Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of immunosuppression on health care use by men in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS).

The effects of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) serostatus, AIDS, and level of immunosuppression on health service use were examined in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study. Data on self-reported hospitalizations, outpatient medical services (non-emergency room) and emergency room care during the preceding 6 months were collected for 3,447 homosexual/bisexual men returning for their 14th and/or 15th semiannual visits in Chicago, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and Pittsburgh. AIDS-free seropositive men with CD4+ cells < 200/microliters were more likely to be hospitalized [odds ratio (OR) = 2.3, 95% confidence limits (CL) = 1.4, 3.8] and use outpatient medical care (OR = 7.9, 95% CL = 4.9, 12.6), compared with seronegative men. Increased outpatient care was initiated at the earliest stages of HIV-1 infection, even when CD4+ cells were > 500/microliter. Dramatic increases in outpatient care for each level of immunosuppression were observed. HIV-1-related symptoms were associated with increased hospitalizations (OR = 4.8, 95% CL = 3.2, 7.3), use of outpatient medical services (OR = 3.3, 95% CL = 1.9, 5.6), and emergency room care (OR = 3.1, 95% CL = 2.1, 4.6). Persons with AIDS and < or = 50 CD4+ cells/microliter most likely to be hospitalized (OR = 8.1; 95% CL = 4.4, 14.9). No significant difference (p > 0.05) in emergency room use was observed according to HIV-1 serostatus, AIDS, or immunosuppression, after adjusting for insurance and clinical symptoms. To the extent that CD4+ cell counts are used as one of the criteria for an AIDS diagnosis and such a diagnosis broadens available benefits to persons with HIV disease, the pattern of health care services described here will be important for health care providers and planners.
Rates of Return to Investments in Formal and Technical/Vocational Education in Singapore

There is an absence of empirical evidence on returns to education in Singapore for nearly 30 years, mainly because of lack of publicly available data. The present study attempts to fill this gap by exploring the relationship between education and earnings in Singapore and to link the results of the study to research evidence from 30 years ago, as well as relate the results to those in the international literature. Recent Labor Force Survey data are used to obtain evidence and update older estimates of the private returns to investment in formal and technical/vocational education from different levels and types of schooling in Singapore. Some of the results confirm earlier patterns from other country studies, while other results make Singapore a world outlier, with very high private returns to schooling (comparable with estimates from lower-middle income countries) in relation to Singapore's advanced stage of development and per-capita income.
Determinants of microenterprise performance in Nigeria

This article examines the factors that affect microenterprise performance in Nigeria. Specific attention is focused on the impact of membership of Cooperative Thrift and Credit Societies (CTCS) and personal agency belief on microenterprise performance. The results suggest that the entrepreneurial ability and business success of people in Cooperative Thrift and Credit Societies are better as compared to non-members, and personal agency belief is a significant predictor of microenterprise performance.
How to Foster and Sustain Engagement in Virtual Communities

Getting customers engaged is one of the most significant challenges for firm-sponsored virtual communities. This article describes the efforts that managers can undertake to foster and sustain customer engagement through a firm-sponsored virtual community. A sponsor must understand consumer needs and motivations, promote member participation, and motivate members to cooperate by making them feel embedded and empowered. In assessing and communicating the benefits of engagement, managers should consider three interlocking sources of engagement value, namely, participatory value, relational value, and financial value.
Patient and Therapist Experiences of the SaeboFlex: A Pilot Study

Objective The aim of this pilot study was to explore the experiences of both patients and therapists of using the SaeboFlex. Method A mixed methods approach was adopted. Patients completed a questionnaire which included the Psychosocial Impacts of Assistive Devices Scale (PIADS) (Version 3.0) and 6 qualitative questions. Therapists completed 2 qualitative questionnaires, which collected data on the regimen adopted for the SaeboFlex and reflections on their practice with this device. Results The SaeboFlex had a mostly positive impact on both the psychosocial experience of patients and their ability to do, be, and become. Intervention regimens were broadly similar between therapists, and both patients and therapists stated that the SaeboFlex increased motivation for therapy. Conclusion This study has added to our tentative understanding of the SaeboFlex, but more rigorous research is required to build a robust evidence base.
SHIP2 and its involvement in various diseases

