Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Acetate-Free Double-Chamber Hemodiafiltration and Standard Dialysis on Systemic Hemodynamics and Troponin T Levels

Using acetate as a buffer during hemodialysis is recognized to predispose to intradialytic hypotension; however, bicarbonate-based dialysis is not acetate free. Paired hemodiafiltration (PHF) is a novel online acetate-free technique. We investigated whether PHF is capable of abrogating the changes in systemic hemodynamics and troponin T (cTnT) seen with conventional hemodialysis. Twelve patients entered a randomized crossover study. Blood pressure (BP) and a full range of hemodynamic variables were measured throughout PHF and standard dialysis using continuous pulse wave analysis. We also measured predialysis cTnT in 54 stable and unstable dialysis patients. BP was lower during PHF but without increased instability. Stoke volume and cardiac output declined progressively during both treatments but to a much lesser extent during PHF (p = 0.003, p < 0.0001 respectively), whereas peripheral resistance rose to a larger degree during hemodialysis (p < 0.0001). cTnT levels were lower before PHF as compared with hemodialysis (p = 0.023), with levels falling after PHF and rising after hemodialysis (p < 0.0001). In the supplementary patient group, predialysis median serum cTnT was higher in the unstable patients (p = 0.0001). This study demonstrates that PHF (without exposure to acetate) is associated with less deterioration in systemic hemodynamics, maintenance of BP, and less suppression of myocardial contractility as compared with bicarbonate dialysis.
Managing contract performance: A transaction costs approach

Managing contracts is a complex process, often exacerbated by high transaction costs inherent in negotiating, implementing, and monitoring contract relationships with vendors. Through analyses of data from a 1997 International City|County Management Association survey of municipal and county governments, the way in which municipal and county governments respond to transaction cost factors inherent in contract service delivery is examined. The results of the analyses demonstrate that when governments contract for services in contexts that risk contract failure, they engage in a variety of monitoring techniques to improve their ability to monitor and correct vendor performance. © 2003 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.
Joint modelling of longitudinal outcome and interval‐censored competing risk dropout in a schizophrenia clinical trial

Summary. The ‘Clinical antipsychotic trials in intervention effectiveness’ study was designed to evaluate whether there were significant differences between several antipsychotic medications in effectiveness, tolerability, cost and quality of life of subjects with schizophrenia. Overall, 74% of patients discontinued the study medication for various reasons before the end of 18 months in phase I of the study. When such a large percentage of study participants fail to complete the study schedule, it is not clear whether the apparent profile in effectiveness reflects genuine changes over time or is influenced by selection bias, with participants with worse (or better) outcome values being more likely to drop out or to discontinue. To assess the effect of dropouts for different reasons on inferences, we construct a joint model for the longitudinal outcome and cause‐specific dropouts that allows for interval‐censored dropout times. Incorporating the information regarding the cause of dropout improves inferences and provides better understanding of the association between cause‐specific dropout and the outcome process. We use simulations to demonstrate the advantages of the joint modelling approach in terms of bias and efficiency.
Effects of Earplugs and Protective Headgear on Auditory Localization Ability in the Horizontal Plane

The purpose of this study was to determine how well humans localize sound sources in the horizontal plane while wearing protective headgear with and without hearing protection. In a source identification task, a stimulus was presented from 1 of 20 loudspeakers arrayed in a semicircular arc, and participants stated which loudspeaker emitted the sound. Each participant was tested in 8 conditions involving various combinations of wearing a Kevlar® army helmet and two types of earplugs. Testing was conducted at each of 2 orientations (frontal and lateral). In the frontal orientation, overall error was slightly greater in all protected conditions than in the bare-head control condition. In the lateral orientation, overall error score in the protected conditions was substantially and significantly greater than in the bare-head control conditions. Most errors in the lateral orientation were accounted for by front-back confusions, indicating that the protective devices disrupted high-frequency spectral cues that are the basis for discriminating front from back sound sources. The results have practical implications for the use of protective headgear and earplugs in industrial or military environments where localization of critical sounds is important
Organizational Disruptions and Triggers for Divergent Sensemaking

