Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parabrachial unit activities after the acquisition of conditioned taste aversion to a non-preferred HCl solution in rats.

Abstract In a behavioral experiment, rats reliably acquired a taste aversion to non-preferred 0.01 M HCl that had been previously paired with intraperitoneal injection of 0.15 M LiCl. These rats showed aversions to other acidic solutions such as malic acid and tartaric acid. In a neurophysiological experiment, the neuronal activities of the parabrachial nucleus (PBN) were recorded after the acquisition of conditioned taste aversion (CTA) to 0.01 M HCl in urethane-anesthetized rats. Neuronal responses to the conditioned stimulus (CS) did not change on the whole but decreased in the dorsal region to the brachium conjunctivum. The proportion of HCl-best to NaCl-best units was lower in the CTA group than in controls. The spontaneous firing rate was lower in the CTA group than in controls. Correlation coefficients between the HCl CS and normally preferred tastes (sucrose and NaCl) were more negative and those between HCl and quinine were more positive in the CTA group than in the controls. These results may be explained by the notion that gustatory responses of PBN neurons are concerned with alterations in taste hedonics after the acquisition of conditioned taste aversions.
Determinants of revenue efficiency of Islamic banks: Empirical evidence from the Southeast Asian countries

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to examine the revenue efficiency of Islamic banks in the Southeast Asian countries. Specifically, the empirical analysis comprises Islamic banks operating in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. This paper also seeks to investigate the potential internal (bank-specific) and external (macroeconomic and industry-specific) factors which influence the revenue efficiency of Islamic banks operating in Southeast Asian countries. Design/methodology/approach - – This paper used a whole gamut of domestic and foreign Islamic banks operating in Southeast Asian countries, namely, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei during the period of 2006-2011. The level of revenue efficiency is computed by using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method. Following the procedure set in Banker and Natarajan (2008) and Gujarati (2002), this paper use a panel regression analysis framework based on the ordinary least square and generalized least square methods to examine the potential determinants of revenue efficiency of the Islamic banks in the sample. In addition, this paper also use a battery of parametric ( Findings - – The results indicate that the level of revenue efficiency on the domestic Islamic banks is higher compared to that of their foreign Islamic bank counterparts. The empirical findings seem to suggest that revenue efficiency has greater influence on the profit efficiency levels. It was found that the bank size, asset quality, capitalization, liquidity and management quality significantly influence the revenue efficiency of domestic Islamic banks operating in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei during the period under study. Research limitations/implications - – Due to its limitations, the present study may be extended in variety of ways. First, if information on input prices is available, further analysis could be performed to investigate the cost, technical and allocative efficiency. Second, interested researchers may apply the Malmquist Productivity Index method to examine the sources of total factor productivity changes of Islamic banks operating in the ASEAN countries. Third, to obtain more robust results, empirical findings from the present study could be compared to the results derived from improved statistical methods, i.e. Bootstrap DEA. Practical implications - – The empirical findings of this paper clearly call for regulators and decision-makers to review the revenue efficiency of banks operating in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei Islamic banking sectors. The results could also provide better information and guidance to the managers of Islamic banks, as they need to have a clear understanding on the impact of revenue efficiency on the performance of their banks. The empirical findings of this paper may also have implications for investors whose main focus is to gain higher profit from their investments. Originality/value - – The paper is the first to provide empirical evidence on the determinants of revenue, cost and profit efficiency of Islamic banks operating in Southeast Asian countries.
Financial Reporting of Environmental Liabilities and Risks after Sarbanes-Oxley

