Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cortical control of object‐specific grasp relies on adjustments of both activity and effective connectivity: a common marmoset study

The cortical mechanisms of grasping have been extensively studied in macaques and humans; here, we investigated whether common marmosets could rely on similar mechanisms despite strong differences in hand morphology and grip diversity. We recorded electrocorticographic activity over the sensorimotor cortex of two common marmosets during the execution of different grip types, which allowed us to study cortical activity (power spectrum) and physiologically inferred connectivity (phase‐slope index). Analyses were performed in beta (16–35 Hz) and gamma (75–100 Hz) frequency bands and our results showed that beta power varied depending on grip type, whereas gamma power displayed clear epoch‐related modulation. Strength and direction of inter‐area connectivity varied depending on grip type and epoch. These findings suggest that fundamental control mechanisms are conserved across primates and, in future research, marmosets could represent an adequate model to investigate primate brain mechanisms.
Immunological Aspects of Haploidentical Stem Cell Transplantation in Children

Abstract: Thirty‐eight children with high‐risk hematological malignancies underwent transplantation with megadoses of peripheral mobilized CD34+ cells from haploidentical parents (n= 24) or from matched unrelated donors (n= 14). The CD34+ cells were isolated to a purity of >98% using magnetic‐activated cell sorting. This high purity was associated with an almost complete depletion of T lymphocytes. No pharmacological prophylaxis for graft‐versus‐host disease (GvHD) was used, and significant primary GvHD was not seen. A final engraftment was seen in all patients. Sixteen patients are alive and disease‐free with a median follow‐up of 24 months. The immunological reconstitution was faster in the patients transplanted with CD34+ stem cells from the haploidentical donors compared to the matched unrelated donors, and the transplantation of large numbers of haploidentical CD34+ stem cells seems to be superior to that of the matched unrelated donors. The phenotypical and functional analysis of the immune reconstitution provided some insights into the biology of transplantation of highly purified CD34+cells. In this article, we summarize our current results with the transplantation of highly purified stem cells and discuss possible implications for further antileukemic post‐transplant therapeutic strategies.
Brief update on different roles of tau in neurodegeneration

Both Alzheimer's disease (AD) and almost every second case of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) are characterized by the deposition of hyperphosphorylated forms of the microtubule‐associated protein tau in neurons and/or glia. This unifying pathology led to coining the umbrella term “tauopathies” for these conditions. While the deposition of tau ultimately results in the formation of typical histopathological lesions, such as the neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) in AD, it is now well accepted that tau interferes with normal functions in neurons already before its deposition. Together with the identification of pathogenic mutations in the tau‐encoding gene MAPT in FTLD and evidence from a rising number of in vivo animal models a central role of tau in neurodegeneration has emerged. Here, we review the role of pathological tau in axonal transport, mitochondrial respiration, and in mediating amyloid‐β toxicity in AD. Furthermore, we review recent findings regarding the spreading of tau pathology throughout the brain as disease progresses. © 2011 IUBMB IUBMB Life, 63(7): 495–502, 2011
Perspectives on Early Power Mobility Training, Motivation, and Social Participation in Young Children with Motor Disabilities

The efficacy of traditional training programs (e.g., neurodevelopmental therapy) in promoting independent mobility and early child development across all three International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health levels lacks rigorous research support. Therefore, early power mobility training needs to be considered as a feasible intervention for very young children who are unlikely to achieve independent mobility. This perspective article has three aims: (1) to provide empirical evidence of differences in early independent mobility, motivation, daily life activities, and social participation between young children with typical development and motor disabilities; (2) to discuss the contemporary concepts of and approaches to early power mobility training for young children with motor disabilities and the current need for changes to such training; and (3) to provide recommendations for early power mobility training in pediatric rehabilitation. Independent mobility is critical for social participation; therefore, power mobility can be accessible and implemented as early as possible, specifically for infants who are at risk for mobility or developmental delay. To maximize the positive effects of independent mobility on children’s social participation, early power mobility training must consider their levels of functioning, the amount of exploration and contextual factors, including individual and environmental factors.
Mixed Duopoly with Product Differentiation: Sequential Choice of Location

We investigate the sequential choice of location in a mixed duopoly, where a welfare–maximising public firm competes against a profit–maximising private firm. We examine the desirable role of the public firm in a mixed market. We also consider the effect of price regulation. We find that the public firm should become the follower (leader) if a price regulation is (is not) imposed. We also find that neither price regulation nor privatisation of the public firm improves welfare.
Dilation Bootstrap A methodology for constructing confidence regions with partially identified models

We propose a methodology for constructing confidence regions with partially identified models of general form. The region is obtained by inverting a test of internal consistency of the econometric structure. We develop a dilation bootstrap methodology to deal with sampling uncertainty without reference to the hypothesized economic structure, and apply a duality principle to reduce the dimensionality of the remaining deterministic problem. As a result, the confidence region becomes easily computable, and the methodology can be applied to the estimation of models with sample selection, censored observations and to games with multiple equilibria. JEL Classification: C10, C12, C13, C15, C34, C52, C61.
Training pre-assessment: is it feasible?

