Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Price of Stability: The Balance Sheet Policy of the Banque De France and the Gold Standard (1880-1914)

Under the classical gold standard (1880-1914), the Bank of France maintained a stable discount rate while the Bank of England changed its rate very frequently. Why did the policies of these central banks, the two pillars of the gold standard, differ so much? How did the Bank of France manage to keep a stable rate and continuously violate the “rules of the game”? This paper tackles these questions and shows that the domestic asset portfolio of the Bank of France played a crucial role in smoothing international shocks and in maintaining the stability of the discount rate. This policy provides a striking example of a central bank that uses its balance sheet to block the interest rate channel and protect the domestic economy from international constraints (Mundell’s trilemma).
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS AND TECHNOLOGICAL PERFORMANCE.

In this paper, I analyze the effect of M&A on technological performance as measured by patenting output and patents quality. I propose a model of the innovation process in which the process output depends on the resources available and on the incentives to employ them. I then discuss how M&A can provide new resources and modify the incentives. I identify the consequential effects on technological performance and test the predictions on sample of deals that took place in the U.S. "Medical devices and photographic equipment" sector between 1988 and 1996. Preliminary results indicate that M&A have a non-significant or positive effect on patenting output, but decrease patents importance, originality and generality.
Does monetary policy have differential regional effects

Do monetary policy actions have a uniform national effect? Or do the separate, but interdependent, regions of the country respond differently to changes in policy? In this article, Jerry Carlino and Bob DeFina demonstrate that monetary policy does have differential effects across regions. They also examine three reasons why the effects may differ: regional differences in the mix of interest-sensitive industries, in the ability of banks to alter their balance sheets, and in the mix of large and small borrowers.
Cost-effectiveness analysis of cast versus splint in children with acceptably angulated wrist fractures

Objectives: In a practice setting where casting is considered the standard of care, the aim of this study was to assess the cost-effectiveness of wrist splints compared with routine casting in children with acceptably angulated distal radius greenstick or transverse fractures. Methods: A cost-effectiveness analysis was conducted alongside a randomized controlled trial (RCT). One hundred children with acceptably angulated distal radius greenstick or transverse fractures received either a wrist splint or cast. Information on health care provider and patient and family resource use as well as productivity cost was collected. Resource use was costed using unit costs from local administrative data sources and expense diaries. Effectiveness was assessed at 6 weeks using the performance version of the Activities Scale for Kids (ASKp) questionnaire. Cost-effectiveness analysis related differential costs to differential ASKp scores. Results: Mean total cost was $877.58 in the splint group and $950.35 in the cast group, with a mean difference of $−72.76 (standard error [SE] 45.88). Mean total healthcare cost was $670.66 in the splint group and $768.22 in the cast group, with a mean difference of $−97.56 (SE 9.24). Mean (SE) ASKp was 92.8 in the splint group and 91.4 in the cast group, with a mean difference of 1.439 (SE 1.585). Therefore, splint management was more effective and cheaper. After accounting for uncertainty, the probability of splint being cost-effective compared with cast was 94 percent for a willingness-to-pay threshold value of $0 for one-unit gain in ASKp score and exceeded 82 percent for all threshold values. Conclusions: In this RCT, splint management was cost-effective compared with casting in children with acceptably angulated distal radius greenstick or transverse fractures. This study challenges the existing standard of care for children with this type of fracture and provides justification on clinical and economic grounds for a change in routine practice.
Abnormal Extension of the Femoral Head Epiphysis as a Cause of Cam Impingement

The etiology of an insufficient femoral head-neck offset has not been identified yet. It was investigated whether a decreased head-neck offset might be correlated with an unusual orientation of the physeal capital scar. Therefore, the femoral head-neck offset and the extension of the physeal scar onto the femoral neck were measured with specific magnetic resonance imaging arthrography. The measurements were done in 15 patients with anterior femoroacetabular impingement attributable to a nonspherical head and were compared with 15 age- and gender-matched control subjects. Eight serial magnetic resonance imaging sections perpendicular to the femoral neck axis were used in each hip to measure the head-neck offset and the epiphyseal extension toward the femoral neck at 16 measurement points. In both groups there was an inverse correlation between the amount of head-neck offset and the relative extension of the capital physeal scar in the cranial hemisphere of the head. Within the anterosuperior head quadrant, there was statistically significant different decrease of the head-neck offset and increase of the lateral epiphyseal extension in the patients compared with the control subjects. These findings suggest a growth abnormality of the capital physis as one probable underlying cause for a nonspherical head.
Effect of Laparoscopic Partial Fundoplication on Reflux Mechanisms