About the Author. Preface. Acknowledgments. PART ONE: Introduction to Environmental Financial Reporting. Chapter One: Financial Reports and the Financial Reporting Process. Chapter Two: The Law and Accounting Sandwich. Chapter Three: Environmental Laws. Chapter Four: Environmental Financial Reporting: Overview. Chapter Five: Financial Reporting Objectives. PART TWO: Sarbanes-Oxley. Chapter Six: Sarbanes-Oxley: Overview. Chapter Seven: Certifications. Chapter Eight: Internal Control. Chapter Nine: Improper Influence on the Audit. Chapter Ten: Off-Balance-Sheet Arrangements. Chapter Eleven: Accelerated Reporting. PART THREE: Financial Reporting Standards. Chapter Twelve: General Principles of Financial Reporting. Chapter Thirteen: Environmental Costs. Chapter Fourteen: Environmental Assets. Chapter Fifteen: Capitalized Environmental Costs. Chapter Sixteen: Rights of Recovery. Chapter Seventeen: Emission Credits. Chapter Eighteen: Environmental Liabilities. Chapter Nineteen: Environmental Loss Contingencies. Chapter Twenty: Environmental Remediation Liabilities. Chapter Twenty-one: Environmental Guarantees. Chapter Twenty-two: Asset Retirement Obligations. Chapter Twenty-three: Asset Impairments. Chapter Twenty-four: Environmental Risks. Chapter Twenty-five: Supplemental Reporting Standards. PART FOUR: Audit Standards and Practices. Chapter Twenty-six: Financial Statement Auditing. Chapter Twenty-seven: Internal Control Auditing. Appendix A: Authoritative Documents Pertaining to Environmental Financial Reporting. Appendix B: Selected Bibliography. Glossary. Index.
Effects of ischemia and myogenic activity on active and passive mechanical properties of rat cerebral arteries.

Passive (papaverine induced) and active (spontaneous pressure induced) biomechanical properties of ischemic and nonischemic rat middle cerebral arteries (MCAs) were studied under pressurized conditions in vitro. Ischemic (1 h of occlusion), contralateral, and sham-operated control MCAs were isolated from male Wistar rats (n = 22) and pressurized using an arteriograph system that allowed control of transmural pressure (TMP) and measurement of lumen diameter and wall thickness. Three mechanical stiffness parameters were computed: overall passive stiffness (beta), pressure-dependent modulus changes (E(inc,p)), and smooth muscle cell (SMC) activity-dependent changes (E(inc,a)). The beta-value for ischemic vessels was increased compared with sham vessels (13.9 +/- 1.7 vs. 9.1 +/- 1.4, P < 0.05), indicating possible short-term remodeling due to ischemia. E(inc,p) increased with pressure in the passive vessels (P < 0.05) but remained relatively constant in the active vessels for all vessel types, indicating that pressure-induced SMC contractile activity (i.e., myogenic reactivity) in cerebral arteries leads to the maintenance of a constant elastic modulus within the autoregulatory pressure range. E(inc,a) increased with pressure for all conditions, signifying that changes in stiffness are influenced by SMC activity and vascular tone.
A Novel Approach to Accounting for Loss to Follow-Up when Estimating the Relationship between CD4 Count at ART Initiation and Mortality

Background While CD4 strongly predicts mortality on antiretroviral therapy (ART), estimates from programmatic data suffer from incomplete patient outcomes. Methods We conducted a pooled analysis of one-year mortality data on ART accounting for lost patients. We identified articles reporting one-year mortality by ART initiation CD4 count. We estimated the average mortality among those lost as the value that maximizes the fit of a regression of the natural log of mortality on the natural log of the imputed mean CD4 count in each band. Results We found 20 studies representing 64,426 subjects and 51 CD4 observations. Without correcting for losses, one-year mortality was >4.8% for all CD4 counts <200 cells/mm3. When searching over different values for mortality among those lost, the best fitting model occurs at 60% mortality. In this model, those with a CD4≤200 had a one-year mortality above 8.7, while those with a CD4>500 had a one-year mortality <6.8%. Comparing those starting ART at 500 vs. 50, one-year mortality risk was reduced by 54% (6.8 vs. 12.5%). Regardless of CD4 count, mortality was substantially higher than when assuming no mortality among those lost, ranging from a 23–94% increase. Conclusions Our best fitting regression estimates that every 10% increase in CD4 count at initiation is associated with a 2.8% decline in one-year mortality, including those lost. Our study supports the health benefits of higher thresholds for CD4 count initiation and suggests that reports of programmatic ART outcomes can and should adjust results for mortality among those lost.
Are Small Countries Able to set their Own Interest Rates? Assessing the implications of the macroeconomic trilemma

