Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Epidemiology of Inherited Epidermolysis Bullosa Based on Incidence and Prevalence Estimates From the National Epidermolysis Bullosa Registry.

Importance Accurate estimation of the incidence and prevalence of each subtype of epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is essential before clinical trials can be designed and sufficient funding allocated by government agencies and third-party insurers for the care of these individuals. Objective To determine the incidence and prevalence of inherited EB stratified by subtype in the United States during a 16-year period. Design, Setting, and Participants Prospective cross-sectional and longitudinal study. Data were obtained from 3271 patients consecutively enrolled in the National Epidermolysis Bullosa Registry from January 1, 1986, through December 31, 2002, using a detailed instrument created with the assistance of the National Institutes of Health. Analyses were performed in January 1999 and April 2015. Participants were patients of all ages with EB. Main Outcomes and Measures Extensive clinical and laboratory data were collected on patients who were subclassified and serially revalidated based on published diagnostic recommendations by an international panel of experts. Pertinent to this report, estimates were made of the incidence and prevalence during 2 time frames. Results During the first 5 years of funding of the registry, the overall incidence and prevalence of inherited EB were 19.60 and 8.22 per 1 million live births, respectively. When reassessed over the entire 16 years of the study, the prevalence rose to 11.07, whereas the overall incidence remained unchanged at 19.57 cases. Changes were also observed within some disease subsets as increased numbers of patients were identified, recruited, followed up longitudinally, and resubclassified as needed over time. For example, in 2002, the prevalence of EBS overall and localized EBS had increased considerably by 30.4% and 25.5%, respectively, whereas the prevalence of generalized intermediate EBS declined by 76.7% as a result of later subclassification of some of those patients into other subtypes. In contrast, no significant change was noted in the overall prevalence of JEB or generalized severe JEB, although there was a 73.0% decline in the prevalence of generalized intermediate JEB. Conclusions and Relevance Precise estimates of the incidence and prevalence of each major subtype of inherited EB in the United States are now available that should assist investigators in choosing which subtypes are amenable to properly designed, large-scale, clinical trials.
Real-Time Digital Simulation of a PV solar system as STATCOM (PV-STATCOM) for voltage regulation and power factor correction

This paper presents a real-time digital simulation study of a PV solar system as a STATCOM (PV-STATCOM) on RTDS (Real Time Digital Simulator) in a unique state-of-the-art research laboratory in a utility premise. This PV-STATCOM technology is utilized in the night for power factor correction and voltage regulation at the terminals of an induction motor operating at poor power factor. During daytime, the same objectives will be accomplished together with production of real power from solar insolation, by utilizing the inverter capacity remaining after real power generation. The local distribution company London Hydro is implementing this new technology, for the first time in Canada, on a 10 kW solar system to be installed on the rooftop of their headquarters building in Fall 2012. The proposed new control on PV solar system will help increase the utilization of the PV solar system, improve overall electrical system performance and provide a potential of additional revenue earning for solar farms for providing the above services, both during night and day.
Where Informality Really Matters: Patterns of Employee Involvement and Participation (EIP) in a Non‐Union Firm

Industrial relations scholars have long been interested in notions of employee involvement, participation, voice, and industrial democracy but the terminology is so elastic that the types of practices covered are extremely broad. In this article, following a brief discussion that categorizes employee involvement and participation (EIP) in terms of degree, level, and scope, we focus on the relatively dilute formal and informal practices which operate at workplace level in non-union firms. Although researchers now examine direct—as well as representative—forms of EIP, we argue the focus is still on formal systems. This finding is understandable both from a methodological and a theoretical angle, but it leaves a gap in our awareness of how EIP functions at workplace level, and in particular, the role played by line managers in developing informal communication and consultation in non-union firms. In this article, we examine formal and informal EIP within a large non-union firm in the UK hospitality sector; a context characterized by intense product and labor market pressures and limited union presence. Our principal conclusion is that informality takes centre stage in this organization, driven by managerial and worker preferences for informal EIP in the context of close working relations at the customer interface. Moreover, customer pressures and flexible working patterns make it difficult to sustain formal EIP in the context of a capability framework that puts a primacy on managers using informal approaches. However, it is argued that informal EIP needs to be combined with the formal system to operate effectively.
An Open-System Approach to Building Theory in Public Relations

Theory construction in public relations requires both scientific methods and openness to conceptual and methodological input from the larger fields of communication and human behavior. The alternative is to turn inwardly to the narrowly defined public relations "body of knowledge. " Greater emphasis on focal concepts tied to the practice, on concept and theory explication, and on data-based hypothesis testing is required in the open-system approach to building theory in public relations.
The impact of different types of ownership concentration on annual report voluntary disclosures in New Zealand