This paper reports of a study of the impacts of doing preassessments on the outcomes of software training. Preassessment is defined here as a pre-training interview des&ned to learn the needs of the trainee and to gain insights into training design that can aid the trainee. The context of the study was a training program for a database retrieval software package in a medium-sized manufacturing company. Approximately half the trainees received pre-assessments. The method of training was also varied so that half of each group (those with or without pre-assessments) were exposed to either applications-based (relevant problem focused) or a construct-based (generic training approach) training. Both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered through questionnaires, quizzes, and interviews. There was no firm evidence to accept the value of pre-assessments, but the evidence was not strong enough to reject using pre-assessments. Thepaper discusses some potential critical success factors for making pre-assessments more effective.
HLA-B27 homozygosity has no influence on clinical manifestations and functional disability in ankylosing spondylitis.

OBJECTIVE There is an established association between the development of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and the HLA-B27 allele, but whether or not homozygosity for HLA B27 has any additional effects on the clinical manifestations of AS is unclear. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of HLA-B27 homozygosity on the clinical manifestations of AS in Korea. METHODS A total of 490 patients were enrolled in this study. Genotyping was carried out using polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific primers (PCR-SSP) to assess HLA-B27 homozygosity or heterozygosity. One PCR reaction was undertaken to determine the HLA-B27 carrier status, and 5 group-specific PCR reactions were carried out to determine all of the other HLA-B alleles. Clinical manifestations of AS and BASFI were also evaluated according to homozygosity or heterozygosity for HLA-B27. RESULTS HLA-B27 positive patients had a significantly younger age at symptom onset, more uveitis, and a higher frequency of hip joint involvement than HLA-B27 negative patients. One hundred and forty-six (29.8%) patients were homozygous for HLA-B27. No significant association between HLA-B27 homozygosity or heterozygosity and a history of peripheral arthritis, acute anterior uveitis, age at onset, or the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI) was found. CONCLUSIONS Homozygosity for HLA-B27 does not affect the clinical manifestations of AS in Korean patients.
CEO Overconfidence and Corporate Debt Maturity

This paper extends our knowledge of corporate debt maturity structure by examining whether and to what extent overconfident CEOs affect maturity decisions. Consistent with a demand side story, we find that firms with overconfident CEOs tend to adopt a shorter debt maturity structure by using a higher proportion of short-term debt (due within 12months). This behavior of overconfident CEOs is not deterred by the high liquidity risk associated with such a financing strategy. Our demand side explanation remains robust even after considering six possible alternative drivers including a competing supply side explanation (in which creditors are reluctant to extend long-term debt to overconfident CEOs).
A nonparametric test of the mixture-of-distributions model

Abstract Intertemporal implications of the mixture-of-distributions hypothesis (MDH) are derived based on the concept of time reversibility in statistical mechanics. The restrictions are tested using simple nonparametric tests that do not impose auxiliary assumptions on the stochastic process for trading volume, price volatility or information arrivals. The tests reject the standard MDH with one latent factor. In particular, shocks to volatility and volume are temporally asymmetric, contrary to the predictions of the MDH. The results indicate that multifactor models are needed to explain the dynamics of the volume–volatility relation.
Poverty in Mozambique: unraveling changes and determinants

This paper analyzes progress in poverty reduction in Mozambique between 1996/7 and 2002/3 using two cross-sectional national household surveys. The analysis shows that strong growth in household income has caused poverty to decline rapidly most broad groups - the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors and in urban as well as in rural areas. Improvements were recorded in both monetary and non-monetary poverty measures. One key factor in ensuring broad-based growth was that inequality did not change significantly so poverty reduction could be broad-based. But despite good progress, more than 50 percent of the population still lives in poverty. Lifting this group out of poverty will require continued broad-based growth and further expansion of social services.
Team leadership in the intensive care unit: The perspective of specialists*