According to the ’macroeconomic trilemma’ the ability of small economies to pursue an independent monetary policy is jointly determined by country specific foreign exchange (FX) rate flexibility and capital mobility. In particular, free floating economies should be able to isolate domestic interest rates even under globalized capital markets. Recent evidence casts doubts if this gain in independence is substantial. Taking advantage of semiparametric functional regression models we study the trade-off among FX stability, capital mobility and monetary autonomy for a panel of 20 developed small economies. Confirming the macroeconomic trilemma, the exposure to foreign interest rates is found to increase with country specific states of exchange rate stability and capital mobility. Gains in monetary independence appear substantial for countries that abdicate to peg their FX rates, but the marginal benefit of tolerating higher exposure to FX volatility quickly vanishes. Free floating economies might therefore be able to moderately stabilize FX rates at little cost.
Results of Observational Studies: Analysis of Findings from the Nurses’ Health Study

Background The role of observational studies in informing clinical practice is debated, and high profile examples of discrepancies between the results of observational studies and randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have intensified that debate. We systematically reviewed findings from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS), one of the longest and largest observational studies, to assess the number and strength of the associations reported and to determine if they have been confirmed in RCTs. Methods We reviewed NHS publication abstracts from 1978–2012, extracted information on associations tested, and graded the strength of the reported effect sizes. We searched PubMed for RCTs or systematic reviews for 3 health outcomes commonly reported in NHS publications: breast cancer, ischaemic heart disease (IHD) and osteoporosis. NHS results were compared with RCT results and deemed concordant when the difference in effect sizes between studies was ≤0.15. Findings 2007 associations between health outcomes and independent variables were reported in 1053 abstracts. 58.0% (1165/2007) were statistically significant, and 22.2% (445/2007) were neutral (no association). Among the statistically significant results that reported a numeric odds ratio (OR) or relative risk (RR), 70.5% (706/1002) reported a weak association (OR/RR 0.5–2.0), 24.5% (246/1002) a moderate association (OR/RR 0.25–0.5 or 2.0–4.0) and 5.0% (50/1002) a strong association (OR/RR ≤0.25 or ≥4.0). 19 associations reported in NHS publications for breast cancer, IHD and osteoporosis have been tested in RCTs, and the concordance between NHS and RCT results was low (≤25%). Conclusions NHS publications contain a large number of analyses, the majority of which reported statistically significant but weak associations. Few of these associations have been tested in RCTs, and where they have, the agreement between NHS results and RCTs is poor.
Special Course in Information Technology : Co-occurence methods in analysis of discrete data . Information diffusion kernels

Information geometry is a highly abstract branch of mathematics that unifies statistical and geometrical concepts. The discipline provides general framework of many statistical phenomenas. The main drawbacks of the theory is generality—the approach seldom provides novel ideas and techniques. The survey covers one of the novelties—information diffusion kernels [6, 5]. Of course, we cannot exhibit the whole internal beauty of information geometry, but we encourage the interested reader to browse detailed monographs [7, 1].
The Impact of Ethnic Diversity in Bureaucracies: Evidence from the Nigerian Civil Service

