Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Advising Investment Bank's Industry Expertise and Access to the Bidder's Private Information: Their Positive Influence on the Performance in Acquisition Sequences

This study extents the literature of the advising bank’s positive influence on the performance in mergers and acquisitions by modeling the expertise of banks on the industry level while considering two levels of endogeneity. The first level of endogeneity is caused by the most experienced banks being selected into the largest and most complex transactions with the lowest returns. The second level of endogeneity is caused by the observability of the influence of the bank’s industry expertise on the performance only when the acquirer decided to employ a bank as advisor and to choose that bank in particular. Along the acquisition sequence the bank that is most familiar with the acquirer and that has the highest industry expertise in the acquirer’s and target’s industries is most likely to be chosen as advisor. The choice of the advising investment bank based on its industry expertise and its access to the acquirer’s private information has a positive influence on the acquirer’s returns. In the analysis of the alternative advisor choice by endogenous switching the employment of a more experienced bulge-bracket bank would have resulted in higher returns in transactions advised by non-bulge-bracket banks or that are unadvised. The analysis shows that the matching of the most experienced banks with the largest and most frequent serial acquirers in the most complex transactions is efficient in terms of higher returns and a higher completion probability.
On the capacity region of Gaussian interference channels with state

The Gaussian interference channel with additive state at two receivers is investigated, in which the state information is noncausally known at both transmitters but not known at either receiver. For the very strong Gaussian interference channel with state, the capacity region is obtained under certain conditions on channel parameters. For the strong (but not very strong) Gaussian interference channel with state, points on the boundary of the capacity region are characterized under corresponding conditions on channel parameters. Finally, for the weak Gaussian interference channel with state, the sum capacity is obtained for certain channel parameters. All the above capacity-achieving rate points achieve the capacity for the corresponding channel without state.
Modelling HIV/AIDS epidemics in Botswana and India: impact of interventions to prevent transmission.

OBJECTIVE To describe a dynamic compartmental simulation model for Botswana and India, developed to identify the best strategies for preventing spread of HIV/AIDS. METHODS The following interventions were considered: a behavioural intervention focused on female sex workers; a conventional programme for the treatment of sexually transmitted infections; a programme for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission; an antiretroviral treatment programme for the entire population, based on a single regimen; and an antiretroviral treatment programme for sex workers only, also based on a single regimen. FINDINGS The interventions directed at sex workers as well as those dealing with sexually transmitted infections showed promise for long-term prevention of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, although their relative ranking was uncertain. In India, a sex worker intervention would drive the epidemic to extinction. In Botswana none of the interventions alone would achieve this, although the prevalence of HIV would be reduced by almost 50%. Mother-to-child transmission programmes could reduce HIV transmission to infants, but would have no impact on the epidemic itself. In the long run, interventions targeting sexual transmission would be even more effective in reducing the number of HIV-infected children than mother-to-child transmission programmes. Antiretroviral therapy would prevent transmission in the short term, but eventually its effects would wane because of the development of drug resistance. CONCLUSION Depending on the country and how the antiretroviral therapy was targeted, 25-100% of HIV cases would be drug- resistant after 30 years of use.
One anthropologist’s answer to Glenn D. Paige’s question challenging peace studies

ABSTRACT Glenn D. Paige pioneered in the revolutionary development of a far-reaching transformation of science, academia, and society from a killing to a nonkilling worldview, values, and attitudes. For six decades, anthropology has been accumulating scientific empirical evidence and rational arguments demonstrating that nonkilling societies exist, thereby rebutting the simplistic biological determinist myth that human nature inevitably and universally generates violence and war. Nevertheless, Hobbessians persist in their echo chamber advertising and celebrating the innate depravity of the human species as apologists for war and peace resisters. This systemic bias operates in synergy with the American industrial-military-media-academic complex and culture, the latter exemplified by a revealing comparison of war and football. With great intellectual courage and creative thinking, Paige critically challenges the anachronistic Hobbesian paradigm and offers a far more compelling and positive alternative for sustainable peace in the future.
Evaluation of Patients' Education on Foot Self-Care Status in Diabetic Patients

