Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The anterior cingulate cortex: an integrative hub for human socially-driven interactions

The activity of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) has been related to decision-making (Gehring and Willoughby, 2002; Sanfey et al., 2003; Mulert et al., 2008), socially-driven interactions (Sanfey et al., 2003; Rigoni et al., 2010; Etkin et al., 2011), and empathy-related responses (van Veen and Carter, 2002; Gu et al., 2010; Lamm et al., 2011). We present a perspective of how to interpret the evidence of ACC involvement in these three processes, propose an ACC integrative function, and provide a methodological pathway to study decision making, empathy, and social interaction in a combined experimental approach.
Outcome comparison of Lisfranc injuries treated through dorsal plate fixation versus screw fixation

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this prospective study was to test whether the treatment of Lisfranc injuries with open reduction and dorsal plate fixation would have the same or better functional outcomes as treatment with standard trans-articular screw fixation. METHODS: Sixty patients with primarily isolated Lisfranc joint injury were treated by open reduction and dorsal plate fixation or standard screw fixation. The patients were followed on average for 31 months. Evaluation was performed with patients' chief complaint, clinical examination, radiography, and AOFAS Midfoot Scale. RESULTS: Thirty two patients were treated with open reduction and dorsal plate fixation, and twenty eight patients were treated with open reduction and screw fixation. After two years follow-up, the mean AOFAS Midfoot score was 83.1 points in the dorsal plate fixation group and 78.5 points in the screw fixation group (p<0.01). Of the dorsal plate fixation group, radiographic analysis revealed anatomic reduction in twenty-nine patients (90.6%, 29/32) and nonanatomic reduction in three patients. Of the screw fixation group, radiographic analysis revealed anatomic reduction in twenty-three patients and nonanatomic reduction in five patients (82.1%, 23/28). CONCLUSIONS: Open reduction and dorsal plate fixation for a dislocated Lisfranc injury do have better short and median term outcome and a lower reoperation rate than standard screw ORIF. In our experience, we recommend using dorsal plate in ORIF on dislocated Lisfranc injuries. Level of Evidence II, Prospective Comparative Study.
Are Some Firms Better at IT? Differing Relationships between Productivity and IT Spending

Although recent studies have found a positive relationship between spending on information technology and firm productivity, the magnitude of this relationship has not been as dramatic as one would expect given the anecdotal evidence. Data collected by the Bureau of the Census is analyzed to investigate the relationship between plant-level productivity and spending on IT. This relationship is investigated by separating the manufacturing plants in the sample along two dimensions, total factor productivity and IT spending. Analysis along these dimensions reveals that there are significant differences between the highest and lowest productivity plants. The highest productivity plants tend to spend less on IT while the lowest productivity plants tend to spend more on IT. Although there is support for the idea that lower productivity plants are spending more on IT to compensate for their productivity shortcomings, the results indicate that this is not the only difference. The robustness of this finding is strengthened by investigating changes in productivity and IT spending over time. High productivity plants with the lowest amounts of IT spending tend to remain high productivity plants with low IT spending while low productivity plants with high IT spending tend to remain low productivity plants with high IT spending. The results show that management skill, as measured by the overall productivity level of a firm, is an additional factor that must be taken into consideration when investigating the IT "productivity paradox. "
The Economic Effects of Road Pricing in the Randstad Area

This paper presents a framework for analysing spatial aspects of environmentalpolicies in the regulation of trans-boundary externalities. A spatial priceequilibrium model for two regions is constructed, where interactions betweenthese regions can occur via trade and transport, via mutual environmentalspill-overs due to the externality that arises from production, and via taxcompetition when the regions do not behave cooperatively. Also the additionalcomplications arising from emissions caused by the endogenous transport flowsare considered explicitly.
Recognition versus disclosure: evidence from fair value of investment property

