Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Homicide: a leading cause of injury deaths among pregnant and postpartum women in the United States, 1991-1999.

OBJECTIVES We identified risk factors for pregnancy-associated homicide (women who died as a result of homicide during or within 1 year of pregnancy) in the United States from 1991 to 1999. METHODS Pregnancy-associated homicides were analyzed with data from the Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. RESULTS Six hundred seventeen (8.4%) homicide deaths were reported to the Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System. The pregnancy-associated homicide ratio was 1.7 per 100000 live births. Risk factors included age younger than 20 years, Black race, and late or no prenatal care. Firearms were the leading mechanism for homicide (56.6%). CONCLUSIONS Homicide is a leading cause of pregnancy-associated injury deaths.
Financial integration and the ASEAN-5 equity markets

The existence of long-run relationships among the ASEAN-5 equity markets is empirically investigated. This study utilized weekly data spanning January 1988 to August 1999. The results of Granger noncausality test due to Toda and Yamamoto (Journal of Econometrics,66, 225–50, 1995) reveal that the Singapore equity market was not affected by other markets except by the Philippines in the long run. This result shows that there exist opportunities for beneficial international portfolio diversification within the context of the Asean-5 equity markets.
Appraisal Smoothing and Price Discovery in Real Estate Markets

This paper reviews the literature on price determination in the private and public real estate markets. In particular, it discusses the processes of appraisal smoothing in the private market and of price discovery between the public and the private markets. In real estate markets, the absence of good quality information on price, whether because of lack of trades or confidentiality, has led to the widespread use of appraisals for market tracking and as the basis for performance measurement. Appraisers have to make an optimum assessment of value, based on fundamental variables and market information, including transactions and a market-wide appraisal index. However, transaction prices are a noisy signal and it is the appraiser's role to extract the signal from the noise in an efficient manner. This involves a process of optimal combination of past and current information and leads to appraisal smoothing. Price discovery is the process by which the opinions of market participants about the value of an asset are combined together into a single statistic—its market price. A development of this basic concept is where two markets have a common component of value and the relevant price information is discovered first in one market and then transmitted to the second market. The process of price discovery is considered between the public and private real estate markets.
Enrichment and Molecular Characterization of a Bacterial Culture That Degrades Methoxy-Methyl Urea Herbicides and Their Aniline Derivatives

ABSTRACT Soil treated with linuron for more than 10 years showed high biodegradation activity towards methoxy-methyl urea herbicides. Untreated control soil samples taken from the same location did not express any linuron degradation activity, even after 40 days of incubation. Hence, the occurrence in the field of a microbiota having the capacity to degrade a specific herbicide was related to the long-term treatment of the soil. The enrichment culture isolated from treated soil showed specific degradation activity towards methoxy-methyl urea herbicides, such as linuron and metobromuron, while dimethyl urea herbicides, such as diuron, chlorotoluron, and isoproturon, were not transformed. The putative metabolic intermediates of linuron and metobromuron, the aniline derivatives 3,4-dichloroaniline and 4-bromoaniline, were also degraded. The temperature of incubation drastically affected degradation of the aniline derivatives. Whereas linuron was transformed at 28 and 37°C, 3,4-dichloroaniline was transformed only at 28°C. Monitoring the enrichment process by reverse transcription-PCR and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) showed that a mixture of bacterial species under adequate physiological conditions was required to completely transform linuron. This research indicates that for biodegradation of linuron, several years of adaptation have led to selection of a bacterial consortium capable of completely transforming linuron. Moreover, several of the putative species appear to be difficult to culture since they were detectable by DGGE but were not culturable on agar plates.
Auction Bids and Shopping Choices

Abstract Economists and marketers are often interested in estimating demand for new products and in valuing other non-market goods. Due to the increasing recognition that elicited valuations are sensitive to whether decisions are hypothetical, economists have begun to utilize incentive compatible mechanisms with real goods and real money. This paper investigates preferences expressed in two of the most popular elicitation formats: experimental auctions and discrete choice experiments. We compare the bidding behavior of consumers in four different incentive compatible auctions to the behavior of consumers who made non-hypothetical discrete choices between five goods. Despite the fact that the choice task and auction mechanisms are incentive compatible, we find that auction bids were significantly lower, as much as two times lower in many cases, than valuations implied from choices. We also find that auction data imply own-price elasticities of demand for higher quality products that are significantly more elastic than those implied from choice data. Nevertheless, for the five goods evaluated, individuals' preference orderings were consistent across value elicitation methods. These findings hold important implications for economists' view of preferences and may provide some insight into retailers' prevalent use of markets with posted-prices: individuals were more willing to part with their cash when making choices versus bids.
All-ceramic restoration of zirconia two-piece implants--a randomized controlled clinical trial.

