Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A shock in time saves ablation?

This editorial refers to ‘Atrial defibrillation threshold as a novel predictor of clinical outcome of catheter ablation for persistent atrial fibrillation’ by Y. Komatsu et al . , on page 213. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia encountered in clinical practice and is associated with substantial mortality and morbidity due to stroke and heart failure. In the last 10 years, catheter-based AF ablation aiming at isolation of arrhythmogenic pulmonary venous triggers and atrial substrate of AF has evolved as an important treatment option for patients with paroxysmal AF because of its high efficacy and reasonable safety. In fact, AF recurrence-free survival during 12-month follow-up after a single ablation procedure has been reported to be as high as 85%. 1 In a recent meta-analysis of 63 studies by Calkins et al . , major complications of AF ablation, including pulmonary vein stenosis, cardiac tamponade, pericardial effusion, peri-procedural stroke, and periprocedural transient ischaemic attack, occurred …
Do ATMs influence bankprofitability in Japan?

Holden and El-Bannany (2004) showed that Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) play an important role in increasing Return On Asset (ROA) in their analysis of banks in the United Kingdom. The present article investigates whether this conclusion also applies to Japanese banks. We found that ATMs do not have any influence on the ROA of Japanese banks; however, it was revealed that ATMs had positive effects on fees and commissions (income) from 2000 to 2003, and positive effects of ATMs on interest income were also seen recently. We conclude that in Japan, ATMs do not influence ROA, which includes the overall profits of bank transactions, but do contribute to particular businesses in that they can make the most of their abilities.
The funding for a Defined Benefit (DB) pension plan based on the fair valuation of the plan's insolvency risk

This study provides a contingent claims valuation approach model to value a sponsor's claim on a salary-related, defined benefit (DB) pension plan. The model is further developed to numerically estimate a suggested optimal contribution cost that allows the sponsor to fairly bear the risk of the plan's insolvency. The results demonstrate that the traditional actuarial valuation underestimates the cost of pension benefits, and that the normal contribution cost is not enough for the sponsor to fairly charge the value of bearing the plan's insolvency.
Replication of Western Equine Encephalomyelitis Virus II. Cytoplasmic Structure Involved in the Synthesis and Development of the Virions

Analysis of the cytoplasmic fraction of chick embryo cells during the exponential phase of Western equine encephalomyelitis (WEE) virus growth showed that the viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) labeled by a short pulse with 3H-uridine was associated with a structure which sedimented in sucrose density gradients with a coefficient of 65S. The RNA extracted from this structure sedimented in sucrose density gradients at 26S. After a longer period of exposure to 3H-uridine, the radio-active viral RNA was associated with a structure which sedimented in sucrose density gradients as would materials with coefficients of about 140S. The 140S structure contained viral RNA and viral protein. It was shown that the 140S structures are not virus-induced polysomes. The 140S structure contained predominantly the 40S type of viral RNA and some 26S type. Electrophoretic analysis of the disrupted virion revealed that at least two proteins (types I and II) were present in the purified virion. Only type II protein was present in the 140S structure. Unlike the virion, the 140S structure did not contain any lipid which could be detected by the incorporation of 14C-choline. These data suggest that the 140S structure represents the internal nucleoprotein part of the virion. The rate of appearance of labeled virus lags behind that of the formation of the 140S structure in infected cells. Pulse-chase experiments with 3H-leucine suggest that the 140S structure may represent a precursor to the virus particle. The results are discussed in terms of the maturation of WEE virus in the infected cells.
Improved waveform fidelity using local HYPR reconstruction (HYPR LR)

The recently introduced HYPR (HighlY constrained backPRojection) method allows reconstruction of serial images from highly undersampled data. In HYPR, individual timeframes are obtained via unfiltered backprojections of normalized sinograms using anatomical constraints provided by a composite image. Here we develop the idea of constraining the backprojected data further to a series of local regions of interest in order to decrease the corruption of local information by distant signals. HYPR LR (local reconstruction) permits the use of a longer temporal window in the formation of the composite image, resulting in increased signal‐to‐noise ratio and quantitative reconstruction accuracy. Unlike HYPR, the new HYPR LR method can be applied to images acquired with arbitrary k‐space trajectories. It is suitable for a broad range of medical imaging applications involving serial changes in image sequence, offering exciting new opportunities in the future. Magn Reson Med 59:456–462, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Outage Analysis of Wireless-Powered Relaying MIMO Systems with Non-Linear Energy Harvesters and Imperfect CSI