Importance of the field: Inositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatase (SHIP2) is an important negative regulator of intracellular phosphatidylinositol phosphate, a key second messenger of various intracellular signaling pathways. The functional upregulation of SHIP2 results in signaling blockade, leading to related disorders. Areas covered in this review: We first summarize the role of SHIP2 in the regulation of insulin signaling and type 2 diabetes, including remarkable advances in pharmacological approaches. In addition, this review highlights new findings regarding the involvement of SHIP2 in a number of diseases, including cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and atherosclerosis. What the reader will gain: Recently identified small-molecule inhibitors of SHIP2 phosphatase activity emphasize the potential therapeutic value of SHIP2. In addition, currently available evidence demonstrates the importance of the scaffolding-type protein function of SHIP2. Understanding this interesting function will help clarify the complicated involvement of SHIP2 in various disorders. Take home message: Recent studies have demonstrated that SHIP2 is a promising therapeutic target for not only type 2 diabetes, but also cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and atherosclerosis. Targeting SHIP2 through specific small-molecule inhibitors will have beneficial effects on these diseases.
Profit Warnings and Timing

We find that profit-warning announcements elicit a strong negative market response that is not sensitive to timing the warning in advance of the earnings announcement. Share prices begin to adjust about five days before a profit warning, and the market response is not complete until about five days after the warning. The accumulated response over the 11-day period ending five days after the announcement is - 21.7%. The profit warning effect over the two-day announcement period is 32 times the valuation effect upon subsequent release of the actual earnings. There is no evidence of a reversal after this period, and therefore no sign that the market response is excessive. Copyright 2003 by the Eastern Finance Association.
Yardstick Competition in German Municipalities

Does increasing transparency improve fiscal policy behavior of local governments? One way this could take place is via Yardstick Competition between incumbents of neighboring municipalities. This paper contributes to the literature by introducing a simple model which employs probabilistic voting to show the effect of Yardstick Competition on the amount of political rents diverted from the tax revenue. Since additional rents lower the probability of being reelected, the incumbent will reduce equilibrium rents if voters use information on fiscal performance in similar municipalities to evaluate the incumbent's quality. I test this hypothesis on a panel dataset of municipal budget and electoral data in the german state of Northrine-Westphalia. I show evidence for Yardstick Competition in the local business and property tax rates.
A definition of causal effect for epidemiological research

Estimating the causal effect of some exposure on some outcome is the goal of many epidemiological studies. This article reviews a formal definition of causal effect for such studies. For simplicity, the main description is restricted to dichotomous variables and assumes that no random error attributable to sampling variability exists. The appendix provides a discussion of sampling variability and a generalisation of this causal theory. The difference between association and causation is described—the redundant expression “causal effect” is used throughout the article to avoid confusion with a common use of “effect” meaning simply statistical association—and shows why, in theory, randomisation allows the estimation of causal effects without further assumptions. The article concludes with a discussion on the limitations of randomised studies. These limitations are the reason why methods for causal inference from observational data are needed.
Cohesive Errors in Writing among ESL Pre-Service Teachers

Writing is a complex skill and one of the most difficult to master. A teacher’s weak writing skills may negatively influence their students. Therefore, reinforcing teacher education by first determining pre-service teachers’ writing weaknesses is imperative. This mixed-methods error analysis study aims to examine the cohesive errors in the writing of English as a Second Language (ESL) pre-service teachers of differing language proficiency levels—Medium and High-level, as indicated by the band levels achieved in the Malaysian University English Test (MUET). 200-word narrative essays were collected from 30 final-year ESL pre-service teachers from UKM via email. The study found that the Medium-level pre-service teachers made the most errors in lexical cohesion, reference and conjunction cohesion categories. However, High-level pre-service teachers made more errors in lexical cohesion, ellipsis and reference. Collocation proved the most difficult form of cohesion for both groups of pre-service teachers, while High-level pre-service teachers made more errors in ellipsis than the Medium-level pre-service teachers. Nevertheless, this still indicates that the pre-service teachers’ overall mastery of cohesive writing is insufficient. Therefore, the teaching of these cohesive devices should be further fortified in the linguistic courses undertaken by ESL pre-service teachers to ensure that they are well-equipped in all aspects of cohesive writing.
Response to Comments on “Using Attributional Life Cycle Assessment to Estimate Climate‐Change Mitigation …”