OBJECTIVES Aim of this controlled prospective randomized study was to evaluate the outcome of two-piece zirconia implants compared to titanium implants over a period of up to 24 months. MATERIAL AND METHODS A total of 31 implants (16 zirconia/Ziterion vario Z(®) + 15 titanium/Ziterion vario T(®) ) were inserted primary stable (>30 Ncm) in the maxilla (7) and mandible (24) of 22 patients (13 male, nine female) requiring neither bone nor soft tissue augmentation. After a healing period of 6 months in the maxilla and 4 months in the mandible, ceramic abutments were luted adhesively to the zirconia implants and definitive all-ceramic restoration was performed with high-density ceramics. Radiographic bone levels, condition of the peri-implant mucosa, aesthetic outcome, implant survival and success were recorded for up to 24 months. RESULTS Measurements of mean marginal bone levels 24 months after surgery showed a significant bone loss (P < 0.001) in both groups (Ti: 1.43 (SD ± 0.67) vs. Zir 1.48 (SD ± 1.05). One zirconia implant was lost 8 months after restoration. No further complications were recorded, giving an overall survival and success rate of 93.3% for zirconia and 100% for titanium implants after a period of up to 24 months. CONCLUSIONS After 24 months, success rates of the two-piece ceramic implants showed no significant difference compared to control two-piece titanium implants. The bonded zirconia implant abutment connection appears to be capable with clinical application over the observed period. However, further control measurements need to confirm the presented data.
Economic Aspects Of Advertising In Agriculture: A Review

Abstract In a dynamic world of change, promotion of agricultural commodities will inevitably become more important, particularly with respect to intensification in the nature of competition, the complexity in distribution and differences between consumer and producer prices. The impact of advertising as a means of promoting agricultural commodities, have to be evaluated in terms of consumer response and the effectiveness of advertising agricultural products, by assuming that advertising can increase the level of sales at any given price by Shifting the demand curve for a specific product to the right, or increase the price or both. Although South Africa is a part of Africa, it has a highly developed and sophisticated marketing structure which necessitates the analysis and decomposition of foreign advertising research done in Europe and America for possible application in South Africa, due to the virtually non-existence of research on generic or brand advertising of agricultural products in South Africa. E.
Urbanization, unemployment rate and China’ rising divorce rate

This paper analyzes the impacts of urbanization and unemployment rate on China’s divorce rate with the panel data of 31 Chinese provinces from 2000 to 2011. The study manifests as follows. First, the significant influence of urbanization cannot be observed on the rising breakdown since the latter is not the inevitable result of the former. In the second place, unemployment rate has a significant negative influence on divorce rate, namely, with the former increasing, the latter will decrease, which echoes the perspective of divorce cost. And finally, this paper also finds positive effects of per capita fixed investment, old-age dependency rate, average household size, the proportion of floating population and population density, and negative correlation of average education attainment on divorce rate.
Theoretical aspects of a pulse repetition rate stabilization in the Er-doped all-fiber hybridly mode-locked similariton-like ring laser

The impact of random temperature and pump power fluctuations on a pulse repetition rate of the Er-doped all-fiber hybridly mode-locked similariton-like ring laser was investigated. As a result of experimental data analysis, influences of the pump power and the temperature were estimated at the level of −0.2Hz/mW and −290.5Hz/°C respectively. The theoretical calculation agrees well with the experimental data. Our numerical simulations showed that an elimination of the temperature and the pump current drifts leads to the relative Allan deviation of a repetition rate decrease from 3.8 · 10∼10 down to 4 · 10∼n (1s averaging time) and this value is close to an internal time base stability of a frequency counter, that we used for frequency measurements.
Directed Inhibition of Nuclear Import in Cellular Hypertrophy*

