Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Investment Equations and Financial Restrictions at Firm Level: The Case of Uruguay

Three alternative specifications of an investment equation have been tested using panel data of Uruguayan firms: a traditional accelerator model of investment, an error-correction version of the accelerator model and an Euler equation for the capital stock. These models of investment were used to test for the existence of financial constraints in the investment decision process. Our estimates confirm the existence of financial restrictions on investment decisions of Uruguayan firms in the period under consideration (1997-2000). We explored the effect on firms’ ability to finance investment of two attributes: size and foreign ownership. Regarding size, our results suggest that small firms face greater constraints in financing their desired levels of investment. We also explored whether foreign owned firms suffered less from financial restrictions than national firms. Our results leave the issue unresolved. Lastly, our estimates suggest a general increase in the severity of financial restrictions following the 1999-2000 crisis. In particular, smaller firms were most affected.
An inkblot for sexual preference: A semantic variant of the Affect Misattribution Procedure

A newly developed Semantic Misattribution Procedure (SMP), a semantic variant of the Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP), was used in three studies as an indirect measure of sexual interest. Using a known-group approach, homosexual men (Studies 1 and 2), heterosexual men (Studies 1 to 3) and heterosexual women (Study 3) were asked to guess the meaning of briefly presented Chinese ideographs as “sexual” or “not sexual”. The ideographs were preceded by briefly presented primes depicting male and female individuals of varying sexual maturity. As hypothesised, the frequency of “sexual” responses increased after priming with pictures of individuals of the preferred sex and increasing sexual maturation. The SMP showed satisfactory reliability and convergent validity as indicated by correlations with direct and two indirect measures of sexual interest. In two further studies, the hypothesised pattern was replicated whereas a standard AMP with the identical prime stimuli did not produce this result. The potential usefulness of semantic variants of the AMP is discussed.
Ceruloplasmin is a Better Predictor of the Long-Term Prognosis Compared With Fibrinogen, CRP, and IL-6 in Patients With Severe Unstable Angina

Background. We investigated the time course and prognostic value of fibrinogen (Fib), C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and ceruloplasmin (CP) in patients with severe unstable angina. Methods. All 4 substances were measured on admission and after 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 hours, and after 7 days and 6 months in 40 patients with Braunwald's classification class IIIB unstable angina. Results. All recorded substances increased significantly; 15 patients had cardiovascular events during hospitalization and 11 patients during follow-up. The time course and the mean values of Fib, CRP, and IL-6 were similar in patients with and without complications both during hospitalization and follow-up. However, CP levels from 6 hours until 6 months were significantly higher in patients with complications during follow-up (P < .05). Conclusions. Fib, CRP, IL-6, and CP levels alter in patients with severe unstable angina. However, only CP levels were related to 12-month follow-up prognosis.
Late Barremian-Early Aptian Ammonites from the Tirgan Formation, Kopet-Dagh Sedimentary Basin, NE Iran

During the recent field research on the Tirgan Formation in the west of Kopet-Dagh sedimentary basin, ammonite assemblages were obtained from the carbonate strata of this formation. This new finding is important for stratigraphical purpose. In this research, 3 genera belong to Heteroceras, Deshayesites and Cheloniceras? as well as one uncertain genus belongs to Turkmeniceras are determined. The ammonite fauna dates the Tirgan Formation from the late Barremian to early Aptian in the studied stratigraphic section.
Greenschist Facies Metamorphic Zircon Overgrowths as a Constraint on Exhumation of the Brooks Range Metamorphic Core, Alaska