The authors document the correlation between the workplace diversity of bureaucracies and public services delivered. The authors do so in the context of the federal civil service in Nigeria, the most important government bureaucracy operating in a highly ethnically fractionalized society in which ethnicity is a salient form of identity. The authors provide novel evidence extending the empirical literature along all three margins: in the context of Nigeria, the authors document the relationship between public service delivery and the ethnic diversity of civil service organizations. The impact of bureaucratic diversity on public service delivery in this context is not obvious. The analysis begins to shed light on whether the positive channels through which diversity operates, as stressed in the management literature (for example, increased skill complementary of workers in the production function), dominate the negative channels through which diversity may operate, as stressed in the macro literature (for example, divisions in preferences, free-riding on other groups’ contributions, ineffective social sanctions, etc.). Understanding the role of diversity in government bureaucracies is important because, as the state capacity literature has emphasized the effective functioning of government bureaucracy matters for poverty, inequality, and economic growth. The authors build on that analysis to examine the relevance of a key feature of Nigerian society: that it is highly ethnically fractionalized.
Monetary Policy, Asset Prices and Adaptive Learning

Following recent episodes of financial distress, the interaction between monetary policy and asset price fluctuations has gained renewed attention. Here, we assess the role of asset price misalignments in monetary policy in an adaptive learning context. Our model first extends Bullard and Mitra (2002), including an additional role for asset prices. From the point of view of the E-Stability criterion, commonly used in the learning literature, we find that a response to stock prices is not desirable under both a forward expectations policy rule and an interest rate rule responding to contemporaneous values. Heterogeneous beliefs about the dynamics of asset price fluctuations, inflation and the output gap are introduced and we also evaluate an optimal monetary policy rule including a weight on asset prices. Overall we find that the Taylor principle remains important over all interest rate rules analysed and that central banks should act cautiously when considering the introduction of stock prices in monetary policy.
The Causal Mediation Formula – A practitioner guide to the assessment of causal pathways

R ecent advances in causal inference have given rise to a general and easy-to-use estimator for assessing the extent to which the effect of one variable on another is mediated by a third. This estimator, called Mediation Formula, is applicable to nonlinear models with both discrete and continuous variables, and permits the evaluation of path-specific effects with minimal assumptions regarding the data-generating process. We demonstrate the use of the Mediation Formula in simple examples and illustrate why parametric methods of analysis yield distorted results, even when parameters are known precisely. We stress the importance of distinguishing between the necessary and sufficient interpretations of “mediated-effect” and show how to estimate the two components in nonlinear systems with continuous and categorical variables.
The impact of downsizing on the corporate reputation

This paper deals with the downsizing influences on the corporate reputation. In this paper we stress the importance of the corporate reputation as one of the most important firm's intangible assets. This kind of resources could be a significant source of the firm's competitive advantage. After the presentation of a brief review of downsizing literature, we investigate the downsizing influence on the corporate reputation. More precisely, we investigate how downsizing influences the eight dimensions that determine corporate reputation index. Our discussion is based mainly on the findings of a number of referent studies that investigate downsizing outcomes. Since we have found that there is a great possibility for downsizing to be an unsuccessful firm's strategy and therefore to decrease the corporate reputation, it is important before making the decision about downsizing to reconsider the necessity of such a decision.
Optimal state filtering and parameter identification for linear time-delay systems

This paper presents the optimal joint state filtering and parameter identification problem for linear stochastic time- delay systems with unknown parameters. The original identification problem is reduced to the optimal filtering problem for incompletely measured polynomial (bilinear) time-delay system states over linear observations with an arbitrary, not necessarily invertible, observation matrix, where the unknown parameters are considered standard Wiener processes and incorporated as additional states in the extended state vector. The obtained solution is based on the designed optimal filter for incompletely measured bilinear time-delay states over linear observations, taking into account that the optimal filter for the extended state vector also serves as the optimal identifier for the unknown parameters. In the example, performance of the designed optimal state filter and parameter identifier is verified for a linear time-delay system with an unknown multiplicative parameter over linear observations. Both, stable and unstable, linear systems are examined.
Deseasonalizing Macroeconomic Data: A Caveat to Applied Researchers in Turkey

