Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Economic Consequences of Rheumatoid Arthritis: Analysis of Medical Expenditure Panel Survey 2004, 2005, and 2006 Data

Objective: Determine the prevalence and costs of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) during three consecutive years: 2004, 2005, and 2006. Methods: Medical Expenditure Panel Survey was used for persons with RA. Regressions estimate health care costs and income loss. Absenteeism and age-adjusted workforce participation compared means and rates. Results: The prevalence of RA was 0.40% in 2004, 0.44% in 2005, and 0.43% in 2006. Health care cost associated with RA was $4422, $2902, and $1882 (all P < 0.01) in 2004, 2005, and 2006, respectively. Rheumatoid arthritis sufferers were employed, 36.8%, 39.5%, and 44% compared with 70.5%, 69.8%, and 71%. Individuals with RA also missed more days of work, 4.86 in 2004 (P = 0.04), 1.70 in 2005 (P = 0.22), and 2.99 in 2006 (P = 0.04). Rheumatoid arthritis reduced income by $2404 (P = 0.03), $2207 (P < 0.001), and $1212 (P = 0.002). Conclusions: Costs of RA are considerable.
Information Flow between Forward and Spot Markets: Evidence from the Chinese Renminbi

We apply a new model selection approach that allows for the joint determination of structural breaks and cointegration to examine the term structure of Chinese Renminbi (RMB)‐U.S. dollar spot and forward exchange rates during the managed‐floating period of 2005–2013. We find that the RMB market has exhibited different dynamic relationships between spot and forward exchange rates over time, apparently due to significant policy changes. Offshore forward rates with either shorter or longer maturities can substantially explain the in‐sample variation of the onshore spot exchange rate at longer horizons, while only the offshore forward rate with a shorter maturity can significantly predict RMB onshore spot rate changes out‐of‐sample. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 36:695–718, 2016
Intravaginal Misoprostol Versus Dinoprostone As Cervical Ripening and Labor-Inducing Agents

Objective: To compare dinoprostone (prostaglandin E2) and misoprostol (prostaglandin Ex) for ripening the cervix and inducing labor at term. Methods: Sixty-three women were randomized to receive 100 pg misoprostol or 3 mg dinoprostone, both as intravaginal tablets. Results: There was no statistical difference between the groups for pre-induction status. The mean Bishop scores before drug insertion were almost identical. Twelve hours after insertion, the mean change in the Bishop score was significantly higher in those receiving misoprostol (5.0 versus 3.3) (P=.008). However, there were no significant differences in induction-to-delivery interval, spontaneous labor rates, type of delivery, fetal outcome, or maternal complications. Conclusion: Misoprostol is as effective as dinoprostone for inducing labor at term. (Obstet Gynecol 1994;83: 244-7)
Bone thickness of the infrazygomatic crest area in skeletal Class III growing patients: A computed tomographic study

Purpose This study was performed to investigate the bone thickness of the infrazygomatic crest area by computed tomography (CT) for placement of a miniplate as skeletal anchorage for maxillary protraction in skeletal Class III children. Materials and Methods CT images of skeletal Class III children (7 boys, 9 girls, mean age: 11.4 years) were taken parallel to the Frankfurt horizontal plane. The bone thickness of the infrazygomatic crest area was measured at 35 locations on the right and left sides, perpendicular to the bone surface. Results The bone was thickest (5.0 mm) in the upper zygomatic bone and thinnest (1.1 mm) in the anterior wall of the maxillary sinus. Generally, there was a tendency for the bone to be thicker at the superior and lateral area of the zygomatic process of the maxilla. There was no clinically significant difference in bone thickness between the right and left sides; however, it was thicker in male than in female subjects. Conclusion In the infrazygomatic crest area, the superior and lateral area of the zygomatic process of the maxilla had the most appropriate thickness for placement of a miniplate in growing skeletal Class III children with a retruded maxilla.
Different Subsidiary Roles and International Human Resource Management: An Exploratory Study of Australian Subsidiaries in Asia

ABSTRACT The present study adopts a resource-dependence theory to identify different strategic roles of 44 Australian subsidiaries operating in Asia (including New Zealand). It further examines how these different strategic roles affect human resource management (HRM) activities of the subsidiaries. The results of this study appear to vary according to different approaches adopted to measure resource flows among organizational sub-units within an MNC. While the dyadic parent-subsidiary resource flows were found to strongly affect the IHRM of Australian MNCs, the network perspective to resource flows did not reveal any significant relationship to their IHRM. This lack of empirical support for the linkage under the network perspective seems to suggest that there may exist other factors more significant in determining HRM at the subsidiary. Furthermore, it appears to show that the traditional dyadic relationship between the parent company and the subsidiary is still of much relevance in the context of Australian MNCs.
Reproductive performance of women with uterine malformations.