Like many other mountain belts, the metamorphic core or hinterland of the Brooks Range fold and thrust belt in Arctic Alaska is characterized by multiply deformed and polymetamorphosed rocks whose histories have been challenging to decipher and thus difficult to relate to the supracrustal history of the orogen. The multiple greenschist and blueschist facies metamorphic events have been particularly difficult to resolve. This study provides petrologic context for recently identified low‐temperature metamorphic zircon overgrowths at two localities across some 200 km of orogenic strike that offer a unique and precise constraint on the timing of events recorded in the Brooks Range hinterland. In consideration of microstructural context, graphite thermometry, metamorphic mineral inclusions, and zircon trace element and Lu‐Hf‐isotope data, metamorphic zircon growth at 114 ± 5 Ma in the southern Brooks Range is interpreted to coincide with greenschist facies metamorphism, most probably linked to decompression and/or increased temperatures within the orogenic core. Their age coincides with a proposed pulse of extension within a >600‐km shear zone along the southern flank of the Brooks Range and a regional flare‐up in magmatism and pronounced subsidence within hinterland depocenters (Yukon‐Koyukuk Basin). These regional events are consistent with subduction retreat/rollback in mid‐Cretaceous time. This study adds to a growing body of literature demonstrating the importance of searching for and characterizing metamorphic zircon growth in low‐ to medium‐grade metamorphic terranes to provide better constraints on otherwise cryptic tectonic events.
Enhancing security via stochastic routing

Shortest path routing leaves connections at risk of interception and eavesdropping since the path over which data packets travel is fairly predictable and easy to determine. To improve routing security, we propose a proactive mechanism, which we call secure stochastic routing, that explores the existence of multiple routes and forces packets to take alternative paths probabilistically. We investigate game theoretic techniques to develop routing policies which make interception and eavesdropping maximally difficult. Through simulations, we validate our theoretical results and show how the resulting routing algorithms perform in terms of the security/delay/throughput trade-off. We observe that a beneficial side-effect of these algorithms is an increase in throughput, as they make use of multiple paths. The Internet was designed to use redundancy to enhance reliability. We suggest that, through stochastic methods, redundancy be used to increase security.
Impact of the Use of Benznidazole Followed by Antioxidant Supplementation in the Prevalence of Ventricular Arrhythmias in Patients With Chronic Chagas Disease: Pilot Study

Patients with chronic Chagas disease have a higher prevalence of premature ventricular contraction (PVC) because of immunoinflammatory response magnified by the increased oxidative stress. Thus, the sequential treatment with benznidazole (BZN) and antioxidants can reduce the prevalence of PVC. We wish to establish whether the etiological treatment of Chagas disease followed by supplementation with the antioxidant vitamins E and C decreases the prevalence of PVC in these patients. A sample of 41 patients with chronic Chagas disease at different stages of the heart disease was selected for the treatment against the causative agent using BZN (5 mg·kg−1·d−1, minimum dose 300 mg daily) for 2 months followed by supplementation with antioxidants such as vitamins E (800 UI/d) and C (500 mg/d) for 6 months. The prevalence of PVC was observed by conducting 24-hour Holter. To evaluate the oxidative status of the patients, serum markers of oxidative stress like glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione reductase, and glutathione S-transferase were measured, and also reduced glutathione, vitamin E, and markers of tissue damage like thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and protein carbonyl. A decrease in the prevalence of PVC in patients with advanced Chagas heart disease was observed (5391 vs. 1185, P = 0.0068). This reduction was followed by decrease of serum markers of oxidative stress. In patients with a lower degree of cardiac damage, the reduction on prevalence of PVC was not significant. The etiological treatment with BZN followed by supplementation with antioxidant vitamins E and C reduces episodes of PVC in patients with severe Chagas heart disease.
A User-Developed 3-D Hand Gesture Set for Human–Computer Interaction

Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop a lexicon for 3-D hand gestures for common human–computer interaction (HCI) tasks by considering usability and effort ratings. Background: Recent technologies create an opportunity for developing a free-form 3-D hand gesture lexicon for HCI. Method: Subjects (N = 30) with prior experience using 2-D gestures on touch screens performed 3-D gestures of their choice for 34 common HCI tasks and rated their gestures on preference, match, ease, and effort. Videos of the 1,300 generated gestures were analyzed for gesture popularity, order, and response times. Gesture hand postures were rated by the authors on biomechanical risk and fatigue. Results: A final task gesture set is proposed based primarily on subjective ratings and hand posture risk. The different dimensions used for evaluating task gestures were not highly correlated and, therefore, measured different properties of the task–gesture match. Application: A method is proposed for generating a user-developed 3-D gesture lexicon for common HCIs that involves subjective ratings and a posture risk rating for minimizing arm and hand fatigue.
Parameterization of the freeze/thaw discriminant function algorithm using dense in-situ observation network data