The application of International Accounting Standard 40, Investment Property, in the European Union created a unique setting to study the implications of a decision to recognize versus disclose financial statements’ items, because in this setting recognized and disclosed investment-property-related amounts share a common measurement base, i.e., fair value. I use this setting to (1) explore a firm’s choice to recognize versus disclose fair values of investment properties, (2) test whether recognized and disclosed amounts are valued equally by investors, and (3) determine whether these amounts exhibit equivalent associations with future financial outcomes. To correct for self-selection concerns and assure I compare analogous amounts, I develop a selection model and construct investment-property-related amounts that differ only in whether their components are recognized or disclosed. I find that (1) contractual and asset-pricing incentives help to explain the recognition versus disclosure choice, (2) investors place smaller valuation weights on disclosed amounts, and (3) recognized and disclosed amounts exhibit statistically equivalent associations with future changes in net rental income and cash flows from operations. Taken together, the evidence suggests that managers are opportunistic in making the recognition versus disclosure choice and that even when recognized and disclosed amounts share an equivalent measurement base and are equally relevant for future financial outcomes, investors weight disclosed information less heavily in determining a firm’s value.
First nuclear DNA C-values for 18 eudicot families.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS A key target set at the second Plant Genome Size Workshop, held at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 2003, was to produce first DNA C-value data for an additional 1 % of angiosperm species, and, within this, to achieve 75 % familial coverage overall (up from approx. 50 %) by 2009. The present study targeted eudicot families for which representation in 2003 (42.5 %) was much lower than monocot (72.8 %) and basal angiosperm (69.0 %) families. METHODS Flow cytometry or Feulgen microdensitometry were used to estimate nuclear DNA C-values, and chromosome counts were obtained where possible. KEY RESULTS First nuclear DNA C-values are reported for 20 angiosperm families, including 18 eudicots. This substantially increases familial representation to 55.2 % for angiosperms and 48.5 % for eudicots. CONCLUSIONS The importance of targeting specific plant families to improve familial nuclear DNA C-value representation is reconfirmed. International collaboration will be increasingly essential to locate and obtain material of unsampled plant families, if the target set by the second Plant Genome Size Workshop is to be met.
Unconventional Monetary Policy of the ECB during the Financial Crisis: An Assessment and New Evidence

We first sketch how central banks have used unconventional monetary policy measures by using three indicators based on the composition of the balance sheet of eleven central banks. Our analysis suggests that although the ECB's balance sheet has increased dramatically during the crisis, the non-standard monetary policy measures had only a moderate impact on the composition of the ECB's balance sheet compared to other central banks, such as the Fed and the Bank of England. Next, we take stock of research analysing the effects of unconventional monetary policy of the ECB after the onset of the crisis. A crucial question is to what extent these measures have been able to affect interest rates, thereby restoring the monetary policy transmission process and supporting the central bank objectives. Finally, we offer new evidence on the effectiveness of the ECB's unconventional monetary policy measures, i.e. extended liquidity provision (LTRO) and the Securities Market Programme (SMP). Our results suggest that the LTRO interventions in general had a favorable (short-term) effect on government bond yields. Changes in the SMP only had a visible downward effect on bond yields in Summer 2011, when the program was reactivated for Italy and Spain, but this effect dissipated within a few weeks.
The Determinants of the Capital Structure of Firms in Nigeria: The Financial Managers' Perspectives

The paper examined the considerable factors in deciding on the appropriate amount of equity and debt in the Nigerian banking industry, and the factors influencing banks’ capital structure. Data were gathered through questionnaires administered to the financial managers of 25 listed banks in Nigeria. Cross tabulations and Chi-square were used for data analysis. The result suggests that credit-rating, volatility of earnings and cash flow, bankruptcy or near-bankruptcy, financial distress, transaction costs, fees for issuing debt, and financial flexibility are the important factors in choosing appropriate amount of debt. The most important factor that affects banks’ choice between short- and long-term debts is matching the maturity of debt with life of the asset. The study also reveals that ownership structure and management control, growth and opportunity, profitability, issuing cost, and tax economics associated with debt are the major factors influencing bank’s capital structure. It is, therefore, recommended that banks should adopt a mixed source of financing and choose appropriate ownership structure and management policy.
Oil Exporters: In Search of an External Anchor

This paper discusses the choice of an optimal external anchor for oil exporting economies, using optimum currency area criteria and simulations of a simple model of a small open economy pegging to a basket of two currencies. Oil exporting countries - in particular those of the Gulf Cooperation Council - satisfy a number of key optimum currency area criteria to adopt a peg. However, direction of trade and synchronisation of business cycle of oil exporters suggest that there is no single "ideal" external anchor among the major international currencies. Model simulations - parameterised for an oil exporting economy - indicate that a currency basket is generally preferable to a single currency peg, especially when some weight is placed by the policy maker on output stabilisation. Only when inflation becomes the only policy objective and external trade is mostly conducted in one currency that a peg to a single currency becomes optimal.
Mining Alzheimer Disease Relevant Proteins from Integrated Protein Interactome Data

