Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dyspnea in hospitalized advanced cancer patients: subjective and physiologic correlates.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE It is unclear if physiologic measures are useful for assessing dyspnea. We examined the association among the subjective rating of dyspnea according to patients with advanced cancer, caregivers and nurses, and various physiologic measures. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional survey of patients with cancer hospitalized at MD Anderson Cancer Center. We asked patients, caregivers, and nurses to assess the patients' dyspnea at the time of study enrollment independently using a numeric rating scale (0=none, 10=worst). Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS) ratings, causes of dyspnea, vitals, and Respiratory Distress Observation Scale [RDOS] ratings were collected. RESULTS A total of 299 patients were enrolled in the study: average age 62 (range 20-98), female 47%, lung cancer 37%, and oxygen use 57%. The median RDOS rating was 2/16 (interquartile range 1-3) and the number of potential causes was 3 (range 2-4), with pleural effusion (n=166, 56%), pneumonia (n=144, 48%), and lung metastasis (n=125, 42%) being the most common. The median intensity of patients' dyspnea at the time of assessment was 3 (interquartile range 0-6) for patients, 4 (interquartile range 1-6) for caregivers, and 2 (interquartile range 0-3) for bedside nurses. Patients' expression of dyspnea correlated moderately with caregivers' (r=0.68, p<0.001) and nurses' (r=0.50, p<0.001) assessments, and weakly with RDOS (r=0.35, p<0.001), oxygen level (r=0.32, p<0.001), and the number of potential causes (r=0.19, p=0.001). In multivariate analysis, patients' dyspnea was only independently associated with ESAS dyspnea (p=0.002) and dyspnea as assessed by caregivers (p<0.001). CONCLUSION Patients' level of dyspnea was weakly associated with physiologic measures. Caregivers' perception may be a useful surrogate for dyspnea assessment.
Oral and dental conditions of children with selective IgA deficiency

Oral conditions in selective IgA deficiency in children have rarely been published. Our aims were to investigate their mucosal, periodontal, and cariological conditions in IgA deficient children matched with healthy controls and to draw data on their oral health in the North‐East Region of Hungary. Thirty four patients and 111 healthy controls, matched by age and sex, were studied for oral mucosal disorders, periodontal disease, and caries. Mucosal diseases were found in 10 (29%) patients. The severity of periodontal lesions characterized by plaque index, gingival index and pocket depth (exceeding more than 3 mms) was similar in patients and controls. A significant difference was observed in caries experience of the primary, but not in the permanent dentition as assessed by the dmf/DMF‐t/T; s/S system used universally to quantitate decayed, missing, and filled teeth and tooth surfaces both in primary (small letters) and in permanent (capital letters) dentitions. Patients with IgA deficiency had significantly higher dmft, and dmfs indices than controls, supporting the notion that children with selective IgA deficiency exhibit an increased risk for developing dental caries. However the severities of mucosal or periodontal disorders are comparable with that in the normal population.
Presidential Mandates and the Dynamics of Senate Advice and Consent, 1885-1996

We examine the dynamics of Senate advice and consent for executive branch nominations from 1885 to 1996 using multinomial logit and hazard analysis. We add to the literature by considering the importance of elections on the process. In particular, we assess how presidential mandates might influence the duration and success of nominations to the executive branch. The analysis captures political nuances previously unconsidered that follow from the different ways that nominations terminate, whether through confirmation, rejection or withdrawal by the president, or expiration. As shown previously, divided government matters, especially during periods of ideological polarization in the Senate. Nominations fail more of ten and take longer. However, perceptions of electoral mandate strengthen the president’s position vis-à-vis the Senate, smoothing the president’s path to a more effective transition and staffing of the federal bureaucracy.
Is the Sky the Limit? Can Japanese Government Bonds Continue to Defy Gravity?