ABSTRACT The near-surface soil freeze–thaw (FT) transition is an important factor affecting land-atmosphere exchanges, hydrology and carbon cycles. Thus, effectively monitoring the temporal–spatial changes of soil FT processes is crucial to climate change and environment research. Several approaches have been developed to detect the soil FT state from satellite observations. The discriminant function algorithm (DFA) uses temperature and emissivity information from Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer Enhanced (AMSR-E) passive microwave satellite observations. Although it is well validated, it was shown to be insufficiently robust for all land conditions. In this study, we use in-situ observed soil temperature and AMSR-E brightness temperature to parameterize the DFA for soil FT state detection. We use the in-situ soil temperature records at 5 cm selected from available dense networks in the Northern Hemisphere as a reference. Considering the distinction between ascending and descending orbits, two different sets of parameters were acquired for each frequency pair. The validation results indicate that the overall discriminant accuracy of the new function can reach 90%. We further compared the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 discriminant results using the new function to the Soil Moisture Active Passive freeze/thaw product, and a reasonable consistency between them was found.
Methods to improve recruitment to randomised controlled trials: Cochrane systematic review and meta-analysis

This review is an abridged version of a Cochrane Review previously published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2010, Issue 4, Art. No.: MR000013 DOI: 10.1002/14651858.MR000013. pub5 (see www.thecochranelibrary.com for information). Cochrane Reviews are regularly updated as new evidence emerges and in response to feedback, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews should be consulted for the most recent version of the review. Objective To identify interventions designed to improve recruitment to randomised controlled trials, and to quantify their effect on trial participation. Design Systematic review. Data sources The Cochrane Methodology Review Group Specialised Register in the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, ERIC, Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, C2-SPECTR, the National Research Register and PubMed. Most searches were undertaken up to 2010; no language restrictions were applied. Study selection Randomised and quasi-randomised controlled trials, including those recruiting to hypothetical studies. Studies on retention strategies, examining ways to increase questionnaire response or evaluating the use of incentives for clinicians were excluded. The study population included any potential trial participant (eg, patient, clinician and member of the public), or individual or group of individuals responsible for trial recruitment (eg, clinicians, researchers and recruitment sites). Two authors independently screened identified studies for eligibility. Results 45 trials with over 43 000 participants were included. Some interventions were effective in increasing recruitment: telephone reminders to non-respondents (risk ratio (RR) 1.66, 95% CI 1.03 to 2.46; two studies, 1058 participants), use of opt-out rather than opt-in procedures for contacting potential participants (RR 1.39, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.84; one study, 152 participants) and open designs where participants know which treatment they are receiving in the trial (RR 1.22, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.36; two studies, 4833 participants). However, the effect of many other strategies is less clear, including the use of video to provide trial information and interventions aimed at recruiters. Conclusions There are promising strategies for increasing recruitment to trials, but some methods, such as open-trial designs and opt-out strategies, must be considered carefully as their use may also present methodological or ethical challenges. Questions remain as to the applicability of results originating from hypothetical trials, including those relating to the use of monetary incentives, and there is a clear knowledge gap with regard to effective strategies aimed at recruiters.
DNA Dynamics during Early Double-Strand Break Processing Revealed by Non-Intrusive Imaging of Living Cells