We thank the authors of the three letters (Hertwich 2014; Brandão et al. 2014; Dale and Kim 2014) for taking time to respond to our article (Plevin et al. 2014). Although the letters raised numerous interesting issues worthy of discussion, we found that many of the critical comments addressed issues outside the scope our article. Rather than exhausting our limited space arguing against what we did not write, we focus here on issues discussed in the article. We leave it as an exercise for the reader (and perhaps the letter writers) to compare the original article to the claims made in the letters.
Population, development, and tropical deforestation: a cross-national study

A cross-sectional analysis using data from 36 countries with tropical forests found in the 1982 Food and Agriculture Organization and United Nations Environment Programme deforestation study was conducted to examined the role population growth and capital availability play in deforestation. The unweighted analysis using data from all 36 countries found population growth to significantly account for the variations in tropical deforestation (p<.05); its significance was even greater when data from Guinea-Bissau was removed from the analysis (p<.01). Rural population growth contributed directly to deforestation by increasing the population which clears the land and indirectly by increasing the demand for wood products (p<.001). Gross national product (GNP) did not play a substantial role in deforestation in the unweighted analyses but it did in the weighted analyses (p<.01). Since the weighted analyses exaggerated the significance of countries with large rain forests this result suggested an interaction between forest size and the effects of capital availability on deforestation. Moreover the correlation between GNP per capita and the area deforested for the 8 countries with the largest tropical forests stood at . 575 compared with . 011 for the 28 countries with small forests. Wood and agricultural exports did not account much for the variation in the extent of deforestation. the demand for tropical hardwoods did not contribute much to the rapid deforestation in African and Latin American countries buy did in the Southeast Asian countries. Export agriculture did not account for deforestation in African and Amazon basin countries but did play a role in deforestation in Central America. It is concluded that the efficacy of policies to preserve rain forests will depend on the size of the forest.
Mortgage Modification Activity—Recent Developments

This very detailed article focuses on recent trends in modification activity in the non-agency securitization market. The authors focus primarily on two trends: the increased share of principal reduction modifications and the increased share of second and subsequent modifications. They show that principal reductions result in higher modification success rates than other modification types, even controlling for pay relief. They also show that second and subsequent modifications have higher re-default rates than first modifications. Finally, the authors focus on the variations in modification activity and modification success rates among subprime servicers.
Performance of Banana Cultivars in Gujarat

Field experiments were conducted for three years to assess the performance and select the cultivar ideally suited to Saurashtra region in Gujarat. The cultivars evaluated were Basrai, Harichal, Robusta, Gros Michel, Gandevi Selection and Lacatan. Of these, Gandevi Selection proved superior, with regard to growth parameters, yield characters and its attributes. It also yielded the highest benefit cost ratio.
Relation between newspaper coverage of tobacco issues and smoking attitudes and behaviour among American teens

Objective: Geographic variation in youth smoking prevalence suggests that community-level factors influence risk of tobacco use. We examine the extent to which newspaper coverage of tobacco issues is related to youth smoking attitudes and behaviours. Design: We conducted a content analysis of 8390 newspaper articles on tobacco issues from 386 daily newspapers circulating at 5% or more in 2001–3 Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey communities. This resulted in the creation of community level measures of news volume, content and valence. Associations between news and youth outcomes were assessed using logistic regression analyses adjusting for individual, geographic and tobacco policy factors linked to youth smoking and attitudes. Subjects: 98 747 youth participating in the nationally representative school-based MTF annual surveys between 2001 and 2003. Main outcome measures: Perceived harm of smoking, perceived peer smoking, disapproval of smoking, smoking within the past 30 days, daily cigarette consumption. Results: In the five months preceding survey administration, newspapers in MTF communities published an average of 11.9 tobacco related articles (range 0–55.7). Each 10-article increase in newspaper volume over the five-month period was associated with increased odds of perceiving great harm from smoking (OR = 1.04, p<0.01) and disapproving of smoking (OR = 1.04, p<0.05) and decreased odds of perceiving most or all friends smoke (0.94, p<0.01) and smoking in the past 30 days (OR = 0.93, p<0.001). No consistent association was found between the content or valence of coverage and youth smoking outcomes. Conclusions: Gaining and keeping tobacco on the media agenda is an important tool for tackling youth smoking. As volume appears to be the driving factor, media advocacy may be best targeted towards generating events and highlighting issues likely to increase and sustain news attention.
The Information World of Parents: A Study of the Use and Understanding of Information by Parents of Young Children