Each nuclear pore is responsible for both nuclear import and export with a finite capacity for bidirectional transport across the nuclear envelope. It remains poorly understood how the nuclear transport pathway responds to increased demands for nucleocytoplasmic communication. A case in point is cellular hypertrophy in which increased amounts of genetic material need to be transported from the nucleus to the cytosol. Here, we report an adaptive down-regulation of nuclear import supporting such an increased demand for nuclear export. The induction of cardiac cell hypertrophy by phenylephrine or angiotensin II inhibited the nuclear translocation of H1 histones. The removal of hypertrophic stimuli reversed the hypertrophic phenotype and restored nuclear import. Moreover, the inhibition of nuclear export by leptomycin B rescued import. Hypertrophic reprogramming increased the intracellular GTP/GDP ratio and promoted the nuclear redistribution of the GTP-binding transport factor Ran, favoring export over import. Further, in hypertrophy, the reduced creatine kinase and adenylate kinase activities limited energy delivery to the nuclear pore. The reduction of activities was associated with the closure of the cytoplasmic phase of the nuclear pore preventing import at the translocation step. Thus, to overcome the limited capacity for nucleocytoplasmic transport, cells requiring increased nuclear export regulate the nuclear transport pathway by undergoing a metabolic and structural restriction of nuclear import.
A Limited Survey of Aflatoxins in Poultry Feed and Feed Ingredients in Guyana

A study was conducted to determine the presence of aflatoxins in finished poultry feed from manufacturing companies, feed ingredients, and poultry feed at the point of sale. Two collections were made. In the first collection, samples of the finished feed and feed ingredients were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). For the second collection, all samples were analyzed by ELISA while a subset was analyzed by HPLC. Of the 27 samples of finished feed, five samples had aflatoxin concentrations greater than the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) and European Union Commission (EUC) maximum tolerable limit of 20 µg/kg, while for the feed ingredients, three of the 30 samples of feed ingredients exceeded the limit. Of the 93 samples of finished feed purchased from retailers, five samples had aflatoxin concentrations greater than the maximum tolerable limit. This survey indicates that most of the samples were below the maximum regulatory limit and maintained quality up to the point of sale for 2015 and 2016. However, given that some samples were above the limit, there is a need to monitor the production and marketing chain to ensure that the quality of the finished feed is not compromised.
Individual Team Incentives and Managing Competitive Balance in Sports Leagues: An Empirical Analysis of Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball and other professional sports leagues have long been concerned with competitive imbalances caused by differences in local revenues. The fear is that in the absence of salary caps or other regulatory mechanisms, smaller-market teams will be unable to remain competitive. This research uses a structural dynamic programming model to analyze ownership's payroll investment decisions. This model estimates the relationship between optimal payrolls and local-market populations and the influence of long-term customer equity dynamics on payroll investments. In addition, the author analyzes the impact of a recent policy intervention that implemented revenue transfers from high-local-revenue markets to low-local-revenue markets. The statistical results indicate that market population has a significant impact on the value of a team's payroll investments. For example, optimal payrolls double as the population increases from 2.5 million to 7.5 million. Furthermore, rather than improving competitive balance, the adoption of revenue sharing has decreased the incentives for small-market teams to remain competitive. The author uses the estimation results to evaluate alternative approaches to managing competitive balance. Specifically, the results suggest that basing revenue-sharing payments on local-market population and (higher) attendance rates reduces payroll dispersion.
Can the Large Swings in Russian Life Satisfaction be Explained by Ups and Downs in Real Incomes?

Russians reported large changes in their life satisfaction over the post-transition years. In this paper, we explore the factors that drove these changes, focusing on exogenous income changes, using panel data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey over the period 1995 to 2001 and implementing a recently developed ordinal fixed-effects estimator. We apply a causal decomposition technique that allows for bias arising from panel attrition when establishing aggregate trends in life satisfaction. Changes in real household incomes explained 10% of the total change in reported life satisfaction between 1996 and 2000, but up to 30% of some year-on-year changes.
Co-morbidity in Bipolar Disorder: A Retrospective Study

Background: Bipolar disorder is a relatively common, long-term, and disabling psychiatric illness that is associated with high levels of functional impairment, morbidity, mortality, and an increased risk of suicide. Psychiatric co-morbidity in bipolar disorder ranges from 57.3% to 74.3%, whereas medical co-morbidity varies from 2.7-70%. Indian scenario in this aspect is not clear. Materials and Methods: The objective was to ascertain the prevalence of physical and psychiatric co-morbidities in patients attending a tertiary care center over a period of 1 year and its relationship with socio-demographic and clinical variables. One hundred and twenty-five case record files were included in the review. OPCRIT software was used for re-establishing the diagnosis of bipolar disorder, which yielded 120 cases. A semi-structured pro-forma, specifically designed for the study, was used to collect the socio-demographic and clinical details. Results: Co-morbid psychiatric disorders were found in 52 (43.3%) of the sample, whereas co-morbid physical illness was present in 77 (64.2%) patients. The most common psychiatric disorder associated was substance use disorder (27.5%), whereas co-morbid cardiovascular disorder was the most frequent physical diagnosis in the sample (20%). Discussion: The prevalence of co-morbid psychiatric disorders in bipolar patients was lower than that reported in western literature. It could be related to retrospective nature of study or reflect true lower prevalence rates. Also, certain disorders such as eating disorders were absent in our sample, and migraine diagnosis was very infrequent.
Constraints Facing Firms in Developing Countries: A Survey of Nigerian Small and Medium scale Enterprises