OBJECTIVES:Transient lower esophageal sphincter relaxations (TLESRs) are the main mechanism causing gastroesophageal reflux. Since 1994 we have performed laparoscopic partial instead of complete fundoplication as standard surgical treatment for therapy resistant reflux disease to minimize postoperative dysphagia. To better understand the management of gastroesophageal reflux, we conducted a prospective study of the effects of laparoscopic partial fundoplication on TLESRs and other reflux mechanisms.METHODS:From 1994 to 1999, 65 patients underwent laparoscopic partial fundoplication (180–200 degrees) and 28 of these patients (16 female, 12 male, mean age 43 ± 2 yr [range, 26–66 yr]) agreed to participate in this prospective study on reflux mechanisms. Before and 6 months after surgery, all patients were evaluated by simultaneous recording of pH and lower esophageal sphincter characteristics, using sleeve manometry.RESULTS:After partial fundoplication basal LES pressure increased significantly (p < 0.05), from 14.3 ± 1.2 mm Hg to 17.8 ± 1 mm Hg. Partial fundoplication significantly (p < 0.05) decreased the number of TLESRs, from 3.4 ± 0.8 to 1.6 ± 0.3 per hour in the fasting period, and from 4.7 ± 0.5 to 1.9 ± 0.3 per hour postprandially. The percentage of TLESRs associated with reflux also decreased significantly (p < 0.05), from 45 ± 7% to 27 ± 6% after operation. The number of reflux episodes decreased significantly (p < 0.05), from 4.1 ± 0.7 to 1.3 ± 0.3 per hour postoperatively. The majority of these episodes were associated with TLESRs: 57% and 46%, pre- and postoperatively, respectively.CONCLUSIONS:Laparoscopic partial fundoplication significantly increased fasting and postprandial LES pressure and significantly decreased TLESR frequency. This resulted in a significant reduction in esophageal acid exposure, with preservation of postprandial LES characteristics.
The Relation between Momentum and Drift: Industry-Level Evidence from Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)

We examine the industry-level relation between the two dominant asset pricing anomalies, the continuation of past price movements (momentum) and the incomplete reaction to earnings news (post-earnings-announcement drift). With the former having long been established in REIT returns, and the latter having only recently been documented, we show that the two returns phenomena are highly related in both the cross-section and time-series of industry-level returns, and the relation is negative. Additionally, the payoff to a REIT drift strategy largely dominates the payoff to a REIT momentum strategy in terms of greater economic magnitude and statistical significance.
Purchasing Power Parity under Regime Shifts: An Application to Asian Countries*

This paper re-examines the long-run purchasing power parity (PPP) relationship for nine Asian countries relative to the USA and Japan during a period containing significant structural breaks. The relevance of considering structural breaks in PPP tests is demonstrated by utilizing the Johansen et al. (2000) procedure that allows for up to two pre-determined structural breaks. Using conventional tests without considering breaks, one is able to reject the null of no cointegration for only four countries. The Johansen et al. procedure clearly demonstrates the importance of allowing for structural breaks and provides strong support for long-run PPP for all the countries, regardless of the base country, except in the case of the Philippines vis-a-vis Japan. The Hansen-Johansen parameter constancy test indicates stability for all the countries except the Philippines relative to the USA and Malaysia relative to Japan. Copyright 2008 The Author. Journal compilation 2008 East Asian Economic Association and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Analyzing Oil Futures with a Dynamic Nelson‐Siegel Model

The dynamic Nelson–Siegel model is used to model the term structure of futures contracts on oil and obtain forecasts of prices of these contracts. Three factors are extracted and modelled in a very flexible framework. The outcome of this exercise is a class of models which describes the observed prices of futures contracts well and performs better than conventional benchmarks in realistic real‐time out‐of‐sample exercises. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 36:153–173, 2016
Detection of Undiagnosed and Poorly Controlled Asthma in a Hospital-Based Outpatient Pediatric Primary Care Clinic Using a Health Risk Assessment System

Objective. To determine the rate of undiagnosed and poorly controlled asthma detected by a computerized health risk assessment (HRA) survey system in an urban pediatric hospital-based outpatient teaching clinic. Methods. A software-based HRA system uses survey answer patterns to identify children with (1) probable, (2) uncontrolled, and (3) moderate to severe asthma. Parents of patients > 2 years of age were asked by clinic staff to complete the touch screen computer survey before seeing their physician from August 2005 through July 2006. Results. The HRA survey predicted 26% (282/1,098) to have probable asthma. Of these, 51% (144/282) were controlled and the parents reported a previous diagnosis of asthma; 14% (40/282) were controlled and the parents did not report a previous diagnosis of asthma; 25% (71/282) were uncontrolled and the parents reported a previous diagnosis of asthma; and 10% (27/282) were uncontrolled and no previous diagnosis of asthma was reported by the parents. Among active cases completing the baseline version survey (N = 217), 68% reported emergency department (ED) visits / hospitalizations in the last 2 years (44% > 2), while 59% reported missed school days during the previous year (23% > 5 days). Impairment, as defined by the 2007 National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute/National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NHLBI/NAEPP) asthma guidelines, tended to be higher in patients without a previous diagnosis of asthma, per parental report, but this trend only achieved significance in two measures: daytime symptoms > 2 days per week in the last 4 weeks (p = 0.028) and more than 5 missed school days in the past year (p = 0.001). Conclusion. A previously validated HRA system can consistently identify a high rate of undiagnosed and poorly controlled asthma in an urban pediatric hospital–based teaching clinic. The utility of such a system would be to reduce missed opportunities for delivery of care and morbidity for the patients who currently have undiagnosed and/or uncontrolled asthma in the pediatric primary care outpatient setting.
The Impacts of Surrender Options on Reserve Durations

