Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Duffy antigen receptor for chemokines in acute renal failure: A facilitator of renal chemokine presentation

Objective:Acute renal failure remains a major challenge in critical care medicine. Both neutrophils and chemokines have been proposed as key components in the development of acute renal failure. Although the Duffy antigen receptor for chemokines (DARC) is present in several tissues and a highly specific ligand for various chemokines, its exact role in vivo remains unclear. Design:Prospective, controlled experimental study. Setting:University-based research laboratory. Subjects:C57BL/6 wild-type and DARC gene-deficient mice (DARC−/−). Interventions:To unravel the functional relevance of DARC in vivo, we compared wild-type and DARC−/− using neutrophil-dependent models of acute renal failure, induced by either local (renal ischemia-reperfusion) or systemic (endotoxemia, lipopolysaccharide) injury. Measurements and Main Results:Plasma creatinine and blood urea nitrogen concentrations served as indicators of renal function or dysfunction. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were used to measure tissue and plasma chemokine concentrations. We also performed immunostaining to localize chemokine expression and flow cytometry to evaluate neutrophil recruitment into the kidney. Following renal injury, wild-type mice developed moderate renal ischemia-reperfusion(lipopolysaccharide, 300% increase in plasma creatinine concentrations) to severe acute renal failure (renal ischemia-reperfusion, 40% mortality) as well as extensive renal neutrophil recruitment. DARC−/− mice exhibited no renal dysfunction (renal ischemia-reperfusion) or only very mild renal dysfunction (lipopolysaccharide, 20% increase in serum creatinine concentrations). DARC−/− mice showed no postischemic neutrophil infiltration. Although DARC−/− and wild-type mice exhibited similar global renal neutrophil-recruitment during endotoxemia, DARC−/− mice showed significantly impaired neutrophil extravasation. Total renal concentrations of the chemokine macrophage inflammatory protein 2, which has been shown to bind to DARC and to be crucial in postischemic acute renal failure, were either identical (lipopolysaccharide) or only moderately different (renal ischemia-reperfusion) between wild-type and DARC−/− mice. Immunostaining revealed an absence of macrophage inflammatory protein-2 in renal endothelial cells of DARC−/− mice. Conclusions:We suggest that DARC predominantly exerts its effects by controlling spatial chemokine distribution, which in turn regulates neutrophil recruitment and subsequent acute renal failure.
Behavioural Intention to Adopt Mobile Technology among Tertiary Students

This research aims to investigate the factors that influence the behavioral intention of the adoption of Mobile Technology in the Learning Environment (MTLE) of Malaysia. The rapid growth of Third generation (3G) mobile technology has radically changed the lifestyle of our students. 3G mobile technology incorporates voice data and Internet access, making smart phones similar to personal computers. These mobile features attract the patronage of the entire student population. As a result, Malaysia has the second-highest number of phone users in the region. This study aims to identify the determinants that influence MTLE adoption and propose the incorporation of such technology into the educational environment of students and universities. A total of 351 participants from private universities participated in the study. The Modified Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model is adopted to determine the factors that influence the behavioral intention behind the use of MTLE. The result indicates that performance expectancy, affordability and pedagogy have a significant impact on student adoption of MTLE. Moreover, there is no significant effect on both age and gender as moderators is observed. This paper is a significant contribution to the UTUAT model. In addition, it addresses educational issues with regard to the shift from a traditional learning environment to a blended learning environment.
Can Expected Utility Theory Explain Gambling

We investigate the ability of expected utility theory to account for simultaneous gambling and insurance. Contrary to a previous claim that borrowing and lending in perfect capital markets rules out a demand for gambles, we show that expected utility theory with non-concave utility functions can still explain gambling. When the rates of interest and time preference are equal, agents will seek to gamble unless income falls in a finite set of exceptional values. When these rates differ, there will be a range of incomes for which gambles are desired. In both cases repeated gambling is not explained but market imperfections such as different borrowing and lending rates can account for persistent gambling provided the rates span the rate of time preference.
Minimum Wages in Colombia: Holding the Middle With a Bite on the Poor

This paper exploits the long history of the minimum wage in a relatively stable developing economy like Colombia in order to see whether it may alleviate the living conditions of low income families and reduce income inequality. The paper does not only explore how the minimum wage may serve these purposes, but also how it may distort market outcomes to do so. We found significant negative minimum wage effects on both the likelihood of being employed and hours worked for all family members, being it stronger for women, and the young and less educated people. We also found a positive effect on non-head participation especialilly in families with low human capial. But, more important, we found evidence that the minimum wage ends up being regressive, improving the living conditions of families in the middle and the upper part of the income distribution with net losses for those at the bottom.
Learning with restricted focus of attention