Objectives:To identify the behaviors senior physicians (e.g., specialists, staff attendings) report using to lead multidisciplinary teams in the intensive care unit. Design:Semistructured interviews focusing on team leadership, crisis management, and development of an environment that enable effective team performance in the intensive care unit. Setting:Seven general intensive care units based in National Health Service hospitals in the United Kingdom. Participants:Twenty-five senior intensive care medicine physicians. Measurements and Main Results:Responses to a semistructured interview were transcribed and subjected to “content” analysis. The interview analysis focused on references to the “functional” behaviors used by leaders to manage team performance and the “team development behaviors” used to build the conditions that enable effective team performance. Seven of the interviews were coded by a second psychologist to measure inter-rater reliability. Inter-rater reliability (Cohen's &kgr;) was acceptable for both scales (&kgr; = 0.72 and &kgr; = 0.75). In total, 702 functional leadership behaviors (behaviors for information gathering, planning and decision-making, managing team members) were coded as being used to manage the intensive care unit, along with 216 team development behaviors (for providing team direction and establishing team norms). These behaviors were grouped together in a theoretically driven framework of intensive care unit team leadership. Conclusions:Intensive care unit senior physicians report using a variety of leadership behaviors to ensure high levels of team performance. The data described in this study provide insight into the team leadership behaviors used by intensive care unit team leaders and have implications for the development of team leadership training and assessment tools.
The Fit between Technological Innovation and Business Model Design for Firm Growth: Evidence from China

How does technological innovation fit with business model design to jointly impact firm growth? Given the increasingly salient role of business model, extant literature provides little answer to this question. This study builds a theoretical model based on technological innovation literature, business ecosystem theory, and business model literature to investigate this issue. This study finds that exploitative innovation and exploratory innovation fit with different business model designs to promote firm growth. Six hypotheses are proposed and examined by a database from 176 Chinese firms. This research finds that exploitative innovation has a negative whereas exploratory innovation has a positive effect on firm growth. More importantly, we find that efficiency-centered business model design enhances the negative effect of exploitative innovation and weakens the positive effect of exploratory innovation. We also find that novelty-centered business model design weakens the negative effect of exploitative innovation. This research contributes to both technological innovation and business model design literature.
An Error Component Logit Analysis of Corporate Bankruptcy and Insolvency Risk in Australia

This paper introduces a four-state failure model to depict a wider range of distress scenarios that public companies typically face in the real world. We use a multinomial error component logit model to analyse firm failure, a major advance on the modelling techniques used in previous research. The error component logit model, being an extension of the more familiar mixed logit model, relaxes several questionable statistical assumptions associated with standard models. Using a sample of Australian firms we provide an interpretative illustration of the error component logit model and contrast its behavioural performance with the standard logit model widely used in previous research.
National skill-creation systems and career paths for service workers: hotels in the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom

Creating sufficient opportunities for individuals to develop their capabilities and earn a living wage is one of the central challenges facing all countries. However, some types of vocational education and training (VET) institutions may be more effective than others in promoting the development of career-enhancing ‘transferable’ skills. In order to investigate the links between national skill-creation systems and individual career paths, this study focuses on three countries with very different VET systems: the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. The comparison is based on closely matched samples of three- and four-star hotels. The results suggest that individual career development and outcomes, such as wages and turnover rates, are strongly influenced by the interplay of three key elements – the breadth, relevance to employment and degree of standardization – of national initial VET systems. Our analysis identifies strengths and weaknesses of the different systems and key lessons for improvement.
The Cycles of Corporate Branding: The Case of the LEGO Company

This article presents a framework for the strategic management of corporate brands as seen from a top management perspective. It describes the change processes involved in a corporate branding effort at the LEGO Company. While much of the literature on branding focuses on the initiation of a corporate branding effort (e.g., brand positioning, brand identity formulation, brand architecture design), this article follows the LEGO Company9s branding process through four progressive phases: stating the brand; linking vision to culture and brand image; involving stakeholders in brand relevant activities; and integrating the organization behind the brand. During this strategic shift, LEGO9S top management vision, organizational culture, and stakeholder images became increasingly aligned.
Distinct tissue distribution of metabolites of the novel glutathione-activated thiopurine prodrugs cis-6-(2-acetylvinylthio)purine and trans-6-(2-acetylvinylthio)guanine and 6-thioguanine in the mouse.