Estimating the interest rate risk of life insurance reserves is essential for insurers, and surrender options are critical to the estimation. This article advances our understanding of how surrender options affect the durations of reserves. We identify a pattern of the reserve duration with respect to the interest rate that is important in explaining how surrender rate levels and the interest‐rate sensitivity of surrenders affect reserve durations. We further found that the surrender behavior that is more positively related to the interest rate produces larger/smaller effective dollar durations when the interest rate is low/high.
Multi-product firms and exporting: a developing country perspective

In this paper we make the distinction between single-product and multi-product firms to contribute to our understanding of the complex relationship between multinational enterprises (MNEs), exporting and economic development. Using firm-level data for Thailand we show that the number of goods produced causes a larger variation in exports volumes than production volumes. Whilst the number of products and the total volume of exports are positively correlated we find, in contrast to US studies, a negative correlation between the number of products produced and the volume of production per product. We then investigate the characteristics associated with multi-product firms and find a distinction between foreign-owned and domestic firms. The presence of foreign firms producing single products solely for the domestic market as well as those producing many products for export demonstrates the diversity of behaviour of foreign-owned firms in developing countries.
Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis in Turner's syndrome.

An increased risk for autoimmune diseases has been recognized in Turner's syndrome (T.S.). However autoimmune rheumatic or connective tissue disorders have not been described. We report here on a 8-8/12 year old caucasian girl with T.S. and Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (JRA). The hypothesis that the association is more than casual is discussed.
An Improved Two‐Step Regularization Scheme for Spot Volatility Estimation

We are concerned with the problem of parameter estimation in Finance, namely the estimation of the spot volatility in the presence of the so-called microstructure noise. In [16] a scheme based on the technique of multi-step regularization was presented. It was shown that this scheme can work in a real-time manner. However, the main drawback of this scheme is that it needs a lot of observation data. The aim of the present paper is to introduce an improvement of the scheme such that the modified estimator can work more efficiently and with a data set of smaller size. The technical aspects of implementation of the scheme and its performance on simulated data are analyzed. The proposed scheme is tested against other estimators, namely a realized volatility type estimator, the Fourier estimator and two kernel estimators.
The role of leadership in international retail divestment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the role played by leadership in divestment decision making and indeed during the corporate restructuring phase for retail organisations. In doing so, the paper aims to contribute to a growing body of research that seeks to develop understanding of the factors leading to retail divestment and the nature of corporate response to divestment.Design/methodology/approach – A multiple case approach is utilised. The cases are selected from a database of international retail divestment activity over a longitudinal period.Findings – The paper demonstrates that divestment can be a response to “failure”, however, support is also provided for the assertion that divestment can be a strategic decision to devote resources more efficiently elsewhere, either at home or abroad. A key finding is the role of leadership and managerial stability in relation to divestment and restructuring at home and abroad.Research limitations/implications – The themes presented in this paper .
ADI Schemes for Pricing American Options under the Heston Model

Abstract In this article, a simple, effective adaptation of Alternating Direction Implicit time discretization schemes is proposed for the numerical pricing of American-style options under the Heston model via a partial differential complementarity problem. The stability and convergence of the new methods are extensively investigated in actual, challenging applications. In addition, a relevant theoretical result is proved.
Information and Communication Technologies: Their Use and Short and Long Run Effects

This paper examines the links between the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and the firm's performance using a sample of Luxembourgian manufacturing and services firms (2 183 firms). The data used is the 2008 Survey on ICT Usage and e-Commerce in Enterprises in the case of Luxembourg (STATEC, 2006, 2007). We found four original results. First, the use of the latest generation of ICT increases firms' revenues (short term returns) if the ICT use serves to customize their products. Second, the use of the latest generation of ICT enables long run returns if they are used for several purposes such as setting a catalogue online, developing e-commerce solutions and customizing the website. Third, while ICT seems to need dedicated human capital and technological absorptive capacity for increasing revenue, this is not valid for reaching new customers. Finally, we found also that â€œbelonging to a groupâ€ has no impact on increasing the revenue of the firm when it uses ICT, while it has a negative effect on capturing new customers.
Organizational Process Alignment and Dynamic Capabilities in High-Tech Industry

