Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sonographic pattern recognition of endometriomas mimicking ovarian cancer.

BACKGROUND To assess the accuracy of ultrasound in differentiating endometrioma from ovarian cancer and to describe pattern recognition for atypical endometriomas mimicking ovarian cancers. MATERIALS AND METHODS Patients scheduled for elective surgery for adnexal masses were sonographically evaluated for endometrioma within 24 hours of surgery. All examinations were performed by the same experienced sonographer, who had no any information of the patients, to differentiate between endometriomas and non-endometriomas using a simple rule (classic ground-glass appearance) and subjective impression (pattern recognition). The final diagnosis as a gold standard relied on either pathological or post-operative findings. RESULTS Of 638 patients available for analysis, 146 were proven to be endometriomas. Of them, the simple rule and subjective impression could sonographically detect endometriomas with sensitivities of 64.4% (94/146) and 89.7% (131/146), respectively. Of 52 endometriomas with false negative tests by the simple rule, 13 were predicted as benign masses and 39 were mistaken for malignancy. Solid masses and papillary projections were the most common forms mimicking ovarian cancer, consisting of 38.5% of the missed diagnoses. However, with pattern recognition (subjective impression), 32 from 39 cases mimicking ovarian cancer were correctly predicted for endometriomas. All endometriomas subjectively predicted for ovarian malignancy were associated with high vascularization in the solid masses. CONCLUSIONS Pattern recognition of endometriomas by subjective assessment had a higher sensitivity than the simple rule in characterization of endometriomas. Most endometriomas mimicking ovarian malignancy could be correctly predicted by subjective impression based on familiarity of pattern recognition.
The Economics of U.S. Ethanol Import Tariffs with a Consumption Mandate and Tax Credit

This paper analyzes the impact of an ethanol import tariff in conjunction with a consumption mandate and tax credit. A tax credit alone acts as a subsidy to ethanol producers, equally benefiting exporters like Brazil. If an import tariff is imposed to offset the tax credit, world prices of ethanol decline by less than the tariff (unless oil prices are unaffected). Eliminating the tariff with a tax credit in place results in a significant gain to exporters like Brazil but eliminating the tax credit too reduces the initial benefits to Brazil of the tariff reduction substantially. The results change however if there is “water” in the tax credit. Then exporters benefit much more with the elimination of both the tariff and tax credit compared to a situation of both policies in place. If only a mandate was in place, exporters like Brazil again benefit as much as domestic ethanol producers do. Eliminating the tariff with a mandate results in an increase in domestic ethanol prices (even if oil prices do not change) because more domestic supply is required to maintain the mandate. The tariff therefore has a smaller negative impact on world ethanol prices with a mandate compared to a tax credit. A tax credit with a binding mandate is a subsidy to fuel consumers and only indirectly benefits ethanol producers if ethanol prices increase due to increased demand for ethanol with the increase in fuel consumption). Therefore, eliminating the tax credit with a binding mandate has little effect on market prices of ethanol – domestic and foreign producers alike benefit very little with a tax credit in this situation. Brazil would much prefer the elimination of the tax credit and the so-called offsetting import tariff when a mandate is binding. Hence, the protective effects of an import tariff are not additive with either a tax credit or the price premium due to a mandate.
Arbitrage, Nontrading, and Stale Prices: October 1987

This article explains a puzzle created by the Standard and Poor's 500 cash and futures prices during the crash of October 1987. The cash index appears to be a moving average of the futures, but nontrading in constituent stocks explains only the initial period of delayed openings. However, execution of stale limit buy orders, given the high volume and NYSE market mechanisms at the time, resulted in extraordinary levels of stock prices that were not caused by nontrading. The model is supported in aggregate S&P data and transactions data for individual stocks. Copyright 1992 by University of Chicago Press.
High-Frequency Trading and Its Impact on Markets