Abstract This study investigated the constraints facing Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs) in southwestern Nigeria. Both questionnaire and structured interview were used in obtaining data for the study. A total of 1,247 questionnaires were administered on four lines of business using stratified random sampling of which 996 representing 79.87% were returned and found suitable for analysis. This was supplemented with interviews of 38 SME Owners/Managers. Descriptive statistics such as mean, median, frequency tables and percentages were used to analyse the data obtained. The study identified major constraints confronting the selected SMEs in the study area as the inability of the SMEs to have access to finance/capital, high utility tariffs such as rent and electricity/power, marketing problems. Besides, lack/Inadequacy of basic infrastructural facilities such as electricity, environmental problems, inadequate support from government and financial institutions, multiple taxes and unauthorized levies, government policy inconsistencies, and unfair Competition were constraints affecting the operations and growing of selected SMEs in southwestern part of Nigeria. This current study therefore concludes that governments should give priority to issue of power generation and distribution in the country, lower their prime rates and review requirements for accessing bank loan, and introduced some form of tax incentives to banks involved in SME lending in order to encourage banks to take “reasonable risk” by lending to SMEs.
Institutional effects and the decision to make environmental investments

An unstated assumption in most business research is that a primary goal of managers is profit maximisation. Recently, managers have faced additional pressure to also address environmental issues, while maintaining profits. The literature (Russo, M. and Fouts, P., 1997. A resource-based perspective on corporate environmental performance and profitability. Academy of Management Journal, 40 (3), 534–559 and Pagell, M. and Gobeli, D. , 2009. How plant managers' experiences and attitudes towards sustainability relate to operational performance. Production and Operations Management, 18 (3), 278–299) suggests these goals are compatible and that organisations can and indeed need to address environmental issues as part of their profit maximisation efforts. However, institutional theory suggests that managers may have other goals that drive their decisions, beyond the desire to maximise profits. This research explores two institutions, the nation or country and industry, and their effects on the decision to make environmental investments. The results indicate that managers do indeed respond to institutions when making these decisions and that in some countries there is a general level of underinvestment in the environment, which is likely harming both organisational and environmental outcomes.
Financial Reporting Quality, Structural Problems and the Informativeness of Mandated Disclosures on Internal Controls

Even before firms report internal control weaknesses under the Sarbanes–Oxley Act (SOX), they are characterized by structural problems, are prone to internal control weaknesses, and have low financial reporting quality. If the stock market incorporates much of this information during the pre-disclosure years, investors are less surprised when firms subsequently report internal control weaknesses under SOX. We find that for the pre-disclosure period, firms reporting internal control weaknesses under SOX, (1) had structural problems, (2) were prone to internal control problems, and (3) had low financial reporting quality. Further, we provide direct evidence that stock prices during pre-disclosure years incorporate much of the information about structural problems, the likelihood of internal control weaknesses, and low reporting quality. Finally, we find that many of these value-relevant factors are not related to announcement period returns when firms eventually disclose such problems under SOX and that limited new information about structural problems is generated around this date. Our results provide a compelling explanation for the muted stock price reaction around the mandatory disclosure date.
Benefits of working in partnership: A model

Partnership and other forms of public participation in decision-making have become central to policy-making. Simultaneously, there is a growing commitment to evidence-based policy and a requirement to demonstrate value for money for the time and resources invested in partnerships. This paper presents a conceptual model describing the benefits of working in partnership and suggests that these are valuable assets in enabling organizations to take action to reduce inequalities in health. The model is derived from case studies of two health action zones in Northern Ireland. In the model, connections, learning and action are identified as key components on the pathway from partnership formation to impact. Based on ‘Realistic Evaluation’, the model reflects the importance of partnership as a programme that which may be used for different purposes and in various contexts. The interrelationship between purpose and context, and how the mechanism is implemented, will determine the degree of effectiveness.