The compounds cis-6-(2-acetylvinylthio)purine (cis-AVTP) and trans-6-(2-acetylvinylthio)guanine (trans-AVTG) are glutathione-activated prodrugs of 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) and 6-thioguanine (6-TG), respectively, that have comparable or lower IC50 values in tumor cells than 6-MP and 6-TG. Previously, we showed that cis-AVTP- and trans-AVTG-treated mice exhibited less bone marrow and intestinal toxicity and excreted a lower fraction of the administered dose in urine than did mice treated with equivalent 6-TG doses. To explain these results, the tissue distribution and levels of metabolites of cis-AVTP, trans-AVTG, and 6-TG were examined at 15, 30, and 45 min after i.p. treatment of mice with equimolar doses of these compounds. After prodrug treatment, the thiopurines, the corresponding thiopurine ribosides and nucleotides, thioxanthine (TX), and thiouric acid (TU) were quantitated in plasma, red blood cells, liver, and intestine. Thiopurine and thiopurine riboside and nucleotide area under the curve between 15 and 45 min [AUC(15-45)] values were generally comparable after cis-AVTP and trans-AVTG treatments but were lower than those after 6-TG treatment. A higher liver/plasma metabolite ratio was evident after trans-AVTG treatment than after cis-AVTP or 6-TG treatments, which exhibited similar liver/plasma ratios. Treatment with cis-AVTP yielded the highest AUC(15-45) for TX and TU in plasma, liver, and intestine. Prodrug treatment did not change the concentration of reduced or oxidized glutathione in tissue homogenates. Collectively, these results show distinct patterns of metabolites depending upon the compound used and suggest that differences in metabolite levels and composition after cis-AVTP, trans-AVTG, and 6-TG treatments may partially explain the different toxicity and urinary metabolite excretion profiles previously observed among cis-AVTP, trans-AVTG, and 6-TG.
Thalidomide–dexamethasone plus pegylated liposomal doxorubicin vs. thalidomide–dexamethasone: a case‐matched study in advanced multiple myeloma

Objectives: Nearly all patients with multiple myeloma (MM) relapse or become refractory to front‐line therapy. Several salvage therapies have been explored, but the optimal combination regimen has not been defined. We performed a case‐matched study comparing patients with relapsed/refractory MM receiving thalidomide–dexamethasone alone or the combination thalidomide–dexamethasone–liposomal pegylated doxorubicin.
Labor Supply on the PGA TOUR

The unique nature of the PGA TOUR allows exempt players to have a large measure of discretion in the number of tournaments they enter in a given year. Recent policy changes on the PGA TOUR suggest that TOUR players may be responsive to exemption status and expected earnings. Using the previous year’s real earnings per event as a proxy for expected earnings and controlling for player effects and exemption status, ordinary least squares results indicate that players’ annual entry decisions change with an exemption status change but not with higher expected earnings. An exempt, non-elite PGA TOUR player whose exemption is set to expire in at least 2 years enters slightly fewer tournaments, whereas an increase in expected earnings has no effect on tournaments entered. This suggests that the PGA TOUR would do well not to ignore possible effects of future policy changes on player annual entry decisions.
The effect of state capacity in democratic transition and the survival of new democracies

This dissertation investigates the effect of state capacity on the probability for democratic transition and the survival of democracies. I seek to answer these quesitons through the use of both quantitative and qualitative analysis. In my statistical models, I make use of Cox Proportional Hazard Models. These are supplemented by two case studies involving South Korea and the Philippines. My expectation, which is supported by the results presented in this study, is that higher levels of state capacity will make authoritarian regimes more stable and thus make democratic transitions less likely, but if democratic transitions take place, higher levels of state capacity will make new democratic regimes more likely to survive. INDEX WORDS: State capacity, Democratization, Democratic surival, Authoritarian regimes, Regimes THE EFFECT OF STATE CAPACITY ON DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION AND THE SURVIVAL OF NEW DEMOCRACIES
An Effective Approximation for Zero-Coupon Bonds and Arrow-Debreu Prices in the Black-Karasinski Model

We present an accurate and easy-to-compute approximation of zero-coupon bonds and Arrow–Debreu (AD) prices for the Black–Karasinski (BK) model of interest rates or default intensities. Through this procedure, dubbed exponent expansion, AD prices are obtained as a power series in time to maturity. This provides remarkably accurate results — for time horizons up to several years — even when truncated to the first few terms. For larger time horizons the exponent expansion can be combined with a fast numerical convolution to obtain extremely accurate results.