At the 2013 CFA Institute Financial Analysts Seminar, held in Chicago on 22–25 July, Maureen O’Hara discussed a new market paradigm: Trading has become faster, and market structure has fundamentally changed. In today’s market, high-frequency traders (HFTs) act on information revealed by low-frequency traders (LFTs). To survive, LFTs must avoid being detected by predatory algorithms of HFTs. LFTs can thrive by adopting trading strategies appropriate to the high-frequency trading world. At the 2013 CFA Institute Financial Analysts Seminar, held in Chicago on 22–25 July, Maureen O’Hara discussed a new market paradigm: Trading has become faster, and market structure has fundamentally changed. In today’s market, high-frequency traders act on information revealed by low-frequency traders. To survive, low-frequency traders must avoid being detected by predatory algorithms of high-frequency traders by using small brokers.
Theoretical foundations of active learning

I study the informational complexity of active learning in a statistical learning theory framework. Specifically, I derive bounds on the rates of convergence achievable by active learning, under various noise models and under general conditions on the hypothesis class. I also study the theoretical advantages of active learning over passive learning, and develop procedures for transforming passive learning algorithms into active learning algorithms with asymptotically superior label complexity. Finally, I study generalizations of active learning to more general forms of interactive statistical learning.
Effects of Endogenous Substrates on Adaptation of Anaerobic Microbial Communities to 3-Chlorobenzoate

ABSTRACT Lengthy adaptation periods in laboratory studies evaluating the potential for contaminant biodegradation in natural or engineered environments may indicate that the native microbial communities are not metabolizing the contaminants in situ. In this study, we characterized the adaptation period preceding the biodegradation of 3-chlorobenzoate in anaerobic communities derived from lake sediment and wastewater sludge digesters. The importance of alternative mechanisms of adaptation of the anaerobic communities to 3-chlorobenzoate was evaluated by monitoring the concentrations of metabolic substrates and products as well as the levels of total small subunit (SSU) rRNA and SSU rRNA from populations thought to be important in 3-chlorobenzoate mineralization. The anaerobic environments from which the 3-chlorobenzoate-degrading communities were derived contained different levels of endogenous substrates. Increasing methane levels in the digester and sediment communities and decreasing chemical oxygen demand concentrations in the sediment community during the adaptation periods revealed that endogenous substrates were preferentially utilized relative to 3-chlorobenzoate. Methane and chemical oxygen demand concentrations leveled off concomitantly with the onset of 3-chlorobenzoate biodegradation, suggesting that depletion of the preferentially degraded endogenous substrates stimulated 3-chlorobenzoate metabolism. Consistent with these observations, adaptation to 3-chlorobenzoate occurred more rapidly in digester samples that were depleted of endogenous substrates compared to samples that contained high levels of these biodegradable compounds. Other potential adaptation mechanisms, e.g., genetic change or selective population enrichment, appeared to be less important based on the reproducibility and relative lengths of the adaptation events, trends in the SSU rRNA levels, and/or amplification of SSU rRNA genes from key populations.
Trade-Off between Achromatic Colour and Perceived Illumination as Revealed by the Use of Pseudoscopic Inversion of Apparent Depth

The albedo hypothesis was tested under apparent transformations of perceived illumination and achromatic colour induced by pseudoscopic inversion of apparent depth. Looking through a pseudoscope made a cone attached to a vertical white screen look like a conical hole in the screen. This in turn caused the shadow which the now ‘invisible’ cone cast on the screen to change its appearance and to look like a darkly pigmented area. The darkness of the shadow before the pseudoscopic reversal and greyness of colour afterwards were measured by means of psychophysical scales for darkness and greyness set by the bisection method. Contrast of the shaded area was varied from 0.17 to 0.96 in 7 steps, the mean illuminance of the screen having been maintained at 40 lx. Although the albedo hypothesis in its classical form was not confirmed, it was found that darkness of shadow varied linearly in inverse proportion to greyness of colour within the entire contrast range. This is in agreement with the hypothesis that achromatic colour and perceived illumination are inversely proportional to each other while the retinal illumination is constant.
Emotions detection using facial expressions recognition and EEG