Huge unrealized post-genome opportunities remain in the understanding of detailed molecular mechanisms for Alzheimer Disease (AD). In this work, we developed a computational method to rank-order AD-related proteins, based on an initial list of AD-related genes and public human protein interaction data. In this method, we first collected an initial seed list of 65 AD-related genes from the OMIM database and mapped them to 70 AD seed proteins. We then expanded the seed proteins to an enriched AD set of 765 proteins using protein interactions from the Online Predicated Human Interaction Database (OPHID). We showed that the expanded AD-related proteins form a highly connected and statistically significant protein interaction sub-network. We further analyzed the sub-network to develop an algorithm, which can be used to automatically score and rank-order each protein for its biological relevance to AD pathways(s). Our results show that functionally relevant AD proteins were consistently ranked at the top: among the top 20 of 765 expanded AD proteins, 19 proteins are confirmed to belong to the original 70 AD seed protein set. Our method represents a novel use of protein interaction network data for Alzheimer disease studies and may be generalized for other disease areas in the future.
Effect of hot environmental conditions on physical activity patterns and temperature response of football players

Heat stress may contribute to decreased match performance when football is played in extreme heat. This study evaluated activity patterns and thermal responses of players during soccer matches played in different environmental conditions. Non‐acclimatized soccer players (n=11, 20±2 years) played two matches in conditions of moderate heat (MH) and high heat (HH) index. Core temperature (Tc) and physical performance were measured using a telemetric sensor and a global positioning system, respectively. The average ambient temperature and relative humidity were MH 34±1 °C and 38±2%; HH 36±0 °C and 61±1%. Peak Tc in the MH match was 39.1±0.4 °C and in the HH match it was 39.6±0.3 °C. The total distance covered in the first and second halves was 4386±367 and 4227±292 m for the MH match and 4301±487 and 3761±358 m for the HH match. Players covered more distance (P<0.001) in the first half of the HH match than in the second half. In football matches played at high environmental temperature and humidity, the physical performance of the players may decrease due to high thermal stress.
User-Centered Design in New Product Development: A Case Study in Developing New Sports Earphone

A user-centered new product development process is discussed in this paper. The design of a new sports earphone is illustrated as a case study. User study methods such as questionnaires, survey, interviews and observations are used. Quantitative and qualitative methods are used to create Persona, scenario and discover user requirements. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) method is used to translate the users' requirements into technical requirements. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is applied in QFD to quantify the user requirements, relate those elements to overall customer satisfaction goal and evaluate different design alternatives.
Corporate Bond Credit Spreads and Forecast Dispersion

Recent research establishes a negative relation between stock returns and dispersion of analysts’ earnings forecasts, arguing that asset prices more reflect the views of optimistic investors because of short-sale constraints in equity markets. In this article, we examine whether a similar effect prevails in corporate bond markets. After controlling for common bond-level, firm-level, and macroeconomic variables, we find evidence that bonds of firms with higher dispersion demand significantly higher credit spreads than otherwise similar bonds and that changes in dispersion reliably predict changes in credit spreads. This evidence suggests a limited role of short-sale constraints in our corporate bond data sets. Consistent with a rational explanation, dispersion appears to proxy largely for future cash flow uncertainty in corporate bond markets.
A Direct Test of the "Lemons" Model: The Market for Used Pickup Trucks

of the implications of models of markets with asymmetric information. In the seminal paper on markets with asymmetric information, George Akerlof (1970) pointed out two possible outcomes that may occur where sellers have better information about the quality of products than do buyers. One possibility is that bad products will drive out good products. If buyers cannot distinguish quality until after the purchase has been made, there will be no incentive for sellers to provide good quality products, and the average quality in the market will decline. In the case of cars, an often-cited example of this phenomenon, owners who discover that they have a "lemon" will attempt to sell it in the used car market to an unsuspecting buyer. The owner of a "creampuff" will not sell his car, since it is indistinguishable from a lemon to buyers and must therefore sell for the price of a car of average quality. The effect of quality uncertainty is to reduce the volume of transactions in the used car market below the socially optimal level. A second possibility suggested by Akerlof is that institutions may develop to counteract the effects of quality uncertainty. Warranties and brand names can be used to give the buyer some assurance of quality. These institutions may prevent good products from being driven from the market, but they will
Electrical Characterization of 3D Au Microelectrodes for Use in Retinal Prostheses

In order to provide high-quality visual information to patients who have implanted retinal prosthetic devices, the number of microelectrodes should be large. As the number of microelectrodes is increased, the dimensions of each microelectrode must be decreased, which in turn results in an increased microelectrode interface impedance and decreased injection current dynamic range. In order to improve the trade-off envelope between the number of microelectrodes and the current injection characteristics, a 3D microelectrode structure can be used as an alternative. In this paper, the electrical characteristics of 2D and 3D Au microelectrodes were investigated. In order to examine the effects of the structural difference, 2D and 3D Au microelectrodes with different base areas but similar effective surface areas were fabricated and evaluated. Interface impedances were measured and similar dynamic ranges were obtained for both 2D and 3D Au microelectrodes. These results indicate that more electrodes can be implemented in the same area if 3D designs are used. Furthermore, the 3D Au microelectrodes showed substantially enhanced electrical durability characteristics against over-injected stimulation currents, withstanding electrical currents that are much larger than the limit measured for 2D microelectrodes of similar area. This enhanced electrical durability property of 3D Au microelectrodes is a new finding in microelectrode research, and makes 3D microelectrodes very desirable devices.
Urban Neighbourhood Associations: People, Organizations, and Place