In this paper, we investigate a wireless-powered dual-hop relaying multiple-input multiple-output system, which consists of a multi-antenna source (S) node, a multi-antenna destination (D) node, and N(N>1) single-antenna wireless-powered relaying nodes. At each relay, a power splitting receiver is applied to process the received signal for information decoding and energy harvesting simultaneously, and a decode-and-forward scheme is adopted to forward the processed information. Furthermore, the energy harvester at each relay is assumed to be non-linear with a saturation threshold to limit the power level of the energy. Assuming imperfect channel state information is available both at S and D, outage performance is investigated when S adopts transmit antenna selection in the presence of feedback delay and D performs maximal ratio combining technique to deal with the multiple copies of signals with channel estimation errors. Taking into account a K th best relay selection criterion, which results in the K th best performance in terms of outage probability for the source-relay-destination link, an analytical expression for OP is derived. Monte Carlo simulation results are presented to verify the accuracy of the derived analytical model.
Financial ratios ability to predict excess returns of Swedish listed firms

In this paper we set out to analyze from two perspectives the performance predictability of financial ratios on Swedish listed firms by using statistical methods and fundamental analysis. Furthermore this paper sets out to establish a link between the two by cross checking or filling the results of regressed variables with the expected values of following a certain type of investment strategy. The Swedish market was analyzed for the time period of 1980-2013 . This paper has come to the conclusion that the predictability power of financial ratios do exist to some degree when using statistical methods. This result is contradicted by fundamental analysis that present that their indicative predictability is much higher as they are able to consistently over the time period observed to beat the market benchmark.
Trypanosoma brucei glycosomal ABC transporters: identification and membrane targeting

Trypanosomes contain unique peroxisome-like organelles designated glycosomes which sequester enzymes involved in a variety of metabolic processes including glycolysis. We identified three ABC transporters associated with the glycosomal membrane of Trypanosoma brucei. They were designated GAT1–3 for Glycosomal ABC Transporters. These polypeptides are so-called half-ABC transporters containing only one transmembrane domain and a single nucleotide-binding domain, like their homologues of mammalian and yeast peroxisomes. The glycosomal localization was shown by immunofluorescence microscopy of trypanosomes expressing fusion constructs of the transporters with Green Fluorescent Protein. By expression of fluorescent deletion constructs, the glycosome-targeting determinant of two transporters was mapped to different fragments of their respective primary structures. Interestingly, these fragments share a short sequence motif and contain adjacent to it one – but not the same – of the predicted six transmembrane segments of the transmembrane domain. We also identified the T. brucei homologue of peroxin PEX19, which is considered to act as a chaperonin and/or receptor for cytosolically synthesized proteins destined for insertion into the peroxisomal membrane. By using a bacterial two-hybrid system, it was shown that glycosomal ABC transporter fragments containing an organelle-targeting determinant can interact with both the trypanosomatid and human PEX19, despite their low overall sequence identity. Mutated forms of human PEX19 that lost interaction with human peroxisomal membrane proteins also did not bind anymore to the T. brucei glycosomal transporter. Moreover, fragments of the glycosomal transporter were targeted to the peroxisomal membrane when expressed in mammalian cells. Together these results indicate evolutionary conservation of the glycosomal/peroxisomal membrane protein import mechanism.
Earnings Persistence, Accruals and Managerial Share Ownership

We investigate the relationship between earnings persistence and a broad measure of total accruals (TACC). We propose and find that in Australia, TACC is less persistent than cash flows. We further propose that the persistence of accrual components is positively associated with the reliability of those components. However, we find that the least reliable accrual component has the greatest persistence and suggest possible reasons for this. We then investigate the relationship between earnings persistence and managerial share ownership, but find no evidence of a consistent, strong relationship. Rather, for the non-current operating accruals we find evidence consistent with incentive alignment for large firms with high operating cash flows, whereas for small firms we find evidence consistent with efficient contracting.
A Survey of Teachers' and Students' Perception of Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Institutions of Edo State, Nigeria

The study examined how teachers and students of tertiary institutions in Edo State of Nigeria perceived sexual harassment. The design of the study was descriptive (survey) research. The sample of the study consisted of two hundred lecturers and two hundred students of tertiary institutions in Edo state. A questionnaire, entitled “Lecturers’ and Students’ Perceptions of Sexual Harassment Scale” was used to gather data for the study. The results indicated that majority of the respondents agreed that sexual harassment is prevalent in schools and that sexual harassment impacts negatively on the academic performance of victims. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that tertiary institutions should provide the framework where teachers and students can dialogue on issues bothering on students’ and lecturers’ relationships.
What Is Complex About 273 Applications? Untangling Application Architecture Complexity in a Case of European Investment Banking