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of different categories of ownership concentration on corporate voluntary disclosure practices in New Zealand.Design/methodology/approach – The study applies panel data regression analysis to a sample of New Zealand listed companies from 2001 to 2005. Two‐stage least squares analysis (2SLS) is conducted. Ownership concentration is categorised into four mutually exclusive ownership structures.Findings – The paper finds that firm‐year observations characterised by financial institution‐controlled ownership structure tends to make significantly fewer (more) disclosures at high (low) concentration levels supporting expropriation. In contrast, firm‐year observations in the high (low) concentration group with government‐ and management‐controlled ownership structures exhibit considerably higher (lower) voluntary disclosure scores, suggesting a positive monitoring effect at high ownership concentration level.Research limitations/implications – The .
A study on the readiness of mobile learning in open education

Mobile learning emphasizes learning anywhere, anytime and on any devices. Its successful adoption depends on at least three key factors, namely, technological feasibility of mobile learning, students' needs of flexible learning, and pedagogical benefits. In recent years, with a high adoption rate of mobile and Wi-Fi networks and the availability of sophisticated mobile devices, mobile learning has become technically feasible. Many students have accustomed to mobile network, resulting in an increasing demand of flexible learning through the mobile network. Positive responses are received in a recent survey on students' acceptance and likeliness to use mobile devices for study purposes. This paper investigates the readiness of mobile learning in open education with respect to the technological feasibility, students' needs and pedagogical benefits.
Using Machine Learning to Improve Stochastic Optimization

In many stochastic optimization algorithms there is a hyperparameter that controls how the next sampling distribution is determined from the current data set of samples of the objective function. This hyperparameter controls the exploration /exploitation trade-off of the next sample. Typically heuristic "rules of thumb" are used to set that hyperparameter, e.g., a pre-fixed annealing schedule. We show how machine learning provides more principled alternatives to (adaptively) set that hyperparameter, and demonstrate that these alternatives can substantially improve optimization performance.
Cost-Utility Analysis of High- vs. Low-Intensity Home- and Community-Based Service Interventions

Home- and community-based services (HCBS) have been advocated as a mechanism to delay institutionalization and reduce health care costs for the growing senior population. Studies of costs to date have found little evidence of cost savings from HCBS. However, HCBS can be thought to have two main benefits: delaying institutionalization and improving quality of life. Since cost and quality of life can be considered simultaneously in a cost-effectiveness analysis, an exploratory study was conducted to examine the relative cost-effectiveness of a high-dosage (i.e., high-intensity) HCBS intervention (i.e., 1915c Medicaid waiver) compared to a lower-dosage HCBS intervention (i.e., in-home aide service) using quality-adjusted life years as the measure of effectiveness. Findings indicated that high-dosage HCBS is not a cost-effective alternative. The low-dosage alternative allows for greater equity through provision of service to a larger pool of individuals in need.
Cross-Sectional PEG Ratios, Market Equity Premium, and Macroeconomic Activity

This article explores the information content of PEG ratios (price/earnings to growth ratios) for future aggregate returns and economic fundamentals. We first establish an analytic link between PEG ratios and time-varying expected returns of stocks. We then combine the link with empirical asset pricing models to extract market-wide information from cross-sectional PEG ratios. The resultant cross-section estimates of the risk premiums on stock betas serve as proxies for market-wide information. The proxies contain salient information about future market equity premiums and macroeconomic activity both in-sample and out-of-sample. Moreover, the proxies outperform aggregate PEG ratios and the cross-section beta-premium estimate based on conventional valuation ratios and retain incremental power in forecasting future market equity premiums. The results are robust to using various econometric methods for standard error adjustments.
Supply chains and locational adjustment in the global automotive industry

This paper helps to set the scene for this special issue on automotive restructuring and policy responses. It starts by providing a brief introduction to the different inventory and supply-chain management approaches dominant within the industry at different stages of its evolution, before moving on to outline the spatial implications of these different approaches. The paper then presents a transactions–costs conceptual framework for analysing key features of the auto manufacturing and supply-chain system, using a taxonomy approach. The paper concludes by highlighting the spatial and policy implications for the auto industry which arise from such a transactions–costs analysis. Interestingly, the logic of both a transactions–costs approach and a consideration of knowledge spillovers both point towards the increasing spatial concentration of higher value-added activities. This may have a number of policy implications in terms of the industrial, technology and regional policies required to support and sustain such higher value-added activities. This is also consistent with the view that globalization leads to greater spatial dispersion, as the latter tends to be dominated by lower value-adding activities, with the core locations progressively moving towards higher value-adding activities. Overall, the opposing positive and negative impacts on regional ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ will be more greatly amplified than would previously have been the case. As such, regions benefiting from the immigration of integrated supply-chain networks will tend to maintain their advantageous position in the industry over time. On the downside, regions which lose such supply-chain systems, as seen over the last two decades in many regions in the US, UK and Australia, face a challenging situation, with very limited prospects for redeveloping such systems via policy initiatives.
Can Welfare Case Management Increase Employment? Evidence from a Pilot Program Evaluation