In a world increasingly "globalized" through advances in transportation and communication, place still matters. Our urban communities, dense and mixed in character, are homes for important social, economic, and political institutions and relationships (DeFilippis, Fisher, & Shragge, 2006), with volunteer-run neighbourhood associations bringing the voices of community residents into the conversation. My research with two such groups in Kitchener, Ontario, originally focused on organizational characteristics that aided their work in addressing neighbourhood issues such as crime, but later expanded to include considerations of the urban context within which both groups belong. Semi-structured qualitative interviews with association members and external actors highlighted the importance of leadership, organizational structure, flexibility, and partnerships with external organizations. Safety concerns in the communities provided an initial impetus, with both groups focusing on specific issues and engaging in ongoing learning to improve their neighbourhoods. The associations also appear to benefit their communities indirectly by fostering residential pride and informal neighbouring activities. Based on insights from empowerment theory, urban studies, and my own critical reflections on my experiences living in urban neighbourhoods, I suggest that the associations are uniquely shaped by their settings, with structures and behaviours that respond to the complexity of life in our cities. In turn, these neighbourhood groups have the potential to address the paradoxes often encountered in urban living: by bridging the individual and the community, they serve as an example of a "third way" (Newbrough, 1995). This research provides suggestions for neighbourhood residents, groups, community practitioners, and researchers.
Riemann Manifold Langevin and Hamiltonian Monte Carlo

This paper proposes Metropolis adjusted Langevin and Hamiltonian Monte Carlo sampling methods defined on the Riemann manifold to resolve the shortcomings of existing Monte Carlo algorithms when sampling from target densities that may be high dimensional and exhibit strong correlations. The methods provide fully automated adaptation mechanisms that circumvent the costly pilot runs required to tune proposal densities for MetropolisHastings or indeed Hamiltonian Monte Carlo and Metropolis Adjusted Langevin Algorithms. This allows for highly efficient sampling even in very high dimensions where different scalings may be required for the transient and stationary phases of the Markov chain. The proposed methodology exploits the Riemannian geometry of the parameter space of statistical models and thus automatically adapts to the local structure when simulating paths across this manifold providing highly efficient convergence and exploration of the target density. The performance of these Riemannian Manifold Monte Carlo methods is rigorously assessed by performing inference on logistic regression models, log-Gaussian Cox point processes, stochastic volatility models, and Bayesian estimation of dynamical systems described by nonlinear differential equations. Substantial improvements in the time normalised Effective Sample Size are reported when compared to alternative sampling approaches. Matlab code at http: //www.dcs. gla.ac. uk/inference/rmhmc allows replication of all results reported.
Leukotriene Receptor Antagonism and the Prevention of Extracellular Matrix Degradation During Atherosclerosis and In-Stent Stenosis

Objective—The lipid-derived inflammatory mediators leukotrienes (LTs) are produced during vascular injury. The aim of the present study was to determine the role of LT receptor signaling in the pathophysiology of in-stent stenosis. Methods and Results—New Zealand White rabbits were fed 0.3% cholesterol and subjected to angioplasty with balloon dilatation and stent implantation in the right carotid artery. Rabbits treated for 2 weeks with the BLT receptor antagonist BIIL284 (3 mg/kg once daily by oral gavage) displayed a significantly reduced in-stent intimal hyperplasia in carotid arteries compared with vehicle-treated rabbits. In addition, BIIL284 treatment significantly reduced the extracellular matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 activities in stented arteries. The inhibited MMP-9 activity was correlated with decreased macrophage content in the lesions. The LTB4-induced migration of vascular smooth muscle cells was significantly inhibited by transfection with siRNA against MMP-2. Finally, human arteries subjected to ex vivo angioplasty and stent implantation displayed an increased in-stent intimal hyperplasia and higher MMP-2 and -9 activities in the presence of LTB4. Conclusions—These results suggest a key role of LT signaling in the extracellular matrix degradation associated with hyperlipidemia and in-stent stenosis. In conclusion, targeting LT receptors may represent a therapeutic strategy in atherosclerosis and interventional cardiology.