Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis and Bariatric Surgery

Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a component of a wide spectrum of diseases that go from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) to cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma in 40-60% of patients with NASH-related cirrhosis in a 5-7 year follow-up [1]. NASH has become one of the leading causes of liver disease in the developed world. With NAFLD believed to have doubled in the past 20 years [2], there is alerting evidence showing that these events are majorly secondary to the global epidemic of obesity [3,4].
What Lies Beneath? A Time-Varying FAVAR Model for the UK Transmission Mechanism

This paper uses a time-varying Factor Augmented VAR to investigate the evolving transmission of monetary policy and demand shocks in the UK. Simultaneous estimation of time-varying impulse responses of a large set of macroeconomic variables and disaggregated prices suggest that the response of inflation, money supply and asset prices to monetary policy and demand shocks has changed over the sample period. In particular, during the post-1992 inflation targeting period, monetary policy shocks started having a bigger impact on prices, a smaller impact on activity and began contributing more to overall volatility. In contrast, demand shocks had the largest impact on these variables before the 1990s. We also document changes in the response of disaggregated prices, with the median reaction to contractionary policy shocks becoming more negative and the distribution more dispersed post-1992. JEL Classification: C38, E44, E52
Group Processes and the Social Construction of Growth Management: Florida, Vermont, and New Jersey

Abstract Consensual groups are playing a growing role in planning. This article looks at the group processes that have played key roles in state growth management programs in Florida, Vermont, and New Jersey. The groups have been involved in problem framing, policy development, policy oversight and review, negotiations among competing interests, and developing procedures for accomplishing complex new tasks. The group processes have succeeded in developing shared meaning, coordinating among agencies and levels of government, and often in reaching consensus among players. But they have been only partially successful, at this stage. The next challenge is to redesign planning and decision making institutions to incorporate group processes in a way that makes effective use of what they accomplish.
The challenge of sustainable tourism development in the Maldives: Understanding the social and political dimensions of sustainability

Issues of power and politics are central to the development of the tourism sector and its prospects for contributing to sustainable development. This is demonstrated through a case study of the evolution of tourism in the Maldives, a luxury tourism destination where the government has followed a consistent policy of ‘quality tourism’ that has often been cited as a prime example of sustainable tourism. However, recently concerns have been raised about environmental degradation, human rights abuses, connections between the political and economic elite, and huge economic disparities associated with tourism here. Research on sustainable tourism needs to recognise the state's pivotal role in directing tourism development and consider how states balance the competing interests of other powerful tourism stakeholders.
Geopolitical tensions, opec news, and the oil price: A Granger causality analysis

To what extent geopolitical tensions in major oil-producer countries and unexpected news related to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) affect oil price? What are the effects of non-market externalities in oil price? Are oil price forecasters aware or affected by such externalities when making their predictions? In this article, I analyse the influence of these events on oil price by means of Granger causality, using a unique measure of geopolitical events accounting for supply disruptions for the 2001-12 period. I found evidence favouring OPEC countries'-related news as an oil price driver jointly with supply disruptions influencing short-term forecasts, and reducing the consensus when unanticipated news are available. When considering separately OPEC news or other supply disruptions, the evidence is rather episodic.
Germline mutations in the von Hippel–Lindau disease tumor suppressor gene: Correlations with phenotype

Von Hippel‐Lindau disease (VHL) is an inherited neoplastic disease characterized by a predisposition to develop retinal angiomas, central nervous system hemangioblastomas, renal cell carcinomas, pancreatie cysts, and pheochromocytomas. The VHL gene was recently isolated by positional cloning. The cDNA encodes 852 nucleotides in 3 exons. The VHL gene is unrelated to any known gene families. We identified germline mutations in 85/114 (75%) of VHL families. Clinical heterogeneity is a well‐known feature of VHL. VHL families were classified into 2 types based on the presence or absence of pheochromocytoma. The types of mutations responsible for VHL without pheochromocytoma (VHL type 1) differed from those responsible for VHL with pheochromocytoma (VHL type 2). Fifty‐six % of the mutations responsible for VHL type l were microdeletions/insertions, nonsense mutations, or deletions; 96% of the mutations responsible for VHL type 2 were missense mutations. Specific mutations in codon 238 accounted for 43% of the mutations responsible for VHL type 2. The mutations identified in these families will be useful in presymptomatic diagnosis. The identification of mutations associated with phenotypes contributes to the understanding of fundamental genetic mechanisms of VHL disease. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Frequency of eating occasions and weight change in the NHANES I Epidemiologic Follow-up Study.