Welfare reform has increased the importance of employment over simple eligibility determination. Research has focused on strategies for enhancing employment among welfare recipients, and this article adds to the literature by examining specifically the effects of using an assessment tool to assist case managers in targeting services to a heterogeneous client population. Analysis indicates that clients of case managers who used the screener, compared with a set of clients of case managers who did not use it, received more services and had higher program participation rates but experienced no improvement in short-term employment outcomes. This suggests that the instrument as a tool in case management is effective at identifying client needs, which is the first step to achieving more favorable employmentrelated outcomes in the long run. Welfare reform has changed the paradigm of the welfare system from one of determining eligibility and disbursing checks to one where employment is central. In the work-focused system, services are instrumental to supporting clients in their employment and subsequent moves toward self-sufficiency. This type of system requires greater attention to the needs of heterogeneous welfare recipient populations and relies to a much greater degree on case management over eligibility determination. The Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES) Jobs Program recently developed and piloted a new management instrument called the Case Management Screening Guide (CMSG). The aim of the CMSG is to improve case managers’ ability to determine clients’ employment-related needs and barriers, thereby matching services to needs and presumably accelerating employment among public assistance recipients. This article discusses the evaluation of DES’s CMSG pilot project in an effort to connect known case management theory and strategies with actual employment outcomes of welfare recipients. First, we describe what we know about the case management–outcomes connection. Next, we describe the pilot project that aims to shed new light on the question. We present the research findings and then discuss the implications for future research and policy.
Rhetorics of Efficiency, Fashion and Politics

Drawing on a content analysis of discourse surrounding five sequential hospital merger decisions, this research examines the role of efficiency considerations, fashion and politics in stimulating the adoption of a managerial idea. The article analyses how different arguments come to be intertwined. It illustrates how rational and institutional arguments are used to legitimate political strategies while simultaneously constituting the apparatus of legitimation for others in a reciprocal process that contributes to the persistence of those same strategies. The article thus confirms the key role of politics, interests and agency in the evolution and constitution of institutions, and in the diffusion of managerial ideas.
Option Theory and Floating-Rate Securities with a Comparison of Adjustable- and Fixed-Rate Mortgages

This article demonstrates how to value floating-rate securities, in particular adjustable-rate mortgages, in the presence of default. The problem is not a straightforward one since endogenous termination (default and prepayment) necessitates solution by backward procedures, but caps on the floating rate then create path dependencies. The solution is to introduce an artificial state variable, the past contract rate, in addition to the natural stochastic variables, the interest and the house price process. With this technique, a numerical investigation of the properties of defaultable adjustable-rate mortgages is provided. In all cases, a comparison is made with standard fixed-rate mortgages. Coauthors are Donald C. Keenan, Walter J. Muller III, and James F. Epperson. Copyright 1993 by University of Chicago Press.
Characteristic Enhancement of Solution-Processed In–Ga–Zn Oxide Thin-Film Transistors by Laser Annealing

We applied laser annealing on indium-gallium-zinc oxide (IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) to improve their electrical characteristics. The IGZO nanoparticles were prepared from a water solution, and the films were fabricated by the spin-coating method and postbaked at a low postbake temperature (95°C). The crystallinity and compositions of the as-deposited film and the laser-annealed films were analyzed by X-ray diffraction. The film morphology and the electrical characteristics of TFTs at various irradiation dosages are also presented. Results show that the field-effect mobility can be improved to 7.65 cm2/V·s.
Fullerene Isomerism: Isolation of C2v,-C78 and D3-C78