We consider learning tasks in which the learner faces restrictions on the amount of information he can extract from each example he encounters. We introduce a formal framework for the analysis of such scenarios. We call this framework RFA (restricted focus of attention) learning. Although it is a natural refinement of the PAC learning model, some of the fundamental PAC-learning results and techniques fail in the RFA paradigm; learnability in the RFA model is no longer characterized by the VC dimension, and many PAC learning algorithms are not applicable in the RFA setting. Hence, the RFA formulation reflects the need for new techniques and tools to cope with some fundamental constraints of realistic learning problems. In this work we also present some paradigms and algorithms that may serve as a first step toward answering this need. Two main types of restrictions are considered here: In the more stringent one, calledk-RFA, onlykof thenattributes of each example are revealed to the learner, while in the more permissive one, calledk-wRFA, the restriction is made on the size of each observation (kbits), and no restriction is made on how the observations are extracted from the examples. For thek-RFA restriction we develop a general technique for composing efficientk-RFA algorithms and apply it to deduce, for instance, the efficientk-RFA learnability ofk-DNF formulas and the efficient 1-RFA learnability of axis-aligned rectangles in the Euclidean spaceRn. We also prove thek-RFA learnability of richer classes of Boolean functions (such ask-decision lists) with respect to a given distribution and the efficient (n? 1)-RFA learnability (for fixedn), under product distributions, of classes of subsets ofRnwhich are defined by mild surfaces. For thek-wRFA restriction, we show that fork=O(logn), efficientk-wRFA learning is robust against classification noise. As a straight- forward application, we obtain a new simple noise-tolerant algorithm for the class ofk-decision lists by constructing an intuitivek-wRFA algorithm for this task.
Dispersion in Analysts＇ Forecasts and Stock Prices： An Empirical Test

The aim of the paper is to study the dispersion phenomena among financial analysts’ judgments and how this influences stock prices. To address this issue, the article has undertaken an empirical investigation of the relationship between expected earnings, as in financial analysts’ forecasts, and stock prices. It considers the dispersion in analysts’ forecast as a proxy of the security risk. As a matter of fact, the return volatility is the most accurate measure of risk, then, consistently, it is correct to consider the earnings’ standard deviation relative to analysts’ expectations as a measure of risk. It chose a regression model to test the research hypothesis and to confirm the inverse relationship between stock prices and the dispersion in analysts’ forecasts in terms of expected earnings. The analysis was conducted on a sample of securities listed on the Eurostoxx 50®. The sample covers a period of six years, from 2002 to 2007, because it is supposed that after 2008, the securities price were strongly influenced by extra-economic factors. The result of the empirical test shows an inverse relationship between the price of the security and the dispersion among analysts’ judgment: the broader the dispersion is, the higher the risk is, with a lowering effect on security price. So, this result seems to confirm that the dispersion in predictions could be considered as a proxy of risk. The outcome has some interesting managerial implications as the insight that strategic maneuvers undertaken to reduce the dispersion among analysts’ forecasts have a positive impact on a security’s price and, consequently, on the company market value.
An Efficient Representation for Computing Geodesics Between n-Dimensional Elastic Shapes

We propose an efficient representation for studying shapes of closed curves inR n . This paper combines the strengths of two important ideas - elastic shape metric and path-straightening methods - and results in a very fast algorithm for finding geodesics in shape spaces. The elastic metric allows for optimal matching of features between the two curves while path-straightening ensures that the algorithm results in geodesic paths. For the novel representation proposed here, the elastic metric becomes the simpleL 2 metric, in contrast to the past usage where more complex forms were used. We present the step-by-step algorithms for computing geodesics and demonstrate them with 2-D as well as 3-D examples.
Acknowledging Misspecification in Macroeconomic Theory

We explore methods for confronting model misspecification in macroeconomics. We construct dynamic equilibria in which private agents and policy makers recognize that models are approximations. We explore two generalizations of reational expectations equilibria. In one of these equilibria, decision-makers use dynamic evolution equations that are imperfect statistical approximations, and in the other misspecification is impossible to detect even from infinite samples of time series data. In the first of these equilibria, decision rules are tailored to be robust to the allowable statistical discrepancies. Using frequency domain methods, we show that robust decision-makers treat model misspecification like time series econometricians.
Invasive candidiasis as a cause of sepsis in the critically ill patient