This paper presents a simulation model based on the growth rate, the inflation rate, and the consumption tax rate in the future. Future tax revenues and fiscal expenditures are projected using regression models estimated from past data. The fiscal situation is called unsustainable if the outstanding amount of Japanese government bonds (JGBs) becomes higher than the level of private sector financial assets. We focus on the general account of the central government, which is the source of JGB issues. We find that the higher the economic growth, the more likely it is that the fiscal situation is sustainable. When a larger portion of interest income is reinvested in JGBs, the chance is higher that the fiscal situation is sustainable. Most importantly, raising the consumption tax to 20% guarantees fiscal sustainability in most cases. Our analysis shows that without a consumption tax hike beyond the 10% rate, a fiscal crisis will be almost a certainty, even with a real economic growth rate of 2% despite a shrinking labor force. A reasonably quick hike of the consumption tax, namely a hike by 1% a year, up to 20%, combined with high or moderate economic growth rates, seems to keep the economy out of a fiscal crisis, where a moderate growth rate is defined to be generated by a productivity increase per working‐age population of 1.9%, which was the average during the Koizumi years.
The Effect of Asymmetric Information and Transaction Costs on Asset Pricing: Theory and Test

This paper presents a capital asset pricing model in the presence of asymmetric information and transaction costs. The model is a generalized version of Merton's (1987) model and Black's (1974) model. Empirical tests show a negative relation between the expected rate of return and the shadow costs of incomplete information. The results in this paper have the potential to explain the home bias equity in a domestic and an international context.
Foreign Direct Investment and the Incentives to Innovate and Imitate

We propose a new channel of FDI spillovers on domestic firms, which operates through imitation of original products. Domestic heterogeneous firms may not introduce any new products, introduce a new product line (innovate), or develop a variety that is a close substitute to an existing product line (imitate). The presence of foreign firms generates incentives for imitation because they introduce original products that are vertically differentiated from domestic products. Using firm-level panel data for China, we find that increased FDI presence in a given industry leads to more imitation, but not necessarily more innovation, by domestic firms.
The Welfare State we're in: Organisations of the unemployed in action in Paris and Berlin

The following thesis looks at the contentious action of the unemployed in Paris and Berlin. The thesis investigates the role of local organisations of the unemployed in contentious activities. More specifically, it looks at the forms of collective action these local organisations are engaged in, and asks about which conditions lead to the disruptive activities considered crucial for poor people’s actors. This is done by analysing different empirical sources: semi-structured interviews, participant observation, surveys, and expert interviews. In order to describe the forms of contentious engagement seen and the role of local organisations, the second part employs an analytical descriptive approach. In an attempt to explain the tactical choices of organisations of the unemployed I link four different conditions (access to resources, access to the field of institutionalised actors, belonging to a counter-cultural network and movement experience) to the use of disruptive activities. Combining all four conditions I then carry out a Comparative Qualitative Analysis (QCA). One important insight of the thesis is that contentious action by the poor can be stabilised over time. Further, the thesis also shows that the two fields of local organisations are characterised by different features. Some features, for example the existence of certain types of organisations – as defined by their preferred activities can be explained by the political system and, more particularly, by the institutions of contention present in each country. However, there are also many similarities between the fields, showing that national opportunity structures explain only some aspects of contentious action. In looking at the conditions leading to the use of disruptive action, the thesis shows that political opportunities are just one of several other factors that explain types of contentious engagement. The thesis disconfirms the assumption of the central role of exclusion from centres of political and discursive power and the lack of resources in accounting for disruptive action. It is more important that organisations of the unemployed belong to a counter-cultural network, defined as a necessary, albeit not a sufficient condition for disruptive action. Jury: Klaus Eder (Humboldt-Universitat Berlin), Donatella Della Porta (EUI, supervisor), Colin Crouch (University of Warwick, Business School), Marco Giugni (Universite de Geneve)
Evaluation of a Tunnel Barrier in Superconducting NbN Junctions With Subharmonic Gap Structures