The study of emotions in human-computer interaction has increased in the recent years. With successful classification of emotions, we could get instant feedback from users, gain better understanding of the human behavior while using the information technologies and thus make the systems and user interfaces more emphatic and intelligent. In our work, we focused on two approaches, namely emotions detection using facial expressions recognition and electroencephalography (EEG). Firstly, we analyzed existing tools that employ facial expressions recognition for emotion detection and compared them in a case study in order to acquire the notion of the state-of-the-art. Secondly, we proposed a method of emotion detection using EEG that employs existing machine learning approaches. We evaluated it on a standard dataset as well as with an experiment, in which participants watched emotion-evoking music videos. We used Emotiv Epoc to capture participants' brain activity. We achieved 53% accuracy in classifying a correct emotion, which is better compared to 19% accuracy of the existing facial expression based tool Noldus FaceReader.
Antiparkinson medications improve agonist activation but not antagonist inhibition during sequential reaching movements

The execution of sequential arm movements is critical to activities of daily living such as eating and grooming. It is known that movement sequences are bradykinetic in people with Parkinson's disease (PD) and that antiparkinson medications improve the speed of movement sequences. However, it is unclear how muscle activity is modulated during sequential movements and what effect antiparkinson medications have on muscle modulation. We studied subjects with PD and age‐ and gender‐matched control subjects making sequential reaching movements. Subjects with PD were tested before and after their morning dose of antiparkinson medications (levodopa and/or dopamine agonists). We examined the effect of antiparkinson medications on the modulation of muscle activity (i.e., the ability to activate and inhibit each muscle throughout the course of a sequence). Results showed that the group with PD, before medication, moved more slowly and modulated muscle activity poorly compared to the control group. Antiparkinson medications improved movement speed as expected, although sequential movements remained slower than normal even after medication. Medication improved the ability to activate agonist muscle activity but did not improve the ability to inhibit antagonist activity. Instead, antagonist activity was also increased, resulting in minimal improvements in muscle modulation during sequential reaching movements. © 2005 Movement Disorder Society
Monosomal karyotype in acute myeloid leukemia: a better indicator of poor prognosis than a complex karyotype.

PURPOSE To investigate the prognostic value of various cytogenetic components of a complex karyotype in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). PATIENTS AND METHODS Cytogenetics and overall survival (OS) were analyzed in 1,975 AML patients age 15 to 60 years. RESULTS Besides AML with normal cytogenetics (CN) and core binding factor (CBF) abnormalities, we distinguished 733 patients with cytogenetic abnormalities. Among the latter subgroup, loss of a single chromosome (n = 109) conferred negative prognostic impact (4-year OS, 12%; poor outcome). Loss of chromosome 7 was most common, but outcome of AML patients with single monosomy -7 (n = 63; 4-year OS, 13%) and other single autosomal monosomies (n = 46; 4-year OS, 12%) did not differ. Structural chromosomal abnormalities influenced prognosis only in association with a single autosomal monosomy (4-year OS, 4% for very poor v 24% for poor). We derived a monosomal karyotype (MK) as a predictor for very poor prognosis of AML that refers to two or more distinct autosomal chromosome monosomies (n = 116; 4-year OS, 3%) or one single autosomal monosomy in the presence of structural abnormalities (n = 68; 4-year OS, 4%). In direct comparisons, MK provides significantly better prognostic prediction than the traditionally defined complex karyotype, which considers any three or more or five or more clonal cytogenetic abnormalities, and also than various individual specific cytogenetic abnormalities (eg, del[5q], inv[3]/t[3;3]) associated with very poor outcome. CONCLUSION MK enables (in addition to CN and CBF) the prognostic classification of two new aggregates of cytogenetically abnormal AML, the unfavorable risk MK-negative category (4-year OS, 26% +/- 2%) and the highly unfavorable risk MK-positive category (4-year OS, 4% +/- 1%).
Financial Intermediation with Risk Aversion