Invasive fungal infections are an increasingly frequent etiology of sepsis in critically ill patients causing substantial morbidity and mortality. Candida species are by far the predominant agent of fungal sepsis accounting for 10% to 15% of health-care associated infections, about 5% of all cases of severe sepsis and septic shock and are the fourth most common bloodstream isolates in the United States. One-third of all episodes of candidemia occur in the intensive care setting. Early diagnosis of invasive candidiasis is critical in order to initiate antifungal agents promptly. Delay in the administration of appropriate therapy increases mortality. Unfortunately, risk factors, clinical and radiological manifestations are quite unspecific and conventional culture methods are suboptimal. Non-culture based methods (such as mannan, anti-mannan, β-d-glucan, and polymerase chain reaction) have emerged but remain investigational or require additional testing in the ICU setting. Few prophylactic or pre-emptive studies have been performed in critically ill patients. They tended to be underpowered and their clinical usefulness remains to be established under most circumstances. The antifungal armamentarium has expanded considerably with the advent of lipid formulations of amphotericin B, the newest triazoles and the echinocandins. Clinical trials have shown that the triazoles and echinocandins are efficacious and well tolerated antifungal therapies. Clinical practice guidelines for the management of invasive candidiasis have been published by the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases and the Infectious Diseases Society of North America.
The Usability and Content Accessibility of the E-government in the UK

This study investigates the usability and content accessibility of today’s UK e-government websites and investigates whether they are ranked high in terms of accessibility and usability and if these two measures are correlated. The usability and accessibility of fifty selected UK egovernment websites were measured using two automatic evaluation tools: Bobby and LIFT. Based on these automatic evaluation results, ten selected websites were further evaluated with expert evaluation methods: heuristics evaluation and cognitive walkthrough. Assistive technology was also used in the evaluation to assess the accessibility issues. The results show a relatively high compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and a relatively low usability rating for most UK e-government websites.
Development and Evaluation of a Next-Generation Digital PCR Diagnostic Assay for Ocular Chlamydia trachomatis Infections

ABSTRACT Droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) is an emulsion PCR process that performs absolute quantitation of nucleic acids. We developed a ddPCR assay for Chlamydia trachomatis infections and found it to be accurate and precise. Using PCR mixtures containing plasmids engineered to include the PCR target sequences, we were able to quantify with a dynamic range between 0.07 and 3,160 targets/μl (r 2 = 0.9927) with >95% confidence. Using 1,509 clinical conjunctival swab samples from a population in which trachoma is endemic in Guinea Bissau, we evaluated the specificity and sensitivity of the quantitative ddPCR assay in diagnosing ocular C. trachomatis infections by comparing the performances of ddPCR and the Roche Amplicor CT/NG test. We defined ddPCR tests as positive when we had ≥95% confidence in a nonzero estimate of target load. The sensitivity of ddPCR against Amplicor was 73.3% (95% confidence interval [CI], 67.9 to 78.7%), and specificity was 99.1% (95% CI, 98.6 to 99.6%). Negative and positive predictive values were 94.6% (95% CI, 93.4 to 95.8%) and 94.5% (95% CI, 91.3 to 97.7%), respectively. Based on Amplicor CT/NG testing, the estimated population prevalence of C. trachomatis ocular infection was ∼17.5%. Receiver-operator curve analysis was used to select critical cutoff values for use in clinical settings in which a balance between higher sensitivity and specificity is required. We concluded that ddPCR is an effective diagnostic technology suitable for both research and clinical use in diagnosing ocular C. trachomatis infections.
Symbiotic Reflection between an Object-Oriented and a Logic Programming Language

Meta-programming is the act of using one system or language to reason about another one. Reflection describes systems that have access to and change a causally connected representation of themselves, hence leading to self-extensible systems . Up to now, most of the reflective languages have been implemented in the same paradigm. In this paper, we propose \emphsymbiotic reflection as a way to integrate a meta programming language with the object-oriented language it reasons about and is implemented in. New to this approach is that any element of the implementation language can be reasoned about and acted upon (not only the self representation), and that both languages are of different paradigms. Moreover, every language implementer that is faced with the problem of allowing the base language to access the underlying meta-language has to solve the problem of enabling entity transfer between both worlds. We propose a uniform schema, called upping/downing, to this problem that avoid explicit wrapping or typechecking. We illustrate this with SOUL (the Smalltalk Open Unification Language), a logic programming language in symbiotic reflection with the object-oriented language Smalltalk. We show how SOUL does logic reasoning directly on Smalltalk objects, and how to use this to implement type snooping
Influence of stability on the flux-profile relationships for wind speed, Φ m , and temperature, Φ h , for the stable atmospheric boundary layer