The fertility problems of 176 patients with uterine malformations [arcuate (n = 40), bicornuate (n = 49), bicornis-bicollis (n = 17), didelphys (n = 15), unicornuate (n = 24), subseptus (n = 14) and septate uterus (n = 17)] and of 28 women with other genital and/or urinary anomalies but with a normal uterus were studied. Ten patients with a uterine anomaly experienced infertility without other causes (6%). 142 women with uterine malformations and 26 with a normal uterus achieved pregnancy, the total number of pregnancies to date being 383 and 47 in these groups respectively. The outcome of the first pregnancy from women with uterine malformations was similar to that of all pregnancies though less significant. Only 53% of pregnancies in women with uterine malformations ended with a child surviving > 7 days, compared to 89% in women with a normal uterus. The poorest viability results were found in the bicornuate (40%) (47% of pregnancies in this group ended in early abortions), arcuate (45%) and septate uterus groups (59%). The rates of children surviving > 7 days were around 70% in the bicornis-bicollis, didelphys, unicornuate and subseptus uterus groups. Metroplasty in four cases corrected the infertility or repeated abortions in three patients. Cerclages (21) in 14 women increased the live birth rate from 21 to 62%. These results confirm earlier reports that patients with uterine malformations have higher rates of reproductive loss, pre-term delivery, breech presentation and complications that increase obstetric intervention and perinatal mortality. Moreover in our study, pregnancy outcome was poorer in the bicornuate and arcuate uterus groups than in the septate group. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
THE IMPACT OF ALTERNATE ASSESSMENTS AND STANDARDS-BASED IEPS ON CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

The U.S. Congress has passed several laws since 1997 in order to ensure the students with disabilities have an opportunity to learn and access the general curriculum. States now include students with disabilities in state accountability systems whether it is through regular state assessments or alternate assessments. For students eligible to take an alternate assessment based on modified academic achievement standards, they require the development and use of standards-based Individualized Education Plans (IEP) is a requirement. As states adhere to federal guidelines and regulations in an effort to implement standards-based reform, students with disabilities, along with their non-disabled peers are held to the same or similar grade level academic achievement standards. This descriptive case study explored teacher perceptions of the impact alternate assessments and standards-based IEPs on classroom instruction and student achievement. Interviews of regular education teachers, special educations teachers, principals, and exceptional children directors in two North Carolina school districts were conducted to gather perception data on the impact North Carolina Extend2 Alternate Assessments and standards-based IEPs had on classroom instruction and student achievement for students with persistent academic disabilities. Special education teacher observations and archival analysis of standards-based IEPs were used to determine trends and patterns. The participants' perceptions were also explored to determine the adequacy of professional development available to support and prepare them for the development and implementation of alternate assessments and standards-based IEPs. The results of the case study indicated teachers viewed standards-based IEPs as a driving force for classroom instruction, teachers had higher expectations for students with persistent academic disabilities, teachers believed it was a shared responsibility of both the regular and special education teacher to teach students in the target population, and teachers viewed that most of the professional development was adequate. Teachers were using standards-based IEPs to determine and understand the students' present level of performance in order to adjust and plan for classroom instruction. Philosophical beliefs resulted in cultural changes that were experienced by teachers and principals who collaborated to teach students with persistent academic disabilities in inclusive or mainstreamed classroom settings. The professional development specific to IEP compliance, Sheltered Instructional Observation Protocol and Reading Foundations were viewed as valuable training support for teachers as they prepared the teaching and learning opportunities of students with persistent academic disabilities. Although the majority of the professional development was adequate, the special education teachers acknowledged the need for more curriculum-based professional development to increase their content knowledge.
The Stolper-Samuelson Theorem in a Wage Differential Framework

We develop a wage differential model with a unionized and a non-unionized informal sector for a small open economy. The unionized wage rate adjusts to a cost of living index and the informal wage is market-determined. In this structure, a Stolper-Samuelson type result holds without any assumption regarding factor-intensity ranking.
Bacillus subtilis ypgA Gene Is fni, a Nonessential Gene Encoding Type 2 Isopentenyl Diphosphate Isomerase