OBJECTIVE To examine the association of frequency of eating occasions with prospective, and retrospective weight change. DESIGN Data from the NHANES I (1971-75) Epidemiologic Follow-up Study (NHEFS, 1982-84) (n = 7147) was used. Weight change was defined as the difference between the weight measured at follow-up in 1982-84 and the weight measured at baseline in 1971-75. Baseline frequency of eating occasions was estimated by summation of actual times at which food was reported consumed in a 24-h dietary recall. Follow-up frequency of eating was estimated from subject responses at follow-up to number of meals and snacks consumed daily. RESULTS Men and women reported (mean +/- s.e.) baseline frequency of 5.3 +/- 0.06 and 4.9 +/- 0.03 eating occasions, respectively. Frequency of eating occasions at follow-up was 3.6 +/- 0.02 occasions in both men and women. Baseline body mass index and frequency of eating were inversely related in multivariate regression analyses in both men and women (P < 0.02). Regression analyses adjusted for multiple covariates showed no association between weight change and frequency of eating at baseline or follow-up. CONCLUSION Baseline frequency and subsequent weight change or follow-up frequency and preceding weight change were unrelated in the NHEFS cohort.
Conducting Experiments in Public Management Research: A Practical Guide

ABSTRACT This article provides advice on how to meet the practical challenges of experimental methods within public management research. We focus on lab, field, and survey experiments. For each of these types of experiments we outline the major challenges and limitations encountered when implementing experiments in practice and discuss tips, standards, and common mistakes to avoid. The article is multi-authored in order to benefit from the practical lessons drawn by a number of experimental researchers.
Payments for Environmental Services : Empirical analysis for Costa Rica

Evaluating its impact using the deforestation observed in matched untreated areas, we find that Costa Rica’s ‘PSA’ program of payments for environmental services had little effect on 1997-2000 forest clearing. Reasons include: a low national rate of deforestation; no targeting of those locations more likely to change land usage; and a goal of transferring surplus to landowners. This pioneering effort could save much of its budget, or greatly increase forest impact from current funds, if it could avoid enrolling lands which would remain forested even without such payments.
Constraints to Participation in Countryside Recreation in England

Abstract This paper addresses the already substantial literature on constraints to participation in outdoor recreation, by offering a European perspective on what has largely been a North American debate and by grounding constraints within a participative rather than a predominantly non-participative framework. Using the findings from a telephone survey of nearly 2000 households in southern England, the paper argues that constraints have to be understood in the context of people’s broader choices and existing patterns of participation. It is therefore argued that, rather than being universal, constraints to outdoor recreation are essentially conditional on people’s ontological construction of the environments in which they seek to undertake outdoor recreation. Thus, for a large proportion of respondents, nothing actually constrains their desired activity patterns, although factors such as a relative lack of time or money may be articulated as a defence for their position. For those who are able to identify constraints, most have concerns about the range and quality of the options available to them, or the quality of the experience that they are likely to have. To this extent, the paper demonstrates that the constructions of constraints developed in North America are relevant to the perceptions and experiences of those living in southern England.
At What Age Do You Expect to Retire? Retirement Expectations and Increases in the Statutory Retirement Age

We analyse the extent to which an increase in the statutory retirement age affects individuals' retirement expectations. Understanding how individuals adjust their expectations is crucial to the evaluation of this policy, since retirement expectations directly affect other important decisions such as labour supply, engagement in (further) education and, of course, savings and investments. We consider the 2007 German pension reform that legislated an increase in the statutory retirement age from 65 years to 67. Our analysis is based on a longitudinal study that directly asks respondents at what age they expect to retire. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we look at the changes in subjective retirement expectations over time and estimate the extent to which they can be attributed to the 2007 reform. We find that the reform shifted the retirement expectations of the younger cohorts, although there is some heterogeneity in the way individuals adjusted. While there are no significant differences between men and women, lower-educated individuals failed to revise their expectations. As these individuals usually acquire both lower pension claims and lower private savings, the fact that they have been slower in updating their retirement expectations causes concern regarding their income security after retirement.
Business Groups as Hierarchical Clique Structures: A Conceptual and Methodological Discussion as it Applies to the Mexican Experience

