modify and "roll along" as new demands become known. Good results are found when this procedure is applied to some 300-period stochastic-demand problems using rolling horizons of between 2 and 12 periods in length.
Confessions of a Burden Monger

W no bears the cost, and when, of public expenditure projects that are financed by public loans? This is the central question that has been, and is, at issue in the debttheory discussion that E. J. Mishan continues \vith his recent paper. Whether the expenditures themselves are wasteful, marginally, or highly productive is irrelevant. What is sought is the incidence, the pattern of distribution, interpersonally and intertemporally, of the cost, which must exist in any of the models under consideration.2 My own argument has been, and remains, the naive one that "cost" or "burden" remains meaningless until and unless it can be translated into effects on some persons in the group at some time. Mishan appears to accept the point that those persons who voluntarily purchase the debt instruments (government securities) offered for sale by the treasury are not made "worse off" in any welfare sense. Yet these persons, or persons acting in this capacity, are surely the only members of the group who, during the initial period of loan-financed public spending, directly "give up" or transfer to the government purchasing power, command over resource services. It is irrelevant
Does Weight matter? A Statistical analysis of the SSY Capesize index

This paper examines the statistical properties of 19 dry cargo rate series, which are used in the construction of index numbers measuring dry cargo market conditions for Capesize vessels. It is shown that the series are extremely highly correlated. They are also non-stationary. The presence of cointegration is established. It is argued that this implies that rebasing the index numbers using different weights makes little difference to the information derived from the index itself, because of the high correlation between the series and the presence of cointegration. Changing the weighting structure does not alter the information derived from the index in any material way because of these properties.
Care in U.S. hospitals--the Hospital Quality Alliance program.

BACKGROUND The Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA) is the first initiative that routinely reports data on hospitals' performance nationally. Heretofore, such data have been unavailable. METHODS We used data collected by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on 10 indicators of the quality of care for acute myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, and pneumonia. The main outcome measures were hospitals' performance with respect to each indicator and summary scores for each clinical condition. Predictors of a high level of performance were determined with the use of multivariable linear regression. RESULTS A total of 3558 hospitals reported data on at least one stable measure (defined as information obtained from discharge data from at least 25 patients) during the first half of 2004. Median performance scores (expressed as the percentage of patients who satisfied the criterion) were at least 90 percent for 5 of the 10 measures but lower for the other 5. Performance varied moderately among large hospital-referral regions, with the top-ranked regions scoring 12 percentage points (for acute myocardial infarction) to 23 percentage points (for pneumonia) higher than the bottom-ranked regions. A high quality of care for acute myocardial infarction predicted a high quality of care for congestive heart failure but was only marginally better than chance at predicting a high quality of care for pneumonia. Characteristics associated with small but significant increases in performance included being an academic hospital, being in the Northeast or Midwest, and being a not-for-profit hospital. CONCLUSIONS Analysis of data from the new HQA national reporting system shows that performance varies among hospitals and across indicators. Given this variation and small differences based on hospitals' characteristics, performance reporting will probably need to include numerous clinical conditions from a broad range of hospitals.
Corporate governance and the role of non‐executive directors in large UK companies: an empirical study

In the 1990s various committees (Cadbury, Greenbury, Hempel) reported on governance issues, including the role played by non‐executive directors in promoting “best practice”. Following public concern at cases of “excessive” pay awards to executive directors and financial irregularities the government has recently appointed the Higgs Committee to review again the contribution of non‐executive directors. This paper presents an empirical study of the involvement of non‐executives in large UK companies, assesses the extent to which these companies now “conform” to the recommendations of “best practice” proposed by the earlier committees and looks at the general and specific controversies surrounding the employment of non‐executives as part of companies corporate governance structures.
The Dimensions of Organizational Climate in Four- and Five-Star Australian Hotels

This study aimed to determine the dimensions of organizational climate within four- and five-star hotels and to assess whether these dimensions vary significantly across hotels. Jones and James’s climate survey was shortened, modified to incorporate the psychometric improvements of Ryder and Southey, and tailored for specific use within hotels. The survey was administered to 1,401 employees from 14 hotels and provided a high index of reliability (α = .959). From items representing 35 a priori concepts, principal components analysis identified seven dimensions, which were labeled leader facilitation and support; professional and organizational esprit; conflict and ambiguity; regulations, organization, and pressure; job variety, challenge, and autonomy; job standards; and workgroup cooperation, friendliness, and warmth. Univariate analyses found each of the dimensions to vary significantly across the 14 hotels (p <.00005).
How many men do armed forces need? An international comparison

Armed forces are reducing their manpower in response to demands for “peace dividends”, but in deciding how each armed force should reduce manpower, what account is taken of manpower efficiency? This paper compares, for 15, mainly NATO nations, in 1993, the ratios of armed forces’ uniformed manpower to the manpower they are estimated to require in order to operate their front‐line equipment. Marked international differences in these ratios are evident, and as predicted, they are greater than the differences in the corresponding ratios between commercial organisations. The pattern of manpower reductions between 1989 and 1993 reflected, to some degree, the pattern of overmanning in 1989, relative to median “league” positions of armies, navies and air forces. The paper suggests that, with appropriate refinements, the benchmarking approach could be used in defence, as in other areas, to achieve significant resource savings.
Wage Dynamics, Turnover, and Human Capital: Evidence from Adolescent Transition from School to Work in the Philippines

This paper examines wage dynamics and turnover using tracking data of adolescents from the Philippines. The analysis uses individual test scores in grade 6 to proxy abilities. The empirical results show that (i) returns to labor market experience are large, nearly a half of the conventional estimate of returns to schooling; (ii) returns to experience are higher if educational attainment and/or test scores are higher; and (iii) ability, measured by test scores, positively influences the upgrading of occupations toward more skilled categories, although educational attainment plays an important role in determining the first occupation. The complementarity between schooling and experience is greater among good performers who show high test scores; education and ability augment gains from accumulating labor market experiences.