We previously identified the fni gene of Streptomyces sp. strain CL190 as type 2 isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) isomerase, which needs both FMN and NADPH for enzyme activity. An fni gene homolog, ypgA, was detected in the database of the Bacillus subtilis genome. However, the ypgA product was about 140 amino acids shorter in the N-terminal than the Streptomyces fni gene product. A database search found three new putative start codons in 129, 225, and 411 bases upstream of the original start codon of the ypgA gene. The longest gene product, which was named ypgA3, showed the most significant homology to the Streptomyces fni gene product. The ypgA3 gene was expressed with an N-terminal His-tag in Escherichia coli and the purified soluble protein was characterized in detail. The ypgA3 protein converted IPP to its isomer dimethylallyl diphosphate in the presence of both FMN and NADPH. The enzyme also catalyzed the reverse reaction in the presence of both the cofactors. Disruption of the ypgA3 gene was not lethal to B. subtilis. These results indicate that Bacillus ypgA3 gene is fni, a nonessential gene encoding type 2 IPP isomerase.
Will Corporate Performance Decline in an Improving Economy

Measuring corporate performance is difficult. No single measure can fully describe how well a firm is doing in the diverse aspects of its operations. As a result, analysts are forced to choose between synthesizing the dozens of ratios that describe a company or relying on simple aggregate measures to summarize overall performance. Return on equity (ROE) is one of the most popular of the latter indices. For example, ROE is used widely by investors in appraising common stock purchases, and by corporate planners in evaluating corporate performance.
Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Within Offender Populations: A Systematic Review

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), defined as deliberate self-directed tissue damage, presents a serious health concern for offender populations. Approximately one-third of offenders report a history of NSSI, and it is the most common reason for mental health treatment within correctional settings. To date, no review exists with a specific focus on NSSI in criminal justice contexts. Therefore, the primary aim of this article is to review research on NSSI within correctional settings. Specifically, we explore the role of risk factors for NSSI. We also examine the functions of NSSI within correctional contexts. In addition, we evaluate the evidence for potential assessment tools and treatments for NSSI. Taken together, our review suggests that risk factors for NSSI must be considered differently in correctional settings, due to the high base rates of these vulnerabilities. Further, although environmental control is a more salient function of NSSI within correctional settings, the primary motive for engaging in this behavior remains emotion regulation. Finally, despite the emergence of several promising treatments for NSSI within correctional settings, larger scale studies are necessary to determine the efficacy of these interventions.
Environmental proactivity and firm performance: a fuzzy-set analysis

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore causal complexity in the relationship between environmental proactivity and firm performance. Using data collected from 27 Australian firms and controlling for the organizational life cycle, type of industry and external contingencies, the study empirically examines environmental proactivity in high-performing firms from polluting industries. Design/methodology/approach – The data were analyzed using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. Findings – In general, the results of the analysis imply that environmental proactivity is not always associated with high firm performance, and that environmental proactivity is not as important as the other causal conditions for high-performing firms in highly polluting industries. Research limitations/implications – The study addresses the relationship between environmental and firm performance more holistically by including a number of the firm’s external and internal factors identified as important in past resea.
Examining the Performance of Banks in India: Post Transition Period

This paper evaluates the performance of the Indian banking sector during the post transition period (1997-2005). The productive performance, scale elasticity, efficiency and capacity utilization parameters are calculated using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The empirical results calibrated through these models are analytic on several fronts. The positive trend of the reform process is visible through the increase in technical efficiency over the years of the post transition period. The cost efficiency parameters state that the nationalized banks are yet to exercise their cost minimizing principles compared to the other banks. Finally, the empirical findings show a significant difference between the technology and the market-based hypothesis. These results are in line with the distinction between economies of scale and the returns to scale.
Developmental and Quiescent Subsidiaries in the Asia Pacific: Evidence from Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, and Sydney

Abstract Examining “embedded” economic and social relations has become a popular theme among economic geographers who are interested in explaining the durability of place in supporting economic activities. This article explores the relationship between embeddedness and technology-oriented functions among three types of subsidiaries (regional headquarters, regional offices, and local offices) and for four cities: Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, and Sydney. Using survey data from firms, we show that quiescent or branch plant-like subsidiaries, rather than developmental firms, dominate the region. But among developmental subsidiaries, returns on embeddedness are not always obvious. Embeddedness and developmental subsidiaries are most significantly correlated with manufacturing regional headquarters. However, a small group of subsidiaries (local and regional offices) also perform developmental functions, despite their relative newness and lack of embed-dedness in the region.
Androgen formation by cytochrome P450 CYP17. Solvent isotope effect and pL studies suggest a role for protons in the regulation of oxene versus peroxide chemistry.