In recent years, scholars and practitioners alike have sought to better understand the emergent communicative processes involved in the implementation of strategic organizational initiatives. In response, this article builds on sensemaking and sensegiving theory to understand the interactions that developed between internal and external stakeholders in response to a post-9/11 change in the Maritime Transportation Security Act. A detailed, emergent account of a failed initiative was derived from public comments in the Federal Register, transcripts from public meetings, newspaper articles, and semistructured interviews with key internal informants. In-depth analysis of these data allowed us to examine a divergent sensemaking process and identify four critical triggers that led to a communication breakdown: (a) unidirectional and parsimonious communication, (b) multifaceted understandings of organizational identities, (c) misaligned cues, and (d) an emergence of interorganizational sensemaking. A first-order analysis presents data from an in-depth case analysis, and a second-order analysis uses the analysis to develop a divergent sensemaking conceptual model. From a strategic communication perspective, our findings demonstrate the importance of taking a broad perspective of the legitimate participants in a sensemaking process, as well as reconciling sensemaking trajectories to avoid contradictions between perspectives. We offer implications for theory, future research, and practice.
On continuing to misunderstand arguments: Response to Mark Tauger

IN HIS RECENT ARTICLE (TAUGER 2006, Pp. 973-984), Mark Tauger disagreed with a series of arguments and assessments that had been made by Davies and Wheatcroft in The Years of Hunger: Soviet Agriculture, 1931-33 (2004), and that Wheatcroft had made in a number of other works. He disagreed with our claim that his estimate of the great reduction in the 1932 Soviet grain harvest to 50 million tons was, in the context in which he made it, not particularly meaningful. He disagreed with my additional argument that even within the restricted terms of the reports in the 1932 kolkhoz annual accounts his estimate of 50 million tons was too low. He disagreed with our criticism of his general explanation of the famine with its emphasis on the importance of the sharp reduction in production in 1932, and the criticisms that were made of his explanation as to why the harvest of 1932 was so small. And finally he disagreed with the suggestion that he was mistaken in describing the political view of the famine as the dominant one amongst academics. I will argue below that most of this disagreement is based on Tauger's continuing to misunderstand our arguments, however there is one point concerning my additional arguments about the reweighting required for the 1932 kolkhoz annual accounts in which Tauger is correct, and where I did make a significant transcription error. I am grateful to him for pointing this out and have already corrected this on the website. ' The remaining points of our disagreement with Tauger remain valid. Let us look at each of these points in turn.
Common Features and Stylized Facts in Turkish Macroeconomy

The importance of the common features in macroeconomics particularly in real business cycle studies is by now widely understood and manifests itself in numerous studies. On the other hand, there has been very few works related to developing countries. This paper attempts to fill this gap, at least to some extent, by using quarterly observations on major macroeconomic aggregates, namely consumption, investment and output in Turkey to investigate both the stylized facts and the common features. The methodology is based on the multivariate structural time series which allows explicit representation and estimation of the components of economic time series such as trend, slope, cycle and irregular. Empirical results indicate that these aggregates do not share a common cycle; however, a common slope with smooth trend restriction is not rejected indicating that the series are linked with a cointegration of type CI (2,2). The findings imply that in spite of the existence of a long-run relation among them, countercyclical policies targeting any of these variables may not be successfully transmitted to the others in the short run.
A Review of Site-Preparation, Fertilizer and Weeding Practices for Tropical Plantation Species with Recommendations for Whitewood (Endospermum medullosum) in Vanuatu

SUMMARY The development of plantations with a new species, such as is occurring with the endemic tree Endospermum medullosum (whitewood) in Vanuatu, requires the resolution of appropriate establishment techniques. Site preparation, fertilisation and weed control have a very large impact on plantation productivity and represent major risks to plantation success. Establishment techniques for tropical species are reviewed and preliminary site preparation and fertilisation trials for whitewood reported. Trials were established at a site on Espiritu Santo island using available general purpose fertiliser with and without micronutrients at two rates. There was no effect of fertiliser over various rates of complete fertiliser with and without micronutrients, designed to provide adequate phosphorus in volcanic ash soils. Ripping had no significant effect on growth, however insufficient hand clearing of vegetation resulted in lower growth due to competition and complete machine clearing of vines results in high temperatures and decreased survival. A serious issue for whitewood establishment in single species plantations is weed management, especially vine control (Merremia spp). The time needed for weed control is influenced by initial planting density and spacing. When inter-planted with mixed gardens of food crops, weed control is not an issue due to more regular tending.
Risk Premiums and Forward Basis: Evidence from the Soybean Oil Market