Chromosome breakage is a major threat to genome integrity. The most accurate way to repair DNA double strand breaks (DSB) is homologous recombination (HR) with an intact copy of the broken locus. Mobility of the broken DNA has been seen to increase during the search for a donor copy. Observing chromosome dynamics during the earlier steps of HR, mainly the resection from DSB ends that generates recombinogenic single strands, requires a visualization system that does not interfere with the process, and is small relative to the few kilobases of DNA that undergo processing. Current visualization tools, based on binding of fluorescent repressor proteins to arrays of specific binding sites, have the major drawback that highly-repeated DNA and lengthy stretches of strongly bound protein can obstruct chromatin function. We have developed a new, non-intrusive method which uses protein oligomerization rather than operator multiplicity to form visible foci. By applying it to HO cleavage of the MAT locus on Saccharomyces cerevisiae chromosome III, we provide the first real-time analysis of resection in single living cells. Monitoring the dynamics of a chromatin locus next to a DSB revealed transient confinement of the damaged chromatin region during the very early steps of resection, consistent with the need to keep DNA ends in contact. Resection in a yku70 mutant began ∼10 min earlier than in wild type, defining this as the period of commitment to homology-dependent repair. Beyond the insights into the dynamics and mechanism of resection, our new DNA-labelling and -targeting method will be widely applicable to fine-scale analysis of genome organization, dynamics and function in normal and pathological contexts.
Risk factors for premenstrual asthma: a systematic review and meta-analysis

ABSTRACT Introduction: Asthma in women can deteriorate in specific phases during the menstrual cycle. Deterioration in the premenstrual phase (increase in symptoms or deterioration in peak flow measurements) is known as premenstrual asthma. The etiology remains mostly unknown. Areas covered: This paper systematically reviews risk factors for premenstrual asthma. Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science, LILACS and secondary sources were searched. The selection criteria were met by 20 articles. Expert commentary: Women with pre-menstrual asthma are older, have more severe asthma, a higher body-mass index, a longer duration of asthma and a greater likelihood of aspirin sensitive asthma. They more often have dysmenorrhea, premenstrual syndrome, shorter menstrual cycles, and longer menstrual bleeding. The role of hormone levels and systemic inflammation remains unclear.
Submesoscale Baroclinic Instability in the Bottom Boundary Layer

Weakly stratified layers over sloping topography can support a submesoscale baroclinic instability mode, a bottom boundary layer counterpart to surface mixed layer instabilities. The instability results from the release of available potential energy, which can be generated because of the observed bottom intensification of turbulent mixing in the deep ocean, or the Ekman adjustment of a current on a slope. Linear stability analysis suggests that the growth rates of bottom boundary layer baroclinic instabilities can be comparable to those of the surface mixed layer mode and are relatively insensitive to topographic slope angle, implying the instability is robust and potentially active in many areas of the global oceans. The solutions of two separate one-dimensional theories of the bottom boundary layer are both demonstrated to be linearly unstable to baroclinic instability, and results from an example nonlinear simulation are shown. Implications of these findings for understanding bottom boundary layer dynamics and processes are discussed.
The effects of stimulus frequency and recording site on the amplitude and latency of multichannel cortical auditory evoked potential (CAEP) component N1.

Magnetoencephalographic (MEG) applications in auditory evoked field (AEF) recordings have demonstrated that both tonotopicity and amplitopicity exist in the auditory cortex. The present study was conducted to determine whether previously reported characteristics of the AEF could be identified in multichannel cortical auditory evoked potential N1e (e.g., the electrical correlate of the magnetically recorded N1m) component recordings. Multichannel auditory evoked potentials from 11 young normal adults were collected after monaural tone burst stimuli of 250, 1000, and 4000 Hz. Results demonstrated that N1e amplitudes after stimulation at 250 Hz were significantly larger than those obtained after stimulation at 1000 or 4000 Hz. These frequency-specific differences existed for latency as well. Responses obtained after stimulation at 250 Hz were, on the average, 13 msec longer than those obtained after stimulation at 1000 or 4000 Hz. Also, contralateral latencies were significantly shorter than ipsilateral latencies. Although the significant frequency-specific amplitude results support the findings of previous investigators, the frequency-related latency differences have not been described. An explanation of these differences may exist in the spatial differences in the reception areas for low- and high-frequency tones in the primary auditory cortex.
The Effect of Breast Cancer Resistance Protein and P-Glycoprotein on the Brain Penetration of Flavopiridol, Imatinib Mesylate (Gleevec), Prazosin, and 2-Methoxy-3-(4-(2-(5-methyl-2-phenyloxazol-4-yl)ethoxy)phenyl)propanoic Acid (PF-407288) in Mice