The paper extends Diamond's (1984) analysis of financial intermediation to allow for risk aversion of the intermediary. It shows that, as in the case of risk neutrality, the agency costs of external funds provided to an intermediary are relatively small if the intermediary is financing many entrepreneurs with stochastically independent returns. Even though the intermediary is adding rather than subdividing risks, the underlying large-numbers argument is not invalidated by the presence of risk aversion. With risk aversion of entrepreneurs as well as the intermediary, financial intermediation provides insurance as well as finance. In contrast to earlier results on optimal intermediation policies under risk neutrality, the paper shows that when an intermediary is financing many entrepreneurs with stochastically independent returns, optimal intermediation policies must shift return risks away from risk averse entrepreneurs and impose them on the intermediary or on final investors.
Evaluation of a Prototype Point-of-care Instrument Based on Monochromatic X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry: Potential for Monitoring Trace Element Status of Subjects with Neurodegenerative Disease

Assessment of trace elements such as Cu, Zn, and Se in patients with neurodegenerative disease, such as Alzheimer's (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD), may be useful in etiologic studies and in assessing the risk of developing these conditions. A prototype point-of-care (POC) instrument based on monochromatic x-ray fluorescence (M-XRF) was assembled and evaluated for the determination of Cu, Zn, and Se in whole blood, plasma, and urine. The prototype instrument was validated using certified reference materials for Cu and Zn in serum/plasma, and the reported bias and relative imprecision were <10%. The M-XRF prototype performance was further assessed using human specimens collected from AD and PD subjects, and was found to be satisfactory (<20% bias) for monitoring Cu and Zn levels in plasma and whole blood. However, the prototype M-XRF sensitivity was not sufficient for quantifying Cu, Zn, or Se in urine. Nonetheless, while validating the prototype instrument, body fluids (whole blood, plasma, and urine) were collected from 19 AD patients, 23 PD patients, and 24 controls specifically for trace element analysis using well-validated methods based on inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). This limited biomonitoring study provided robust data for up to 16 elements including Sb, As, Ba, Cd, Cs, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, Mo, Se, Tl, Sn, Zn, and U in plasma, whole blood, and urine. The results did not indicate any significant differences in most trace elements studied between AD or PD patients compared to controls, although the sample size is limited. A statistically significant increase in plasma Se was identified for PD patients relative to AD patients, but this could be due to age differences.
Is China turning Latin? China's balancing act between power and dependence in the lead up to global crisis

China's apparent escape from the external constraints of peripheral late industrialisation in the build up to the global economic crisis of 2007-2009 has been recent and remains tenuous. Before its spectacular trade surpluses of the 2000s, China's external accounts reflected many of these constraints. Even in the midst of the surplus surge, external vulnerabilities of a peripheral nature have persisted. Besides the issue of export dependence, which is the conventional focus of most crisis-related studies on China, vulnerabilities have been more profoundly related to the dominance of foreign ownership in China's export sector and to the relatively subordinate position of this export sector within the massive rerouting of international production networks via China that followed the East Asian crisis, in large part led by Northern transnational corporations. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Identification and Panel Data Models with Endogenous Regressors

This paper provides sufficient conditions for the identification of both static and dynamic models containing endogenous regressors from panel data by utilizing the restrictions across time periods on the parameters. It is shown that identification is achieved under quite weak conditions even in the presence of a general pattern of correlation between the errors and the time-varying variables. Efficient estimation procedures for the models considered and some specification tests are outlined. Finally, static formulations relating individuals' intakes of nutrients in the previous 24 hours to household incomes are estimated using (ICRISAT) panel data from rural India.
Entrepreneurial Orientation and Business Performance of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises of Hambantota District Sri Lanka