We have investigated the current density dependence of subharmonic gap structures in NbN tunnel junctions. Using multiple Andreev reflection theory for a homogeneous barrier, we evaluated barrier transparency for junctions with various current densities ranging from 4 to 20 kA/cm2 by observing the current step height at a voltage of 2Delta/ne for n = 1, 2, and 3. The results suggest that the tunnel barrier in NbN junctions is inhomogeneous due to a small number of "thinner" regions with high transparency. This transparency is still in the low transmission regime and is independent of the current density. This evaluation method should be useful for understanding the nature of tunnel barriers.
Local Elite Reconfiguration in Post-new Order Indonesia: The 2005 Election of District Government Heads in South Sulawesi

The decentralisation law in South Sulawesi outlined new institutional procedures for the direct election of local government heads, Pemilihan Kepala Daerah Langsung or Pilkada for short. This paper will show that despite the continued dominance of the entrenched political class, only candidates with strong personal networks at the sub-district (kecamatan) level had a reasonable chance of winning in the direct elections.
Productivity of travel agencies in Spain: the case of Alicante

The main objective of this study is to analyse the productivity of travel agencies located in Alicante (Spain) in order to obtain results that will complement other previous findings based on efficiency. Malmquist indices and the smoothed bootstrap method have been selected to carry out this analysis. In addition, the Mann–Whitney U test has been adopted to study the relationships between levels of productivity, ownership type, location and experience. In the light of this new perspective, the results do not present an optimistic view of the evolution of the economic activity of the agencies. Furthermore, some of the variables, such as location, have a different effect.
THE HAMADA AND CONINE LEVERAGE ADJUSTMENTS AND THE ESTIMATION OF SYSTEMATIC RISK FOR MULTISEGMENT FIRMS

The Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) identifies beta (or systematic risk) as the only firm-specific determinant of expected return. ' The key role of beta within the CAPM has led to a considerable body of theoretical beta decomposition research. '^ In general, this research has used a variety of assumptions to model the corporate determinants of beta. The theoretical research has, of course, been accompanied by related empirical work. Typically, the empirical studies have used publicly-available data to examine the ability of the operationalized models to explain and/or predict beta and equity returns. This study extends the model estimation and beta measurement literature. Using the theoretical work of Hamada (1969 and 1972), Conine (1980), and Rubinstein (1973), this study compares the relative ability of several beta estimates to explain and predict the equity returns of a sample of multis.egment firms. ^ The estimation issues associated with the Hamada and Conine financial leverage adjustments are emphasized. As such, this research provides a more complete examination ofthe issues raised by Fuller and Kerr (1981) and Conine and Tamarkin (1985) as to the appropriateness of financial leverage adjustments in the estimation of divisional and multisegment firm risk. The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. The next section describes the related theoretical and empirical research. The estimation issues and measurement procedures are discussed in the third section and the empirical results are presented in the fourth section. The fmal section contains the research conclusions and recommendations.
Selecting a Business College Major: An Analysis of Criteria and Choice Using the Analytical Hierarchy Process

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education (2001), 15 percent of entering freshmen believe that there is a good chance they will change their college major and 8 percent are undecided. To gain insight into the criteria that students use to select a major, a model of the student decision making process was developed using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). This model predicted student’s first choice major with 88 percent accuracy for sophomores and seniors. An analysis of the criteria revealed judgement inconsistencies, particularly for accounting, finance, and decision science majors. Not surprisingly, sophomores were more inconsistent in their decision making than were seniors. It was also determined that students clustered the majors into two separate groups, viewing accounting, finance and decision science majors differently than marketing and management majors
Hepatitis B virus sequencing and liver fibrosis evaluation in HIV/HBV co‐infected Nigerians

Molecular characteristics of hepatitis B virus (HBV), such as genotype and genomic mutations, may contribute to liver‐related morbidity and mortality. The association of these characteristics with liver fibrosis severity in sub‐Saharan Africa is uncertain. We aimed to characterise molecular HBV features in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/HBV co‐infected Nigerians and evaluate associations between these characteristics and liver fibrosis severity before and after antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation.
Does Corporate Headquarters Location Matter for Stock Returns?