CYP17 catalyzes the cleavage of the C-17 side chain of progesterone to form androstenedione. The two-step reaction involves an initial 17 alpha-hydroxylation catalyzed by oxene chemistry followed by cleavage of the C-17 side chain. We have recently shown that C-17 side-chain cleavage may involve the rearrangement of a peroxy intermediate via a Baeyer-Villiger rearrangement [Mak, A. Y. , & Swinney, D. C. (1992) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 114, 8309]. Accordingly, CYP17 is proposed to catalyze oxidations via both oxene and peroxide chemistry. This study was initiated to investigate the possibility that protons may play a determining role in differentiating between the oxene and peroxide chemistries associated with product formation. The pL dependence of the deuterium solvent isotope effects associated with progesterone oxidation to 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone and 17-O-acetyltestosterone and 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone oxidation to androstenedione was determined in microsomes from pig testes. The formation of 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone is assumed to occur via oxene chemistry and the formation of 17-O-acetyltestosterone and androstenedione by peroxide chemistry. The initial rate of progesterone oxidation to 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone was associated with a pL-independent inverse solvent isotope effect (Hk/Dk = 0.75-0.95, in 30% DOD), whereas the rate of oxidation to 17-O-acetyltestosterone was associated with a pL-independent positive solvent isotope effect in the presence of 30% DOD (Hk/Dk approximately 2). In contrast, DOD inhibited the formation of androstenedione from 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone in a noncompetitive, pL-dependent manner. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Assessing the impact of socio-economic inequities on college enrolment: emerging differences in the United Arab Emirates

As the United Arab Emirates diversifies its economy towards knowledge-based industries, maximising the participation of the national workforce, particularly women, in the science, engineering and technology fields is of utmost importance. To accomplish this, identifying the factors that lead students to select their degree programme, as well as forming a deeper understanding of societal dynamics in the United Arab Emirates is needed. This paper studies how socio-economic status affects female students' enrolment in science, engineering and technology fields. Using surveys and semi-structured interviews, we find that motivations for entering science, engineering and technology fields differ such that women of higher socio-economic background have greater interest in studying non-science, engineering and technology fields. This is attributed to a confluence of factors related to status attainment, employment expectations, family connections and perceptions of science, engineering and technology fields. It is important that variations in socio-economic status be accounted for when devising policy recommendations to successfully integrate different segments of the society into science, engineering and technology fields.
Revealing Patterns and Trends of Mass Mobility Through Spatial and Temporal Abstraction of Origin-Destination Movement Data

Origin-destination (OD) movement data describe moves or trips between spatial locations by specifying the origins, destinations, start, and end times, but not the routes travelled. For studying the spatio-temporal patterns and trends of mass mobility, individual OD moves of many people are aggregated into flows (collective moves) by time intervals. Time-variant flow data pose two difficult challenges for visualization and analysis. First, flows may connect arbitrary locations (not only neighbors), thus making a graph with numerous edge intersections, which is hard to visualize in a comprehensible way. Even a single spatial situation consisting of flows in one time step is hard to explore. The second challenge is the need to analyze long time series consisting of numerous spatial situations. We present an approach facilitating exploration of long-term flow data by means of spatial and temporal abstraction. It involves a special way of data aggregation, which allows representing spatial situations by diagram maps instead of flow maps, thus reducing the intersections and occlusions pertaining to flow maps. The aggregated data are used for clustering of time intervals by similarity of the spatial situations. Temporal and spatial displays of the clustering results facilitate the discovery of periodic patterns and longer-term trends in the mass mobility behavior.
Human Capital in Transitional Russia

This paper applies parametric and nonparametric techniques to the most recent data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) 1992- 2000 and shows the returns to schooling increased over the course of transition, overall and for attainment cohorts neither at the top nor bottom of the schooling ladder. The collapse in earnings is focused on people with graduate degrees. Returns to schooling are higher for women; but this gain is more than offset by the large gender wage gap. The gender wage differential increased over the years especially for younger women and women without higher education; there is evidence of increased discrimination. Return to experience increased and remained higher for women than for men. The age-earnings profile for men became more compressed, favoring the young with respect to the old; whereas the opposite took place for women, whose earnings peak became steeper at the middle age. Comparing to the estimates from the U.S. Current Population Survey 1992-2000, the returns to schooling are still lower in Russia; while the returns to experience are higher, especially for women, and the gender wage differential is now more than twice as large in Russia than in the U.S.
Protected Areas and Deforestation: New Results from High Resolution Panel Data

This paper investigates the effectiveness of protected areas in slowing tropical forest clearing in 64 countries in Asia/Pacific, Africa, and Latin America for the period 2001-2012. The investigation compares deforestation rates inside and within 10 kilometers outside the boundary of protected areas. Annual time series of these deforestation rates were constructed from recently published high-resolution data on forest clearing. For 4,028 parks, panel estimation based on a variety of park characteristics was conducted to test if deforestation is lower in protected areas because of their protected status, or if other factors explain the difference. For a sample of 726 parks established since 2002, a test also was conducted to investigate the effect of park establishment on protection. The findings suggest park size, national park status, and management by indigenous people all have significant association with effective protection across regions. For the Asia/Pacific region, the test offers compelling evidence that park establishment has a near-immediate and powerful effect.