Abstract Increasing numbers of organizations are responding to competitive challenges by improving their core competencies. This study examines the adeptness of organizations in managing core processes related to organizational process alignment, and particularly their potential to generate superior performance using the dynamic capability approach. This study contends that organizational performance results primarily from organizational process alignment. A questionnaire survey was conducted to test three hypothesizes. The findings demonstrate that although organizational process alignment positively affected organizational performance in this study, its influence was mediated by organizational dynamic capability. The data also demonstrate that the proposed structural equation model has marginal fit. The implications of this study for research and management practice are provided. The limitations of the study are highlighted and future research directions are suggested.
Novel rescue procedure for inferior vena cava reconstruction in living‐donor liver transplantation using a vascular graft recovered 25 h after donors' circulatory death and systematic review

Liver transplantation is a lifesaving treatment for patients suffering from end‐stage liver disease. Rarely, acute congestion of the inferior vena cava (IVC) is being encountered because of tumor compression. MELD allocation does not reflect severity of this condition because of lack of organ failure. Herein, a patient is being presented undergoing urgent living‐donor liver transplantation (LDLT) with IVC reconstruction for a fast‐growing hepatic epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (HEH). IVC reconstruction using a venous graft recovered from a 25‐h after circulatory‐death prior transplantation became necessary to compensate severe venous congestion. Additionally, a systematic review of the literature searching MEDLINE/PubMed was performed. Protocol and eligibility criteria were specified in advance and registered at the PROSPERO registry (CRD42013004827). Published literature of IVC reconstruction in LDLT was selected. Two reports describing IVC reconstruction with cryopreserved IVC grafts and one IVC reconstruction using a deceased after‐circulatory‐death‐donor IVC graft were included. Follow‐up was at 12 and 13 months, respectively. Regarding the graft recovery in the setting of living‐related donation, this graft remained patent during the nine‐month follow‐up period. This is the first report on the use of a venous graft from a circulatory‐death‐donor, not eligible for whole organ recovery. We demonstrate in this study the feasibility of using a size and blood‐group‐compatible IVC graft from a cold‐stored donor, which can solve the problem of urgent IVC reconstruction in patients undergoing LDLT.
Chemotherapy of Amanita phalloides Poisoning with Intravenous Silibinin

1 A total of 18 cases of Amanita phalloides intoxication was treated by combined chemotherapy during 1980 and 1981. After attempted primary elimination of the toxin all patients received silibinin as basic therapy mainly by infusion and in two instances orally. 2 In order to evaluate the effect of silibinin therapy a retrospective study of the followed-up case records was made. The cases were arbitrarily classified into three groups according to the severity of liver damage (light, medium and severe). 3 There was found a close relationship between the severity of liver injury and the delay between mushroom ingestion and the onset of silibinin therapy. With the exception of one fatality in a particularly high dosage suicidal intoxication, all patients survived. 4 Administration of silibinin even up to 48 h after mushroom ingestion appears to be an effective measure to prevent severe liver damage in Amanita phalloides poisoning. Contrarily, the onset of general supportive treatment together with penicillin therapy which was throughout several hours before silibinin adminstration did not correlate with the severity of liver damage.
Crime and the design of residential property – exploring the theoretical background ‐ Part 1

This paper provides a critical review of “Defensible Space” (Newman, 1973) and traces the development of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) in America and Canada, and Secured By Design (SBD) initiatives in the UK. It is argued that various aspects of the theory have avoided consideration and require further investigation and research. It is opined that “defensible space” is the theoretical foundation to both CPTED and SBD and it is posited that a thorough re‐examination of Newman’s ideas will serve to deepen our understanding of the complex relationship between the built environment and crime. British (BS8220) and European (CEN TC/325) Standards relating to urban planning and environmental design and crime reduction are currently receiving detailed deliberation and are based firmly upon Newman’s ideas. The projected need for some 4.4 million new homes in Britain (DOE, 1995) by 2016 and Lord Roger’s call for improvements in urban design to reduce suburban migration from cities (DETR, 1999) reiterates the importance of the subject matter. This paper (the first of two) recognises that design per se does not represent the panacea for reducing criminogeneity, rather, that “defensible space” CPTED and SBD should be considered as crime prevention strategies, which can, in common with all other initiatives, contribute to tackling the problem of residential crime. In conclusion, it is argued that further research concerning how “defensible space” is perceived by various crucial stakeholders in society is the way forward in this regard. A second, forthcoming paper (PM, Vol. 19 No. 3) will present these research findings.