Recent decades have seen change in social attitudes toward parenting within the United Kingdom. During this time, parenting has received an unprecedented amount of attention from government, through legislation and policy initiatives, as well as becoming a regular topic in the news media, television programs, and for book publishers. The consequence of this social change is that parents today, arguably, face far greater pressure in terms of sifting and weighing the wide range of messages, opinions, and information targeted at them. Despite these social changes, parents and parenting have received comparatively little attention from researchers specifically examining their information literacy needs. This article is based upon research conducted using constructivist grounded theory and examines how a group of thirty-three parents in Leeds, United Kingdom looked for, accessed, and assessed information. The primary outcome of the research is a substantive grounded theory, which is framed within five categories: being a parent (core category); connectivity; trust; picture of self; weighing. These five categories describe how parents look for, access, and weigh information on a daily basis. This theory has implications for how organizations, services, and professionals convey information to parents. It also supports the notion of a need to view information literacy as part of a complex socially constructed paradigm.
Housing, House Prices, and the Equity Premium Puzzle

Many recent papers have claimed that when housing services are treated separately from other forms of consumption in utility, a wide range of economic puzzles such as the equity premium puzzle can be explained. Our paper challenges these claims. The key assumption embedded in this literature is that households are not very willing to substitute housing services for consumption. We show that housing services and consumption must be much more substitutable than has been assumed for a neoclassical consumption model to be consistent with U.S. house price data. Further, when forced to match both historical house prices and stock returns, the lowest risk-free rate the model can generate is 11 percent.
On Ride-Sharing: A Departure Time Choice Analysis with Latent Carpooling Preference

This paper presents a departure time choice analysis, based on the notion of a latent car-pooling preference. The study is based on combined revealed preference and stated preference survey data collected on the Maryland side of the Capital Beltway (I-495). A conditional logit model is ﬁrst estimated to identify drivers’ choice of departure time when tolls and congestion management strategies, including high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes and high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes, are implemented. Then a latent class model accounting for heterogeneity across categories of drivers is proposed to examine difference in behavioral preferences across classes. The latent class model result reveals signiﬁcant heterogeneity in drivers’ latent preference toward ride-sharing, which can potentially support ranges of transportation policy and incentive design related to congestion management strategies such as HOV/HOT lane usage.
Exploring the Effects of Social Networking on Students' Perceptions of Social Connectedness, Adjustment, Academic Engagement, and Institutional Commitment

Social networking is a tool being explored by many institutions as a means of connecting to and communicating with students. This study explores whether or not students‟ use of social networking services (SNSs) has significant effects on social connectedness, college adjustment, academic engagement, and institutional commitment. Students‟ use of SNSs did not have significant negative effects on academic performance or engagement. Results suggested that students‟ use of SNS with students has a strong positive effect on their feelings of Social Connectedness. However, students‟ use of SNSs with faculty or staff was negatively related to feelings of social connectedness, even when age, enrollment status, credits earned, and college GPA were accounted for. Students‟ use of SNS or Traditional Technologies (e.g., university email or course-based system) with faculty or staff was significantly positively related to levels of Academic Engagement. Students prefer to use SNSs to establish social connections with friends and family rather than for academic purposes. AIR 2010 Forum Chicago, IL
Can Skill Diversification Improve Welfare in Rural Areas? Evidence from the Rural Skills Development Project in Bhutan

Income growth in rural areas may be one of the greatest challenges to further poverty reduction and economic development. Using a new survey of rural Bhutanese households we investigate the short-term economic, social, and psychosocial benefits of a vocational skills training program that was intended to help diversify incomes into sources outside of agriculture; and the determinants of participation. We find limited positive impacts of the program along various economic, social, and psychosocial dimensions, but find evidence that it helped to diversify household incomes into these skill areas. Further, evidence suggests that those who underwent longer training were more likely to have better job opportunities. This suggests that: (i) there is a need to place a greater emphasis on creating a mechanism to connect the training program to income-generating opportunities such as job placement services and entrepreneurship or mentoring services support for the program to have a more immediate effect; and (ii) there is a need to refine the curriculum and extend the training time to allow trainees to develop their skills. Increased income or starting a business, in turn, is likely to have a positive psychosocial impact on the trainees. Moreover, we find that married people and females are significantly less likely to participate, after including other key factors, indicating that there is need to provide more femalefriendly training with flexibility in training time and venues, and with training in other skill areas so that there will be more equality in the skill development process.