Data from SABLES98 experimental campaign have been used in order to study the influence of stability (from weak to strong stratification) on the flux-profile relationships for momentum, φ_m, and heat, φ_h. Measurements from 14 thermocouples and 3 sonic anemometers at three levels (5.8, 13.5 and 32 m) for the period from 10 to 28 September 1998 were analysed using the framework of the local-scaling approach (Nieuwstadt, 1984a; 1984b), which can be interpreted as an extension of the Monin-Obukhov similarity theory (Obukhov, 1946). The results show increasing values of φ_m and φ_h with increasing stability parameter ζ=z/3, up to a value of ζ≈1–2, above which the values remain constant. As a consequence of this levelling off in φm and φh for strong stability, the turbulent mixing is underestimated when linear similarity functions (Businger et al., 1971) are used to calculate surface fluxes of momentum and heat. On the other hand when φ_m and φ_h are related to the gradient Richardson number, R_i , a different behaviour is found, which could indicate that the transfer of momentum is greater than that of heat for high R_i . The range of validity of these linear functions is discussed in terms of the physical aspects of turbulent intermittent mixing.
How do student teachers reflect on their practice through practicum courses? A case study from Iran

ABSTRACT The present study investigates the nature of Iranian student teachers’ reflections and their professional development in the context of teacher education practicums. The participants were student teachers (N = 41) enrolled in teacher education colleges at Farhangian University in Tehran, Iran. A total of 620 reflective writing excerpts were coded using deductive content analysis across three cohorts in three different practicums during a two-year period. To analyse the data, this study applied a rubric for evaluating student teachers’ reflections developed by Ward and McCotter. The analysis also involved Friedman’s test and follow-up Wilcoxon tests. The results show that routine levels of reflection significantly decreased across the three practicums, while technical levels of reflection significantly increased. The higher levels of reflection, namely dialogic and transformative levels, were rarely found in student teachers’ reflective writings across the practicums. This study discusses the need both to develop appropriate methods to guide student teachers in centralized contexts such as Iran and to investigate further aspects that enhance or hinder progress in the quality of reflection in teacher education.
Barriers to Innovation and Change in Higher Education

• Individuals generally are wary of changes that challenge old assumptions and require new skills to succeed. Organizations are collections of individuals, and thus reflect individual concerns. • People in very successful organizations often internalize key aspects of their business model as defining quality in their field; changes in these key aspects consequently imply lower quality. U.S. higher education has epitomized quality for more than a half century, leading to an exceptionally high level of internalization of business-model driven definitions of quality. • Special characteristics of higher education that heighten the normal obstacles to change are the unusual dual roles of tenure line faculty as both managers and producers of the core educational product; the credence-good nature of higher education; and the multiple overlapping missions of learning, research, and social growth of students. • The member-organization accreditation system naturally exhibits and supports the same obstacles to innovation and change as do its member organizations. Executive Summary The environment for American higher education is rapidly evolving in ways that present both large challenges to the status quo and growing opportunities for responses to these challenges. Change in higher education generally has been slow to occur, however, despite pressures to do so. Wide-ranging research on institutional obstacles to innovation and change explains some of the reasons why higher education has moved slowly to meet new challenges. A business model perspective helps to identify key aspects of higher education that heighten some of the universal obstacles to innovation and change. These include American higher education's worldwide reputation for excellence, which serves to reinforce the status quo—particularly among tenure line faculty who play a dual role by both producing the educational product and participating in institutional governance, thereby exerting unusual control over change. The business model lens also helps to identify ways in which these obstacles may eventually be lowered. The shifting composition of the faculty workforce to a dominant percentage of full-time non-tenure track faculty focused primarily on teaching, but with a growing voice in governance, is likely to result in less attachment to the status quo. And intensifying demands for outcomes measurement will shed more light on the surrogate measures for quality that dominate higher education today; should those surrogates be found to be of little value, many barriers to change would fall. External barriers, including the role of the member-organization accreditation system in shaping responses to the changing higher education environment …
Hedge Fund Performance and Manager Skill

Using data on the monthly returns of hedge funds during the period January 1990 to August 1998, we estimate six‐factor Jensen alphas for individual hedge funds, employing eight different investment styles. We find that about 25% of the hedge funds earn positive excess returns and that the frequency and magnitude of funds' excess returns differ markedly with investment style. Using six‐factor alphas as a measure of performance, we also analyze performance persistence over 1‐year and 2‐year horizons and find evidence of significant persistence among both winners and losers. These findings, together with our finding that hedge funds that pay managers higher incentive fees also have higher excess returns, are consistent with the view that fund manager skill may be a partial explanation for the positive excess returns earned by hedge funds. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 21:1003–1028, 2001
Testing for Convergence Clubs in Income Per Capita: A Predictive Density Approach

The article proposes a technique, based on the predictive density of the data, conditional on the parameters of the model, to jointly tests for groups of unknown size in a panel and to estimate the parameters of each group. The procedure is applied to the problem of identifying convergence clubs in scaled income per capita data. The steady-state distribution of European regional data clusters around four poles of attraction with different economic features. The distribution of income per capita of OECD countries has two poles of attraction and each group clearly identifiable economic characteristics. We share the uncommonness of being different. - J. P. Roche