ABSTRACT Forward pricing contracts for soybean oil are important supply chain arrangements in both the biodiesel and food industries. Forward pricing is often extended to end‐users by soybean oil processors where the forward price quote is a function of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) futures price and the cash‐futures basis. Upon entering a forward pricing agreement, the processor (seller) assumes the risk associated with basis fluctuations. This research examines if soybean oil processors extract a market premium for assuming this risk. Using forward basis quotes and subsequent realized basis values for soybean oil, it is found that soybean oil processors do not charge an embedded cost for their forward pricing services. Furthermore, the results suggest that the absence of a statistically significant embedded cost may be due to the lack of predictability in the basis or the inability of soybean oil processors to adequately forecast soybean oil basis levels.
Effect of season and temperature on mortality in amphibians due to chytridiomycosis.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the distribution and incidence of chytridiomycosis in eastern Australian frogs and to examine the effects of temperature on this disease. DESIGN A pathological survey and a transmission experiment were conducted. PROCEDURE Diagnostic pathology examinations were performed on free-living and captive, ill and dead amphibians collected opportunistically from eastern Australia between October 1993 and December 2000. We conducted a transmission experiment in the laboratory to investigate the effects of temperature: eight great barred frogs (Mixophyes fasciolatus) exposed to zoospores of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and six unexposed frogs were housed individually in each of three rooms held at 17 degrees C, 23 degrees C and 27 degrees C. RESULTS Chytridiomycosis was the cause of death or morbidity for 133 (55.2%) of 241 free-living amphibians and for 66 (58.4%) of 113 captive amphibians. This disease occurred in 34 amphibian species, was widespread around the eastern seaboard of Australia and affected amphibians in a variety of habitats at high and low altitudes on or between the Great Dividing Range and the coast. The incidence of chytridiomycosis was higher in winter, with 53% of wild frogs from Queensland and New South Wales dying in July and August. Other diseases were much less common and were detected mostly in spring and summer. In experimental infections, lower temperatures enhanced the pathogenicity of B. dendrobatidis in M. fasciolatus. All 16 frogs exposed to B. dendrobatidis at 17 degrees C and 23 degrees C died, whereas 4 of 8 frogs exposed at 27 degrees C survived. However, the time until death for the frogs that died at 27 degrees C was shorter than at the lower temperatures. Infections in survivors were eliminated by 98 days. CONCLUSION Chytridiomycosis is a major cause of mortality in free-living and captive amphibians in Australia and mortality rate increases at lower temperatures.
Tlatilco Sculptures, Diprosopus, and the Emergence of Medical Illustrations

Tlatilco was a farming village on the outskirts of what is now Mexico City, and it has long been recognized as one of the earliest New World artistic centers [2]. It became a rich archeological site in 1942, after the discovery of innumerable enigmatic, anthropomorphic figurines and countless burials [3]. Dated to between 1200 and 700 BC,1 these sculptures are among the most ancient representations of the human figure in the Western Hemisphere, as well as the most aesthetically appealing [4–8]. 2 The majority of these objects, found in more than 500 tombs and trash pits cut into the earth, are solid, hand-modelled female figurines, many of which are designated informally as being in the “pretty lady” configuration (Fig. 1). The figurines are 6 to 30 cm high and are ceramic. Controlled excavations at Tlatilco (Nahuatl for “the place where things are hidden”) have turned up “pretty lady” terracottas in the open fields (and throughout various strata) as well, suggesting that in addition to acting as burial equipment these figurines were sown or ritually buried in the four corners of the cornfields.
Audit Fees and Market Segmentation - Further Evidence on How Client Size Matters within the Context of Audit Fee Models

The purpose of this paper is to examine the audit fee premium to the Big 6 brand in the small and large client segments of the market for audit services. We use a sample of Australian fee data for the five-year period 1995 to 1999. We find evidence of price premiums to Big 6 auditors in the small client segment. We do not find evidence of fee premiums in the large client segment. We also present evidence that audit fees are not linearly related to client size as is typically assumed in audit fee models.
Social Mobility in Five African Countries

This paper conceptualizes intergenerational occupational mobility between the farm and non-farm sectors in five African countries, measures it using nationally representative household survey data, and analyzes its determinants through a comparative method based on pooled logit regressions. We first analyze intergenerational gross mobility. Until the end of the 1980s, intergenerational flows toward the non-farm sector are high in Cote d'Ivoire and Guinea, flows toward the farm sector are more often observed in Ghana and Uganda, and Madagascar displays less mobility in either direction. The pace of change in occupational structures and the magnitude of labor income dualism between the farm and non-farm sectors appear to explain those differences. We then net out structural change across generations and establish the first measurement of intergenerational net mobility in those five African countries. Ghana and Uganda stand out as relatively more fluid societies. Cote d'Ivoire and Guinea come next while Madagascar shows a particularly high reproduction of occupations. Educational mobility accounts for the Madagascar exception to a large extent, but not for the differences between the other countries. Spatial dualism of employment, i.e. the geographic segregation of farm and non-farm jobs, accounts for most of those remaining differences. We argue that the main determinants of intergenerational mobility, namely income and employment dualisms, likely reflect a historical legacy of different colonial administrations.
Why Does Financial Strength Forecast Stock Returns? Evidence from Subsequent Demand by Institutional Investors