The hierarchically nested set of business groups that result from 110 Mexican firms sharing corporate directors (i.e. interlocking directors) is analysed using social network tools. It is argued that these groupings are one of the many dimensions that should be employed to understand the complex nature of "business groups" broadly understood. The hypothesis that business groups are responses "to market failures that arise in the particular institutional contexts of emerging economies" (Khanna and Rivkin, Strategic Management Journal, 22 (2001), p. 46) is tested using the groups constructed from data on interlocking directorates. The results show that as firms belong to more of the same sets of groups, their financial performance tends to be more similar, thus supporting the idea that "groups can make up for under-developed institutions, thereby reducing transaction costs. "
The Research Output of Academic Economists in Brazil

This paper presents productivity rankings of economics departments and economists in Brazil. The results are: 1) At individual level, only 9 out of 497 economists managed to publish at least one paper in the top journals of economics, and 52 economists published at least one paper in a wide list of international journals; 2) The areas in which Brazilian research is most internationally successful are: Development economics, mathematical economics, and post Keynesian economics; 3) There is a remarkable difference in academic quality among the departments; 4) The performance of departments strongly depends on the individual excellence of a very small number of people. These findings suggest that academic productivity in Brazil is poor when evaluated by international criteria. As a policy prescription it is recommended that economics departments in Brazil should establish international publications as a target for their members.
Running head : Dynamics and structures of supercritical-flow bedforms 1 2 Morphodynamics and sedimentary structures of 3 bedforms under supercritical-flow conditions : new 4 insights from flume experiments 5 6

27 Supercritical flow phenomena are fairly common in modern sedimentary environments, yet their 28 recognition and analysis remain difficult in the stratigraphic record. This fact is commonly 29 ascribed to the poor preservation potential of deposits from high-energy supercritical flows. 30 However, the number of flume datasets on supercritical flow dynamics and sedimentary 31 structures is very limited in comparison with available data for subcritical flows, which hampers 32 the recognition and interpretation of such deposits. The results of systematic flume experiments 33 spanning the full range of supercritical flow bedforms (antidunes, chutes-and-pools, cyclic steps) 34 developed in mobile sand beds of variable grain sizes are presented. Flow character and 35 related bedform patterns are constrained through time-series measurements of bed 36 configurations, flow depths, flow velocities and Froude numbers. The results allow the 37 refinement and extension of some widely used bedform stability diagrams in the supercritical38 flow domain, clarifying in particular the morphodynamic relations between antidunes and cyclic 39 steps. The onset of antidunes is controlled by flows exceeding passing a threshold Froude 40 number. The transition from antidunes to cyclic steps in fineto medium-grained sand occurs at 41 a threshold mobility parameter. Sedimentary structures associated with supercritical bedforms 42 developed under variable aggradation rates are revealed by means of combining flume results 43 and synthetic stratigraphy. The sedimentary structures are compared with examples from field 44 and other flume studies. Aggradation rate is seen to exert an important control on the geometry 45 of supercritical flow structures and should be considered when identifying supercritical bedforms 46 in the sedimentary record. 47
Measuring local climate change response capacity and bridging gaps between local action plans and land use plans

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to measure local climate change response capacity and identify the existing gaps between local climate change action plans and land use plans.Design/methodology/approach – This study uses content analysis method to statistically analyze 40 pioneering local jurisdictions' climate change action plans and land use plans.Findings – The results show significant gaps in the two types of plans. Local climate change action plans have a higher quality of plan components including factual basis, targets, coordination, and communication than local land use plans. However, local land use plans have an even higher quality of policy plan components than action plans.Originality/value – This study has extended established climate change concepts and practices by incorporating climate change considerations into the existing framework of local decision making.
Central Asia