This paper analyzes the effects of regular seasonal fluctuations of macroeconomic variables in Turkey due to the religious events (religious holidays and Ramadan)[1] in monthly frequency. Conventional deterministic deseasonalization techniques are applied to the detrended and linearized major macroeconomic series. Investigation of the seasonally filtered series reveals residual seasonal regularities vis-a-vis the religious holidays and Ramadan for some of the series. Consequences of ignoring this type of seasonality are also scrutinized.
The Independence of Active Galactic Nucleus Black Hole Mass and Radio Loudness

We revisit the issue of whether radio loudness in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is associated with central black hole mass, as has been suggested in the literature. We present new estimates of black hole mass for 295 AGNs (mostly radio quiet), calculating their radio loudnesses from published radio and optical fluxes, and combine with our previously published values, for a sample of 452 AGNs for which both black hole mass and radio loudness (or upper limits thereto) are known. Among the radio-quiet AGNs, there are now many black holes with mass larger than 109 M☉, extending to the same high black hole masses as radio-loud AGNs of the same redshifts. Over the full sample, the black hole masses of radio-loud and radio-quiet AGNs span the same large range, 106-1010 M☉. We conclude that radio loudness in AGNs does not depend strongly on central black hole mass.
The effects of photoionization on galaxy formation — III. Environmental dependence in the luminosity function

Using semi-analytic modelling techniques, we calculate the luminosity function of galaxy populations residing in cold dark matter haloes of different masses. We pay particular attention to the influence of the re-ionization of the Universe on the number of faint galaxies, and to the effects of dynamical friction and tidal limitation of satellites on the number of bright galaxies. We find substantial differences in the shapes of the galaxy luminosity functions in haloes of different mass, which reflect generic features of the cold dark matter model of galaxy formation, and thus offer the opportunity to test it. We then consider how the individual halo luminosity functions combine to produce the global luminosity function. Surprisingly, the global function ends up having a shallower faint-end slope than those of the constituent halo luminosity functions. We compare our model predictions with the limited observational data sets compiled by Trentham & Hodgkin. We find good agreement with the luminosity functions measured in the Virgo and Coma clusters, but find significant disagreement with the luminosity functions measured in the Local Group and Ursa Minor cluster. We speculate on possible inadequacies in our modelling and in the existing observational samples. The luminosity functions of galaxies in groups and clusters that have been identified in the Two Degree Field (2dF) and Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) galaxy redshift surveys offer the prospect of testing galaxy formation models in detail.
Haematological malignancies and acute kidney injury requiring nephrology consultation: challenging the worst of the worst

Background Acute kidney injury (AKI) often complicates the course of haematological malignancies (HMs) and confers a worse prognosis. The majority of these patients are managed by the attending physician, yet, a small group, mostly coincident with the worst presentation and outcomes, requires nephrology consultation, challenging the clinician with ethical issues regarding the decision to initiate or forgo renal support therapy. The purpose of this work is to identify the prognostic determinants for in-hospital mortality in this population. Methods A retrospective, observational chart review was undertaken at a single tertiary referral oncological centre. We reviewed the medical records of in-hospital patients with AKI and HM between 1 January 1995 and 31 December 2014 who met the criteria for RIFLE (Risk, Injury, and Failure; and Loss; and End-stage kidney disease) classification of I or higher and were followed by a nephrologist. Results Three hundred and forty-five patients were included in the study. Predictors of in-hospital death in patients with HM and AKI were septic shock [odds ratio (OR) 4.290 (95% CI 2.058–8.943)], invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) [OR 4.305 (95% CI 2.075–8.928)] and allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT) [OR 2.232 (95% CI 1.260–3.953)]. The combination of each risk factor was used to estimate the probability of dying. Patients with all three risk factors had a risk of death of 86%. Conclusions Septic shock, IMV and allogeneic SCT were identified as independent predictors of death in patients with HM and AKI, with only a small chance of survival if all three were present. Depending on the combination of risk factors, the indication for aggressive life support therapies, such as RST, might be questionable.