Using institutional investor demand as a proxy for revisions in sophisticated investors' expectations, we test whether financial strength information is gradually impounded over time. Consistent with the gradual incorporation of information, financial strength predicts both future returns and future institutional investor demand. Further consistent with the gradual incorporation of information, more sophisticated transient (high-turnover) institutions respond to financial strength signals prior to less sophisticated, nontransient institutions. A number of additional tests suggest that financial strength forecasts stock returns, at least in part, because it forecasts institutional demand, and institutional demand drives prices. The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for Financial Studies. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com. , Oxford University Press.
Recycled glass as a partial replacement for fine aggregate in structural concrete - Effects on compressive strength

Waste management is becoming a major issue for communities worldwide. Glass, being non- biodegradable, is not suitable for addition to landfill, and as such recycling opportunities need to be investi- gated. Due to the high material consumption of the construction industry, the utilisation of waste glass as a partial replacement for fine aggregate in structural concrete is particularly attractive. This project aimed to de- termine the level of glass replacement resulting in optimal compressive strength. Three concrete samples were tested at 7 and 28 days, for glass replacement proportions of 15, 20, 25, 30 and 40%. Compressive strength was found to increase up to a level of 30%, at which point the strength developed was 9% and 6% higher than the control after 7 and 28 days respectively. This demonstrates that concrete containing up to 30% fine glass aggregate exhibits higher compressive strength development than traditional concrete.
Measuring Compactness and the Role of a Compactness Standard in a Test for Partisan and Racial Gerrymandering

As we move into the 1990s, compactness of legislative districts is likely to take on greater importance because of its relevance to questions of racial and partisan discrimination. We show that at least two distinct components of shape--dispersion and perimeter length--are necessary elements of any reasonable compactness measure and that compactness may be based on geography or on population. An appropriate strategy, therefore, is simultaneously to consider multiple measures that collectively define compactness. We identify and evaluate multiple operationalizations and compare them both theoretically and empirically. Data from five states provide abundant evidence that the major types of measures sometimes vary widely in their evaluation of the compactness of a given district. There is some support, however, for the hypothesis that multiple measures yield similar assessments of districting plans. We conclude with a discussion of how compactness might be used in legislative districting.
Board Leadership Structure and Firm Performance

We suggest that the equivocal empirical results of board leadership structure on firm performance have both methodological and conceptual roots. We stress that whether board leadership structure enhances or lowers performance depends on its fit with a firm's internal and external conditions, a point that has not been comprehensively addressed by the extant literature. To guide future research in this field, we develop five testable propositions and offer some suggestions on how these propositions may be empirically tested.
Coping with hypercompetition: Utilizing the new 7S's framework

Executive Overview This business is intensely, vigorously, bitterly, savagely competitive. —Robert Crandall, CEO, American Airlines Major sustainable competitive advantages are almost non-existent in the field of financial services. —Warren Buffett I don't believe in friendly competition. I want to put them out of business. —Mitchell Leibovitz, CEO of auto parts retailer Pep Boys Declare business war. This is the enemy. —Statement over a photo of Northern Telecom CEO Paul Stern on posters at an AT&T plant in Denver2 In the old days in science, the universe was fairly simple. Nearly every science museum had a huge, old model of the solar system in which all the movements of the planets were controlled with clockwork gears. Then we realized that reality was much more complex. All motion was relative. Business has also entered an age of new realities. It is essential to understand and take advantage of the dynamic motion and flux of our global markets and technological breakthroughs. Moreover, a fundamental .
Technology, Growth and Employment

The relationship between technology, productivity and employment is a complex one. Increased productivity can lead not just to increased market share, but through falling relative prices can help expand markets, and through product innovation can develop new markets. On the other hand, if demand and hence output does not expand in line with productivity, then an inverse relation between productivity and employment will result. The European Union seeks to improve living standards in Europe by boosting productivity, competitiveness and employment together. How, though, is this to be achieved? This paper looks at the effects on productivity of different forms of investment--in physical capital, in Research & Development, and in human capital. The paper also distinguishes between the high-tech and low-tech sectors. There does appear to be scope for boosting both productivity and employment, particularly in the high tech sectors. But to do so will require increased investment across all three categories--in machinery, in innovation and in people.