We document strong comovement in the stock returns of firms headquartered in the same geographic area. Moreover, stocks of companies that change their headquarters location experience a decrease in their comovement with stocks from the old location and an increase in their comovement with stocks from the new location. The local comovement of stock returns is not explained by economic fundamentals and is stronger for smaller firms with more individual investors and in regions with less financially sophisticated residents. We argue that price formation in equity markets has a significant geographic component linked to the trading patterns of local residents.
Biocontrol activity and patulin‐removal effects of Bacillus subtilis, Rhodobacter sphaeroides and Agrobacterium tumefaciens against Penicillium expansum

This study was conducted to evaluate the biocontrol potential of Bacillus subtilis CICC 10034, Rhodobacter sphaeroides CGMCC 1.2182 and Agrobacterium tumefaciens CGMCC 1.2554 against patulin (PAT)‐producer Penicillium expansum and their ability to remove PAT.
Mongolian and World Equity Markets: Volatilities and Correlations

After more than 10 years since the establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), this paper studies how variances and correlations have evolved in four SCO countries’ equity markets (China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Russia) relative to Japanese, US and EU markets. We focus on the Mongolian equity market. We trace stock market co-movements of Mongolia and SCO member countries to the world market since the inauguration of the SCO in 2001. We also take into account the effects of recent world financial crisis in the region. As compared to the increasing global trend of market integration among countries, we don’t find any significant contagion among SCO countries in the first half of sample periods. After 2005, market integrations among SCO countries are evident.
Rational Expectations and Security Analysts' Earnings Forecasts

This paper investigates the rationality of security analysts' forecasts. The forecasts of analysts participating in Lynch, Jones, and Ryan's "Institutional Brokers Estimate System" (I/B/E/S) data base are evaluated relative to past values of their own forecast errors, past values of forecasted earnings per share, and quarterly percentage changes in publicly available macroeconomic and financial time series. The publicly available series include the the consumer price index, unemployment rate, oil prices stock prices, gross national product, and corporate profits. The authors conduct a generalized orthogonality test and include only information available to analysts at the time the forecasts are made. The empirical results reject analyst forecast rationality, but not without exception. Copyright 1995 by MIT Press.
Timing of the Components of the HIV Life Cycle in Productively Infected CD4+ T Cells in a Population of HIV-Infected Individuals