Entrepreneurship has played an important role in economic growth, innovation, competitiveness and in poverty alleviation. This study investigated the degree of Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) of twenty five manufacturing Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Hambantota District, Sri Lanka (HDSL) and the effects of EO dimensions including proactiveness, innovativeness, and risk taking to business performance. Interviews were used as the main instrument for data collection. Qualitative and quantitative techniques were applied for data analysis. Findings showed about 52% of SMEs in HDSL represented moderate level of EO. Proactiveness, innovativeness, risk taking and overall EO were significantly correlated with market share growth. Results further indicated there were positive correlations among proactiveness and EO with business performance. This study could be useful for policy makers to plan their activities towards entrepreneurship development of SMEs in HDSL.
Teachers' Knowledge of Education Law

Abstract The knowledge base of education-related law is growing at a rapid pace. The increase in federal and state statutes is rising commensurate with litigation that directs teachers on curricular, professional, and social matters. At the same time, numerous studies provide significant evidence that teachers lack an adequate level of knowledge of education law. Variables studied include teacher experience, age, sex, teaching level, education level, geographic location, and membership in professional organizations. In most instances, the studies were inconclusive about the effect of the variables on teachers' knowledge of education law. However, as teachers become older, their knowledge of education law appears to become better. In an attempt to address the documented evidence of an inadequate level of knowledge of education law, policy makers can require courses in education law, and school personnel can require frequent professional development sessions on relevant school-law matters.
Accruals and future performance: Can it be attributed to risk?

Abstract We decompose broad-based measures of accruals into firm-specific and related-firm components. We find that the negative relation between accruals and future firm performance is almost entirely attributable to the firm-specific component. Standard risk-based explanations are hard to reconcile with this fact. To the extent expected returns have a common component spanning related firms, a risk-based explanation would suggest a stronger negative relation between accruals and future firm performance when related firms are also growing. Instead, the attenuation we document is more likely attributable to suboptimal investment decisions, which the stock market and analysts do not incorporate in a timely manner.
Investigation on the convergence of the evanescent model and the polynomial model including Effective Conducting Path Effect (ECPE) for the submicronic SDG FD SOI MOSFET

We are presenting a convergence study of the evanescent model and the polynomial model with and without the Effective Conduction Path Effect (ECPE). These analytic models of the electric potential in the channel are used to analyze the short channel effect for the submicronic Symmetric DG FD SOI MOSFET. Hereby, we figure out the 2D Poisson equation and we analytically write, using the evanescent model, the surface potential, the threshold voltage, the DIBL and the sub-threshold swing. The natural scale length for the polynomial model λp and its corrected form λpc including the ECPE are mentioned. The results, of the analysis of the SCEs, show a good agreement of the evanescent model and the polynomial model including the ECPE with measures done by simulation tools.
Real Wage Flexibility in the European Union: New Evidence from the Labour Cost Data

This paper presents evidence on the extent of real wage flexibility in 24 EU member countries based on the Eurostat labour cost data covering 2000Q1-2010Q2. The term 'wages' refers, for brevity, to total hourly labour costs and their two main components, namely wages and salaries per hour, and non-wage costs. Following the structural VAR approach, real wage flexibility is measured as the responsiveness of real wages to real (permanent) versus nominal (temporary) shocks. The data shows that the impact of the 2008/2009 crisis on real wage adjustment has not been uniform across the sample countries, with some evidence for an increase in real wage rigidity. A strong negative correlation is observed between our aggregate measure of wage flexibility and both the ESCB Wage Dynamics Network firm-level survey estimates of downward real wage rigidity and the International Wage Flexibility Project microeconomic estimates of downward real wage rigidity. Finally, we find that institutional features of labour markets could help explain the variation in the results across countries; for example, stricter employment protection legislation and stronger presence of unions go hand in hand with higher real wage rigidity.
Dirofilaria immitis: A Zoonosis of Clinical Concern

&NA; Dirofilaria immitis, the dog heartworm, is responsible for an endemic zoonosis in the Southeastern United States. The nematode is capable of infesting the lungs of man, causing pulmonary nodules. The epidemiologic, morphologic, and clinical features of D immitis infestation are discussed.