In this paper, we first derive propositions from the current literature addressing the causes and impacts of application architecture (AA) complexity. We then untangle AA complexity itself by differentiating four types of AA complexity that are mingled in extant literature: interdependency-, diversity-, deviation-, and overlap-related AA complexity. Based on this more differentiated view, we validate the propositions in the setting of a European Bank. Our findings suggest that only interdependency-related AA complexity behaves as currently assumed. Other types show partially opposite effects.
Corporate Governance Rules and Insider Trading Profits

We investigate patterns of abnormal stock performance around insider trades on the Dutch market. Listed firms in the Netherlands have a long tradition of limiting shareholders’ rights. Using a change in corporate governance regulations as a natural experiment, we show that governance rules have a causal effect on insider trading profits. Our results imply that insider transactions are more profitable at firms where shareholder rights are not restricted by antishareholder mechanisms. These findings are inconsistent with internal monitoring of insider trading. Rather, we explain this empirical pattern by imperfect substitution between insider trading profits and other private benefits of control.
The Closed-Loop Motive for Voluntary Export Restraints

This paper examines the effects of voluntary export restraints in a dynamic game model of duopolistic competition. It is shown that the imposition of a voluntary export restraint at the free-trade level of imports increases the market price and the profits of all firms in the industry if free trade is identified as the closed-loop (subgame-perfect) Cournot equilibrium of the game. Hence, the authors conclude that the predictions of static Cournot competition do not carry over to the dynamic case.
The effects of corporate social responsibility and price on consumer responses

This experiment examined the influence of corporate social responsibility and price on consumer responses. Scenarios were created to manipulate corporate social responsibility and price across two domains (environment and philanthropy). Results from a national sample of adults indicate that corporate social responsibility in both domains had a positive impact on evaluation of the company and purchase intent. Furthermore, in the environmental domain corporate social responsibility affected purchase intent more strongly than price did.
Catecholamine and cortisol levels during sleep in women with irritable bowel syndrome

Abstract Evidence suggests that patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are hyper‐responsive to environmental, physical and visceral stimuli. IBS patients also frequently report poor sleep quality. This study compared serum cortisol and plasma catecholamine levels during sleep between women with IBS (n = 30) and healthy controls (n = 31), and among subgroups within the IBS sample based on predominant stool patterns, IBS‐diarrhoea (n = 14), IBS‐constipation (n = 7) and IBS‐alternators (n = 9). Cortisol was measured from serial blood samples drawn every 20 min, and catecholamines every hour, in a sleep laboratory from 8 pm until awakening. Because of the varied sleep schedules of the individual participants, each subject’s hormone series time base was referenced with respect to their onset of Stage 2 sleep. Overall, there were no significant differences in cortisol or catecholamine patterns between women with IBS and controls, nor were there any group by time interactions. However, women with constipation‐predominant IBS demonstrated significantly increased noradrenaline, adrenaline and cortisol levels throughout the sleep interval, and women with diarrhoea‐predominant IBS were significantly lower on noradrenaline and cortisol. These results suggest that differences in neuroendocrine levels during sleep among IBS predominant bowel pattern subgroups may be greater than differences between IBS women and controls. Neuroendocrine profiles during sleep may contribute to our understanding of symptom expression in IBS.
ON SOME RECENT EXPLANATIONS OF WHY CAPITAL HIRES LABOR

Conventional microeconomics contains no explanation of why capital hires labor (and not the reverse). In view of some surprisingly positive results in the theoretical analysis of worker-run enterprise systems, recent contributions to the theory of the firm have attempted to explain the dominance of capitalist production relations in efficiency terms. The present paper critically reviews works in this area by Alchian and Demsetz (1972), Williamson (1975, 1980), and Jensen and Meckling (1979), and contends that a convincing efficiency argument for the general superiority of capital owners' over workers' control of enterprises still is lacking.
The Association between Outside Directors, Institutional Investors and the Properties of Management Earnings Forecasts

We investigate the relation of the board of directors and institutional ownership with the properties of management earnings forecasts. We find that firms with more outside directors and greater institutional ownership are more likely to issue a forecast and are inclined to forecast more frequently. In addition, these forecasts tend to be more specific, accurate and less optimistically biased. These results are robust to changes specification, Granger causality tests, and simultaneous equation analyses. The results are similar in the pre- and post-Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD) eras. Additional analysis suggests that concentrated institutional ownership is negatively associated with forecast properties. This association is less negative in the post-Reg FD environment, which is consistent with Reg FD reducing the ability of firms to privately communicate information to select audiences. Copyright 2005 The Institute of Professional Accounting, University of Chicago.
Financial Risk Management