Early reports on the formation of the higher fullerenes C76, C78, C84, C90, and C94 by resistive heating of graphite stimulated theoretical calculations of possible cage structures for these all-carbon molecules. Among the five fullerene structures with isolated pentagons found for C78, a closed-shell D3h-isomer was predicted to form preferentially. Two distinct C78-isomers were formed in a ratio of ∼5:1 and could be separated by high-performance liquid chromatography. The carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrum of the major isomer is uniquely consistent with a C2v-structure. The NMR data also support a chiral D3-structure for the minor isomer. The isolation of specifically these two isomers of C78 provides insight into the stability of higher fullerene structures and into the mechanism for fullerene formation in general.
TRADE ENHANCEMENT CHARACTERISTICS OF DESSERT BANANA FRUITS AND ESTIMATES OF TRANSACTION COSTS IN OKIGWE METROPOLIS, IMO STATE NIGERIA

This study on trade enhancement Characteristics of sweet (dessert) banana fruit and estimation of transaction costs was conducted in Okigwe Metropolis of Imo State, Nigeria. Stratified random sampling technique was adopted in selecting 80 respondents comprising 40 dessert banana traders (panelists) and 40 dessert banana consumers. Monthly trade data was collected from the respondents using pretested semi-structured questionnaire during dry season (November-April) and rain season (May-October) for the year 2012. Data collected were subjected to descriptive statistical analysis; with transaction costs estimated as ex ante and ex post components. Hedonic pricing regression model was used in determining buyer socioeconomic/banana attributes that influenced willingness to pay price. Fruit characteristics that significantly enhanced trade of sweet banana in descending order were taste (3.83), fruit variety (3.57), and fruit skin colour (3.50). Other significant factors were level of ripeness (3.49), availability in off-season (3.46), fruit size (3.20) and cleanliness (3.20). Mean ex-ante transaction costs for sweet banana was N77, 800.00/trader and its mean ex-post transaction cost was N25,080.00/trader. We recommended that traders should take advantage of Global Mobile System (GSM) to overcome information barriers on banana trading. Government and health institutions should intensify consumer safety education, and encourage horticultural unions to heighten postharvest monitoring of stored and displayed dessert banana fruits to enforce observance of ripening standards.
The Role of the DMO in Creating Value in EU‐funded Tourism Projects

Abstract In the network society national, regional and local destination‐marketing organizers (DMOs) are under severe pressure to decide how to promote their destination due to increased competition. However, by integrating their activities and resources in cooperative processes DMOs are able to coordinate destination marketing effectively and efficiently. Networking activities also support the value creation process and contribute to regional development but must not be seen as simple and spontaneous. This study focuses on examining the role of a regional DMO in coordinating cooperation and enhancing the value creation process in projects partly funded by the EU, in Finland, Åland, Sweden and the Baltic region. The case analysis, in the three networks explored, found that the influence of EU funding, in the first case study, has remained on the level of providing basic information regarding the needs and strengths of the participating entrepreneurs. In the second, the influence of EU funding has generated a network of interactive and learning destinations. In the third, the project’s knowledge and experience has been transferred to similar projects. By taking active roles in project management, the DMO is able to enhance the value creation process through integrated marketing efficiency. In order to fulfill the needs of the entrepreneurs, an effective follow up is necessary. When creating value through network learning it is essential to map the educational needs of the actors in order to benefit all the participants.
Dynamics of epileptic phenomena determined from statistics of ictal transitions

In this paper, we investigate the dynamical scenarios of transitions between normal and paroxysmal state in epilepsy. We assume that some epileptic neural network are bistable i.e., they feature two operational states, ictal and interictal that co-exist. The transitions between these two states may occur according to a Poisson process, a random walk process or as a result of deterministic time-dependent mechanisms. We analyze data from animal models of absence epilepsy, human epilepsies and in vitro models. The distributions of durations of ictal and interictal epochs are fitted with a gamma distribution. On the basis of qualitative features of the fits, we identify the dynamical processes that may have generated the underlying data. The analysis showed that the following hold. 1) The dynamics of ictal epochs differ from those of interictal states. 2) Seizure initiation can be accounted for by a random walk process while seizure termination is often mediated by deterministic mechanisms. 3) In certain cases, the transitions between ictal and interictal states can be modeled by a Poisson process operating in a bistable network. These results imply that exact prediction of seizure occurrence is not possible but termination of an ictal state by appropriate counter stimulation might be feasible.
SERVICE AND EDUCATION SHARE RESPONSIBILITY FOR NURSES' VALUE DEVELOPMENT

&NA; This article examines professional values of senior baccalaureate nursing students and practicing nurses. An important finding was that practicing nurses rated behaviors reflecting values in the American Nurses Association (ANA) Code for Nurses as more important than did senior students, thereby supporting the notion that practice contributes to value formation. The ongoing development and internalization of the nursing professions' values requires active involvement by staff development educators. The phenomena of value formation and development of professional values appear to mirror the novice to expert model.