The role of breast cancer resistance protein (Bcrp) and the combined activities of Bcrp and P-glycoprotein (P-gp, Mdr1a/1b) in limiting the brain penetration of drugs at the blood-brain barrier (BBB) were investigated using wild-type FVB, Mdr1a/1b(–/–), (–/–), Bcrp(–/–), and Mdr1a/1b(–/–), (–/–)Bcrp(–/–) mice. Four drugs, flavopiridol, imatinib mesylate (Gleevec), PF-407288, and prazosin, with different transport specificity for BCRP/Bcrp and MDR1/Mdr1a were selected, and the drug levels in plasma, cerebrospinal fluid, and brain of mice were determined. Flavopiridol and prazosin were identified as substrates for both mouse Bcrp and Mdr1a with greater transport associated with Bcrp. The brain/plasma (B/P) ratios at 0.5 and 2 h in Mdr1a/1b(–/–), (–/–) and Bcrp(–/–) mice were 1- to 2-fold for both compounds, whereas the ratios in Mdr1a/1b(–/–), (–/–)Bcrp(–/–) mice were more than 5-fold of those observed in FVB mice. For imatinib, a better substrate of P-gp than Bcrp, the B/P ratios in Bcrp(–/–) were comparable to those in FVB mice, whereas the B/P ratios in Mdr1a/1b(–/–), (–/–) and Mdr1a/1b(–/–), (–/–)Bcrp(–/–) mice were more than 4- and 28-fold of those in FVB mice at both time points, respectively. Finally, the Bcrp-specific substrate PF-407288 exhibited comparable B/P ratios in Mdr1a/1b(–/–), (–/–) and Bcrp(–/–) mice and slightly but significantly increased B/P ratios in Mdr1a/1b(–/–), (–/–)Bcrp(–/–) mice compared with those in FVB mice. The B/P ratios of compounds in Mdr1a/1b(–/–), (–/–)Bcrp(–/–) mice compared with those in Mdr1a/1b(–/–), (–/–) mice clearly demonstrate that Bcrp impairs the brain penetration of its substrates. Moreover, P-gp and Bcrp at BBB function synergistically to limit the brain penetration of shared substrates.
TerraStream: from elevation data to watershed hierarchies

We consider the problem of extracting a river network and a watershed hierarchy from a terrain given as a set of irregularly spaced points. We describe TERRASTREAM, a "pipelined" solution that consists of four main stages: construction of a digital elevation model (DEM), hydrological conditioning, extraction of river networks, and construction of a watershed hierarchy. Our approach has several advantages over existing methods. First, we design and implement the pipeline so that each stage is scalable to massive data sets; a single non-scalable stage would create a bottleneck and limit overall scalability. Second, we develop the algorithms in a general framework so that they work for both TIN and grid DEMs. Furthermore, TERRASTREAM is flexible and allows users to choose from various models and parameters, yet our pipeline is designed to reduce (or eliminate) the need for manual intervention between stages. We have implemented TERRASTREAM and we present experimental results on real elevation point sets, which show that our approach handles massive multi-gigabyte terrain data sets. For example, we can process a data set containing over 300 million points---over 20GB of raw data---in under 26 hours, where most of the time (76%) is spent in the initial CPU-intensive DEM construction stage.
Efficient Clustering for Orders

Lists of ordered objects are widely used as representational forms. Such ordered objects include Web search results or best-seller lists. Clustering is a useful data analysis technique for grouping mutually similar objects. To cluster orders, hierarchical clustering methods have been used together with dissimilarities defined between pairs of orders. However, hierarchical clustering methods cannot be applied to large-scale data due to their computational cost in terms of the number of orders. To avoid this problem, we developed an k-o'means algorithm. This algorithm successfully extracted grouping structures in orders, and was computationally efficient with respect to the number of orders. However, it was not efficient in cases where there are too many possible objects yet. We therefore propose a new method (k-o'means-EBC), grounded on a theory of order statistics. We further propose several techniques to analyze acquired clusters of orders