One of the absolutes in professional sports, and a reason for its success, is the uncertainty of the outcome of individual games, seasons, and championships. This uncertainty impacts a team’s attendance and financial operation. While leagues cultivate uncertainty through various rules such as salary caps, revenue sharing, and the amateur draft, individual franchises have to manage the result of variability in annual revenues. Not only is this due to the parity in a league but also from injuries and changes in player quality that are unexpected. Whether uncertainty or winning or the perfect combination of the two, some aspects that affect revenues can be controlled by team management more so than others. Even though on-the-field success is not easily controlled by team management, the overall quality of the experience can be impacted from, among other things, a quality stadium with comfortable seating and delectable food. This research shows that the variability in annual team revenues decreases (relative to total revenues) once a team moves into a new stadium, all else equal. The increase in predictability lowers financial risk, impacting the cost of financing and other practical operational issues like game-day staffing.
Accountability and Capacity in Developing Country Federalism: Empowered states, Competitive Federalism

Abstract State extraction depends in part on the degree and type of accountability to citizens. Accountability relationships are especially complex in federal systems, where multiple and overlapping jurisdictions must compete to respond to, and extract from, common citizen bases. The current project examines the operation of accountability and taxation in India. India has always been a centralised federation in which a powerful central government, made even more powerful by single-party dominance, overwhelmed most state interests. The result was a fiscal system in which the central government controlled most resources. Over the last few decades, the Indian party system has increasingly fragmented and oriented towards interests in the states, and the fiscal system has shifted in turn. What was originally a highly centralised federation has now evolved into a more decentralised regime in which resources and powers are held significantly by state governments, which compete with each other and with the federal government. Interestingly, as competition increased, the overall amount of tax decreased and, in turn, more coercive mechanisms of extraction were adopted.
Towards a new international economic order

A serious dialogue is under way in the international community between rich and poor nations (North and South) to determine the structure of international economic relations in future decades. At stake are the rules which govern international trade, finance, investment and the allocation of world income. The new international order, first proclaimed on May 1, 1974, in the Declaration of the Establishment of a New International Economic Order (Resolution 3201 S-VI) and the Programme of Action (3202 S-VI) at the closing of the Sixth Special Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, has spawned an ongoing series of negotiations which can be expected to continue for some time to come. Current events have borne-out the statement made by Mr. Richard of the United Kingdom on May 3, 1974 at the conclusion of the Sixth Special Session:
EXPLORATION OF TRANSITION AND SOCIALIZATION PERIODS: AN EVIDENCE-BASED EDUCATIONAL PAMPHLET FOR GRADUATE NURSES

By the year 2020, the number of newly graduated nurses entering into nursing has been predicted to inadequately offset the anticipated number of experienced nurses retiring from the profession. In addition, recent estimates show newly graduated nurse turnover rates range from 14% to 60% during their first years of practice. A purposeful review of the literature was performed in order to gain insight into the process of transitioning from student to practicing nurse and to determine needs, experiences, and outcomes associated with newly graduated nurses in acute care settings. Once common intellectual, emotional, socio-cultural, and physical experiences were identified, an educational pamphlet was constructed. The purpose of creating such a pamphlet was to provide useful information, highlight specific common needs, and suggest resources and strategies to supplement newly graduated nurses throughout their transition period and socialization process. Current research shows newly graduated nurses can successfully transition into acute care settings with the provision of pertinent information; the guidance from key stakeholders including, educators, managers, and administrators; and the support of preceptorship, mentorship, and orientation programs. Positive transitional periods are associated with increased reports of job satisfaction and with lower voluntary turnover rates among newly graduated nurses.
Post-socialist Sprawl: A Cross-Country Comparison

Abstract This paper presents a land-use change analysis of five Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. We utilize CORINE (Coordination of Information on the Environment) Land-Cover and Urban Audit data for two distinct time periods: 1990–2000 and 2000–2006 aggregated at urban, suburban and non-metropolitan geographies. The literature on post-socialist cities suggests that urbanization rates and patterns in the post-socialist period are quite variable and divergent, both “inter”nationally and “intra”-nationally, and we expect to find both spatial and temporal differences. We compare and contrast urbanization patterns at the national scale, using cities and their functional urban regions as the unit of comparative analysis. Our results show that unlike other eastern European countries, metropolitan areas in the former German Democratic Republic began sprawling (defined as a decline in urban density) in the 1990s. Similar changes only became visible in other CEE countries later during the 2000s. We also demonstrate that larger cities which were better connected to the political elite and more economically integrated with global investment patterns experienced more extensive urban sprawl than their smaller and mid-sized counterparts.