Background Skin problems caused by neuropathy and antipathy are common manifestations of diabetes. The most serious about such problem is the diabetic foot, which may lead to eventual ulceration and amputation, and will decrease a patient’s quality of life dramatically. Objectives The aim of this study is to assess the level of foot self-care and foot conditions in diabetic patients, and to demonstrate the role of self-care education in diabetic foot care. Patients and Methods A total of 80 diabetic patients were included in the study, all of whom had referred to "Yazd Diabetic Research Center. " The levels of their foot self-care were recorded in pre-test questionnaires, and then all of the patients were visited and educated by a Dermatologist for their foot self-care on a monthly basis, after which their post-test results were recorded through a second administration of the same questionnaire. Eventually, data from the pre and post-test questionnaires were analyzed to identify the possible effects of education. Results A total of 80 diabetic patients (34 males, 46 females) with a mean average age of 53.53 ± 10.19 and mean average duration of diabetes 12.42 ± 6.73 years were assessed. A significant increase in foot self-care through education was observed (baseline 27.06 ± 8.77, vs. post education 43.12 ± 8.77; P = 0.0001). After education, foot and nail lesions improved completely in 84% and 62.8%. Moreover, 77.8% of patients had suitable shoes and 79.6% had suitable socks. Conclusions Our findings showed that foot self-care education could improve knowledge and performance of patients about various foot problems, and was significantly important in preventing ulcers.
A New Visual Stimulation Program for Improving Visual Acuity in Children with Visual Impairment: A Pilot Study

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of visual rehabilitation of a computer-based visual stimulation (VS) program combining checkerboard pattern reversal (passive stimulation) with oddball stimuli (attentional modulation) for improving the visual acuity (VA) of visually impaired (VI) children and children with amblyopia and additional developmental problems. Six children (three females, three males; mean age = 3.9 ± 2.3 years) with impaired VA caused by deficits along the anterior and/or posterior visual pathways were recruited. Participants received eight rounds of VS training (two rounds per week) of at least eight sessions per round. Each session consisted of stimulation with 200 or 300 pattern reversals. Assessments of VA (assessed with the Lea symbol VA test or Teller VA cards), visual evoked potential (VEP), and functional vision (assessed with the Chinese-version Functional Vision Questionnaire, FVQ) were carried out before and after the VS program. Significant gains in VA were found after the VS training [VA = 1.05 logMAR ± 0.80 to 0.61 logMAR ± 0.53, Z = –2.20, asymptotic significance (2-tailed) = 0.028]. No significant changes were observed in the FVQ assessment [92.8 ± 12.6 to 100.8 ±SD = 15.4, Z = –1.46, asymptotic significance (2-tailed) = 0.144]. VEP measurement showed improvement in P100 latency and amplitude or integration of the waveform in two participants. Our results indicate that a computer-based VS program with passive checkerboard stimulation, oddball stimulus design, and interesting auditory feedback could be considered as a potential intervention option to improve the VA of a wide age range of VI children and children with impaired VA combined with other neurological disorders.
The Origin and Distribution of Angular Momentum in Galaxies

Cold Dark Matter with a large cosmological constant (ΛCDM) appears to fit large scale structure observations well. Of the possible small scale problems, the Central Cusps and Too Many Satellites problems now appear to be at least partly solved, so Angular Momentum has become the most serious remaining CDM problem. There are actually at least two different angular momentum problems: A. Too much transfer of angular momentum to the dark halo to make big disks, and B. Wrong distribution of spedific angular momentum to make spiral galaxies, if the baryonic material has the same angular momentum distribution as the dark matter. The angular momentum of dark matter halos, and presumably that of the galaxies they host, appears to arise largely from the orbital angular momentum of the satellites that they accrete. Since the dark and baryonic matter behave very differently in such accretion events, it is possible that the resulting angular momentum distribution of the baryons is different from that of the dark matter, as required to make the sort of galactic disks that are observed. The latest hydrodynamical simulations give some grounds for hope on this score, but much higher resolution simulations are needed. 1. Too Much Transfer of Angular Momentum to the Dark Matter to Make Big Disks
How Therapy With Victims of Political Trauma Repairs the Third—Commentary on Gómez and Kovalskys’s Work in the Context of Postdictatorship Chile

In this discussion I use the concept of the moral Third to designate the position in which we experience the world as lawful because repair is possible. Repair takes place through acknowledgment of harming and consequent suffering. This form of acknowledgment, coupled with social recognition, is considered by the authors to be a crucial part of the therapeutic work with victims of collective trauma, especially of torture by the Pinochet security police. In relation to Gómez’s case, I discuss how the moral Third, the representation of a lawful world, is shattered by attacks on the victim’s family. Further, the witnessing function is reversed and perverted in torture, where the torturer presents a blank face and denies the very suffering he is inducing. The experience of betrayal becomes the core issue which the therapist seeks to address through the attachment relationship itself. In relation to Kovalskys’ case I consider how the moral Third of the activists, the belief in the possibility of a world in which all can live, is attacked in order to affirm the paranoid view that “only one can live. ” The lived experience of this traumatizing attack is that the child becomes imbued with the sense of not deserving life, of having gained life at the expense of the other. Helping the patient to testify publicly to her personal history and truth becomes part of the healing process in the context of collective trauma.
The Association of yKu With Subtelomeric Core X Sequences Prevents Recombination Involving Telomeric Sequences