Martha Brill Olcott is an acknowledged authority on Central Asia with a number of books to her name. In many respects, the level of insight and expertise shown here lives up to the high expectations that the reader has of such a well-known source. The purpose of the book appears to be to examine whether the intensification of international and particularly US interest in Central Asia which followed 9/11 has led to any significant change of direction in the economic, foreign or domestic policies of the region’s governments. As the author recognises, any attempt to address these questions on a regional basis is fraught with difficulty. The different Central Asian states that were lumbered with independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union are very different in wealth, history and culture. Moreover, their leaders have more often been guided by rivalry and jealousy than by any true feelings of regional solidarity. Any book seeking to track their post-independence trajectories is likely to become snarled in complicated and sometimes confusing comparisons. This complexity is further increased when a book attempts, as this does, to address all aspects of the problems that the five different countries have faced: political and economic transition, oil and gas, education, security, narcotics, the environment, international relations with nearly a dozen significant powers, as well as with one another. Small wonder that the reader sometimes finds the narrative bewildering and repetitive. Much of this book was written before the Andijan events of 2005 and although a creditable effort has been made to mention them, their true impact had not become apparent when it went to press. Likewise, it was possible for the author to write in the last chapter that “the security situation in Afghanistan is stabilising” whereas it is now clear that this is not the case. This said, the first three chapters, which deal with the impact of 9/11, the first ten years of independence and the geopolitics of Central Asia prior to 9/11, are masterly. One could hardly wish for a clearer account. In the following chapters the author tries to relate the impact of US policy to the situation in region and the influences of other interested and not necessarily sympathetic powers like Russia, China, Iran and India. These chapters contain many extremely interesting and useful analyses: of, for example, the Kazakh oil and gas industry, the attempted coup d’état against the Turkmenbashi, Russia’s return to the region after Washington could no longer pretend to believe in President Karimov’s commitment to democracy, and so on. Behind this interesting narrative there is a continuing refrain asking to what extent the failures of democracy and economic policies are due to shortcomings in US policy, especially aid policy. The whole question of the effectiveness, indeed morality, of trying to export (sell) Western political concepts is of course the subject of feverish debate. The author appears to think that different, perhaps more timely and nuanced, US aid policies
A Term Structure Model for VIX Futures

This study develops a term structure model for VIX futures. Instead of deriving the VIX futures price from a model for the instantaneous variance of the S&P 500 or a model for the VIX, the VIX futures price dynamics are specified exogenously. The empirical features of VIX futures returns (positive skewness, excess kurtosis, and a decreasing volatility term structure for longer term expirations) are captured by assuming that they are normal inverse Gaussian distributed and scaled by a volatility function that is dependent on the maturity. The usefulness of the resulting model is illustrated in two applications: risk management (via calculating value at risk (VaR)) and asset pricing (via pricing hypothetical VIX options). The results show that the model provides a good fit for the empirical term structure of VIX futures, produces good VaR estimates, and is promising for use in pricing VIX options. (c) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 33:421-442, 2013 (Less)
At What Cost do We Reduce Pollution? Shadow Prices of SO2, Emissions

The U. S. EPA's infant market for SO2 emissions has the potential for improving the cost effectiveness of reducing acid rain pollutants. If the market works as planned, over time one should see the cost of reducing additional amounts of sulfur dioxide converge across plants. The results of the study described here demonstrate that before the market opened marginal abatement costs varied wildly across plants. This work provides estimates of the shadow price of SO2 abatement using the output distance function approach for Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin coal-burning electric plants. The results demonstrate that the coal-burning electric plants with the highest emissions rates are also the plants with the lowest marginal abatement costs, a fact that may explain lower-than-expected prices in the new market for allowances. The data include information about plants with installed scrubber capital allowing for an investigation of the effect of scrubber capital on marginal abatement costs.
University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics a Real-time Study of Future Temporal Reference in Spoken Ontarian French a Real-time Study of Future Temporal Reference in Spoken Ontarian French a Real-time Study of Future Temporal Reference in Spoken Ontarian French

In this paper I examine the use of future temporal reference in real-time in the majority French community of Hawkesbury, Ontario, Canada. The corpora, established in 1978 and 2005, contain sociolinguistic interviews of Francophone adolescents 15 to 18 years of age enrolled in French-medium schools. At issue in this research is the variation between the periphrastic and inflected future forms. Over the 28-year time span, the periphrastic future has assumed new prestige in this variety, now the preferred variant of the middle class. Moreover, this form has made significant gains into negative contexts, the formerly privileged and nearly exclusive site of the inflected future. In light of this unprecedented behavior, the question remains as to what will become of the inflected future. I discuss here a number of important signs discovered in the real-time data for Hawkesbury that lend further support for the waning force of the inflected future in Laurentian varieties of spoken French.
Worker Heterogeneity, Job Screening, and Firm Size

A model of job screening is developed in which firms make wage offers to workers based on an imperfect evaluation of their abilities. If large firms have higher costs of acquiring information about workers, they screen workers with less accuracy and choose a wage compensation scheme different from the one small firms choose. This generates the often observed positive correlation between firm size and wages. The model also predicts that wage structure, and perhaps wage dispersion, will differ by firm size and that individuals who acquire more schooling will also choose to work in a larger firm. These hypotheses are tested and supported using data from the National Longitudinal Survey.