ABSTRACT We estimate the time required for HIV to complete separate stages of its infection cycle in productively infected CD4+ T cells in vivo by comparing initial delays after administration of single antiretroviral drugs until HIV RNA reduction in peripheral blood. Data were obtained from monotherapy studies of eight antiretroviral drugs from all currently licensed HIV drug classes: CCR5 blockers (maraviroc), fusion inhibitors (enfuvirtide), nucleoside and nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (abacavir, tenofovir, and rilpivirine), integrase inhibitors (raltegravir), and protease inhibitors (ritonavir and nelfinavir). We find that HIV requires an average of 52 h between export of virions in one generation to export in the next, with most of this (33 h) taken up by reverse transcription. Reverse transcription in vivo was three times longer than in vitro and began soon after virion fusion, as we determined no difference in mean times for commencement of reverse transcription and virion fusion as calculated by timing of the effects for tenofovir and maraviroc. Approximately 7 h is required between HIV integration and virion production. First-phase HIV RNA decay (half-life of 17 h over all drugs) seemed to slow as the stage being inhibited by the drug was further from viral production. The mean estimated half-life of plasma virions was 5 min, significantly shorter than previous estimates.
Comparison of castile soap, benzalkonium chloride, and bacitracin as irrigation solutions for complex contaminated orthopaedic wounds.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of cleaning a contaminated orthopaedic wound with different classes of wound irrigation solutions. STUDY DESIGN Rats with a contaminated orthopaedic wound were randomized into treatment groups: normal saline (NS), castile soap (CS), benzalkonium chloride (BzC), bacitracin (Abx), or sequential irrigation with BzC, CS, and NS. INTERVENTION Pseudomonas aeruginosa [P. aeruginosa; 1 x 10(6) colony-forming units (CFU)], or Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus; 1 x 10(6) CFU) were placed into a paravertebral wound (containing a wire implant placed through a spinous process) and allowed to incubate for fifteen minutes. The wound was then irrigated with three liters of either NS, 0.05 percent CS, 0.03 percent BzC, Abx (33,000 units per liter) or underwent a sequential irrigation treatment (one liter each of BzC, CS, NS). MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS The animals were observed daily for wound complications for fourteen days and then killed, and cultures of the wound were obtained. RESULTS Pseudomonas aeruginosa: Both CS and the sequential irrigation treatment significantly lowered the rate of positive wound cultures when compared with NS (p < 0.05). Irrigation with BzC resulted in a higher rate of positive wound cultures and complications. The sequential irrigation treatment prevented the wound complications associated with irrigation with BzC alone. Staphylococcus aureus: Only BzC irrigation significantly lowered the rate of positive wound cultures when compared with NS (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION The rate of positive wound cultures due to P. aeruginosa is effectively reduced by irrigation with CS alone or by the sequential irrigation treatment. When used alone, the antiseptic BzC results in a higher rate of positive wound cultures and wound complications. The wound complications seen with irrigation with BzC alone are prevented by the sequential irrigation treatment (BzC followed by CS and NS). The rate of positive wound cultures in this model due to S. aureus is not decreased by irrigation with CS; however, the rate of positive wound cultures is safely and effectively decreased with the use of BzC.
Preparing the HR profession for technology and information work

Technology and human resource management have broad influences upon each other. Technology not only changes the administration of human resources (HR), which is the domain of e-HR, but also changes organizations and work. HR professionals must be able to adopt technologies that allow the reengineering of the HR function, be prepared to support organizational and work-design changes enabled by technology, and be able to support the proper managerial climate for innovative and knowledge-based organizations. An examination of HR professional degree programs shows that traditional HR education has poorly prepared the HR profession for these challenges. To address this shortfall, HR education must be revised to provide a greater focus on technological issues, and HR educators must acquire the skills needed to teach these courses. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Clinico-epidemiological Profile of Patients with Liver Abscess: A Hospital Based Study

Background: Liver abscess is not an uncommon disease entity. Early diagnosis and prompt interventions improve the survival and outcome of the disease. Our objectives were to see the common types of liver abscesses prevalent in the area, to study the different socio-demographic and clinical correlates and to compare between the major types of liver abscesses. Materials and methods: This hospital based cross sectional study was conducted during June 2009 to May 2010 among patients presenting with signs and symptoms of Liver Abscess (LA) attending Surgery Dept. of the institution. Confirmation of diagnosis was made by abdominal Ultra sonography (USG) and examination of aspirates. Socio demographic and clinical information were collected in a pre-designed and pre-tested schedule.
Dynamic Switching Response of Semiconductor Ring Lasers to NRZ and RZ Injection Signals

Dynamic response of semiconductor ring lasers (SRLs) to external optical injection with nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) and return-to-zero (RZ) waveforms is investigated using a model including linear and nonlinear mode coupling. The switching characteristics are simulated under various device sizes, injection power levels, and frequency detuning. For NRZ, the switching time reduces with decreasing SRL radius, which has a reasonable agreement with the current experimental results. It is also demonstrated that RZ pulse with duration of several picoseconds can reliably switch 6-mum radius SRL over a detuning range of more than 100 GHz, with the end state self-sustained after switching.