The yKu protein of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is important for genome stability by repressing recombination involving telomeric sequences. The mechanism of this repression is not known, but silent heterochromatin such as HML, HMR, and telomeres are compartmentalized at the nuclear periphery and yKu is proposed to interact with these regions and to play a role in telomeric silencing and tethering. We have utilized ChIP on chip, quantitative PCR, and quantitative recombination assays to analyze yKu binding and its effect on genome stability in wild-type and mutant backgrounds. Our data suggest that, although yKu binds to the TG1-3 repeats and other parts of the genome when needed, such as during nonhomologous end-joining, it specifically binds to core X sequences in addition to the mating-type loci, HML and HMR. Association with core X occurred in the absence of Sir proteins, and enhanced binding was observed at silenced ends compared to nonsilenced ends. In contrast, binding to HML and HMR was totally dependent on Sir2–4p and partially dependent on Sir1p with a stronger association at HML in both MATa and MATα strains. Using yku80 separation-of-function mutants, we show a direct correlation between core X binding and recombination rate. We believe our findings support our hypothesis that yKu and core X play a pivotal role in maintaining genome stability through nuclear architecture by mediating a defensive fold-back structure at yeast chromosome ends.
Risk based neoadjuvant chemotherapy in muscle invasive bladder cancer

Muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) is an aggressive disease that frequently requires radical cystectomy (RC) to achieve durable cure rates. Surgery is most effective when performed in organ-confined disease, with the best outcomes for those patients with a pT0 result. The goals of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NC) are to optimize surgical outcomes for a malignancy with limited adjuvant therapies and a lack of effective salvage treatments. Despite level 1 evidence demonstrating a survival benefit, the utilization of NC has been hampered by several issues, including, the inability to predict responders and the perception that NC may delay curative surgery. In this article, we review the current efforts to identify patients that are most likely to derive a benefit from NC, in order to create a risk-adapted paradigm that reserves NC for those who need it.
Comparison Between Intravitreal Bevacizumab and Triamcinolone for Macular Edema Secondary to Branch Retinal Vein Occlusion

Purpose To compare the effects of intravitreal bevacizumab to those of triamcinolone acetonide injection for the treatment of macular edema secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion. Methods This retrospective study included 50 eyes of 50 patients who received a single injection of intravitreal bevacizumab (1.25 mg/0.05 mL, 22 eyes) or triamcinolone acetonide (4 mg/0.1 mL, 28 eyes) as the only treatment for macular edema secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion; all patients had a post-injection follow-up duration of >24 weeks. Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), intraocular pressure (IOP), and central macular thickness (CMT) by optical coherence tomography were measured for up to 24 weeks after injection. Results BCVA was improved at 1, 4, 8,12 weeks post-injection in the bevacizumab group, and at 1, 4, 8 weeks post-injection in the triamcinolone group. No significant difference was found between the two groups except at 12 weeks. CMT decreased significantly within each group, and no significant difference between groups was found. In the bevacizumab group, no elevated IOP was observed, whereas IOP was significantly increased at 4, 8, and 12 weeks after triamcinolone injection; IOP was therefore significantly different between the two groups. Conclusions Intravitreal bevacizumab is a comparatively simple treatment method that can effectively improve BCVA and reduce CMT without ocular and systemic complications. Consequently, intravitreal bevacizumab injections may be useful as both an alternative and primary treatment for macular edema secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion.
Price and the person: markets, discrimination, and personhood

ABSTRACT This paper explores how pricing has historically been involved in the making up of persons and how the ability to ‘personalize’ price is reconfiguring the ability of markets to discriminate. We discuss a variety of contemporary pricing practices, and three types of personhood they produce: generic, protected, and transcontextual. While some contemporary developments in pricing draw on understandings of the person that are quite familiar, others are novel and likely to be contested. We argue that many newer pricing techniques make it harder for consumers to identify themselves as part of a recognized group. We conclude that contemporary price personalization should be understood in terms of the intensification of individualization in combination with dividualization, and as such, contributes to novel and consequential forms of classification.
Staff Participation and Quality Teaching and Research in Private Universities in Uganda

This study explored the relationship between staff participation and quality teaching and research in private Universities in Uganda. The study was triggered by the persistent criticisms about the low quality of university graduates and the poor research output from the private universities. The study was approached from the positivist research paradigm and a descriptive cross-sectional survey research design was specifically used to conduct the study. Data were collected from four private chartered universities and the respondents included 181 lecturers, 23 heads of department, 5 Deans, 3 quality assurance officers, 3 Directors of research, 3 senior staff from National council for higher education (NCHE) and 39 student leaders. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and content analysis were used to analyze the data collected. Study findings revealed that there was a significant positive relationship between staff participation and quality teaching (r =0.457, P=0.000<0.05) and, staff participation and quality of research (r =0.562, P=0.000<0.05). Thus, it was concluded that the level of staff participation in planning, implementation of the planned activities, and decision making, partly corresponds to improved quality teaching and research, other factors notwithstanding. Therefore, the researchers recommended that in order to enhance quality, the private universities and the NCHE need to develop comprehensive policies that can be based upon to enhance staff participation in planning and decision making on activities that directly enhance the quality of teaching and research. Keywords: staff participation, quality teaching and research, private universities
Computational methods to model disease and genetic effects on optic nerve head structure

Abràmoff for their mentorship throughout my time as an undergraduate and graduate student. I'd also like to thank everyone involved in the Scheetz Lab, WIVR, and CBCB for providing the environment I've needed to develop as a scientist. Finally, I'd like to thank Bhavna Antony. Her help in revising this thesis, discussions and suggestions for all of my projects, and the support she's provided over the years have been invaluable. iii ABSTRACT Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness throughout the world and is estimated to affect 80 million by 2020. This disease causes progressive loss of vision and, left untreated, can lead to complete blindness. With treatment, however, disease progression can be slowed dramatically. This makes early detection and intervention crucial in preserving the vision of affected individuals. Onset and progression of glaucoma are associated with structural changes to an anatomical feature known as the optic nerve head (ONH). The ONH is the site of attachment between the retina and the optic nerve that carries all visual information to the brain. As glaucoma progresses, characteristic changes related to cell death and loss of vision can be observed in the three-dimensional structure of the ONH. A common modality used to observe these changes is stereo fundus imaging. This modality captures three-dimensional information via stereo imaging and is commonly used in clinical settings to diagnose and monitor glaucoma. A limitation of using stereo fundus images is the need for review by glaucoma specialists to identify disease related features of ONH structure. Further, even when expert evaluation is possible, the subjective nature of the process can lead due large discrepancies in the evaluations and resultant clinical decisions. The work presented here seeks address these concerns by providing automated, computational tools that can be used to characterize ONH structure. Specifically, this thesis outlines the development of computational methods for inferring three-dimensional information from stereo fundus images and identifying objective, quantitative measurements of ONH structure. The resulting computational tools were applied to image and clinical data collected from a large cohort of individuals to identify hidden relationships between ONH structure, clinical measurements, and glaucoma. These tools were then applied to develop methods for estimating the impact of individual genetic factors on the ONH. Finally, using a longitudinal dataset collected over iv more than a decade, computational analysis was used to investigate how ONH structure changes over time in response to aging, other disease-related factors, …
Team Production, Endogenous Learning About Abilities and Career Concerns

This paper studies career concerns in teams where the support a worker receives depends on fellow team members׳ efforts and abilities. In this setting, by exerting effort and providing support, a worker can influence her own and her teammates׳ project outputs in order to bias the learning process in her favor. To manipulate the market׳s assessment, we argue that in equilibrium, a worker has incentives to help or even sabotage her colleagues in order to signal that she is of higher ability. In a multiperiod stationary framework, we show that the stationary level of work effort is above and help effort is below their efficient levels.
Contributions of the Dopaminergic System to Voluntary and Automatic Orienting of Visuospatial Attention

Visuospatial attention can be directed by voluntary or involuntary control independent of eye movement. The involvement of cortical and subcortical neural structures in this covert orienting mechanism has been studied using neuroimaging and electrophysiological techniques. This study was designed to investigate the role of the dopaminergic system in both voluntary and automatic orienting mechanisms of visuospatial attention. We recorded event-related evoked potentials (ERPs) and reaction time (RT) during a cued priming task in both patients with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (PD) and control subjects. Voluntary and automatic shifts in attention were studied by using central and peripheral cues, respectively. In the experiment using a central cue, the RT data showed that when the cue–target interval was long, PD patients’ responses were delayed, and cue validity effects were reduced, whereas in the peripheral cue experiment the validity effects persisted across all trials. The ERPs demonstrated reduced sustained negativities preceding the imperative targets in both the central and peripheral cue experiments in PD patients. Furthermore, during the long cue–target interval in the central cue experiment, PD patients showed reduced attention shift-related negativities (ARNs) at the anterior scalp sites, whereas ARNs were generated widely in the peripheral cue experiment. The ERP findings were consistent with the RT data. These findings suggest that the dopaminergic system may contribute to voluntary and sustained control of visuospatial attention as well as to the neural system for response preparation, whereas automatic control of visuospatial attention is relatively independent of the dopamine system.