Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Contracting in the Shadow of the Future : Bilateral Reputation and Relational Controls in Inter-Firm Transactions

Inter-firm contracting involves balancing the costs of ex ante incentives to reduce moral hazard with ex post hold up and adaptation costs. This tradeoff is complicated when there is potential for deliberate obfuscation by the vendor, which cannot be detected through the client’s traditional control mechanisms. In the presence of deliberate obfuscation relatively flexible, incomplete contracts (such as cost-plus contracts) can reduce ex post hold up and adaptation costs. However, moral hazard problems of cost-plus contracts may be severe enough to offset the benefits from their lower adaptation costs leaving contracting parties with few feasible options. Under these circumstances, relational controls based on observable but unverifiable information can help contracting parties reach consensus. We use archival data of contracts that have potential for deliberate obfuscation and examine if the formal contract form is influenced by two types of relational controls. These relational controls include the possibility of a future horizon, and bilateral reputation capital for cost containment. We predict that the likelihood of a cost-plus contract is increasing in contracting parties’ possibility of a future horizon, and vendor bilateral reputation for cost containment. We empirically test predictions using textual analysis of 149 SEC material contracts averaging $49.1 million in value, supplemented with hand-collected trade and industry data. Results using recursive, simultaneous, bivariate probit estimations with instruments for endogeneity corrections support our predictions. JEL Codes: D23, D86, L14, M41
Antioxidant activity of ezetimibe in hypercholesterolemic rats

Hypercholesterolemia is a significant risk factor for the development of coronary heart disease, which is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in many countries. Results from several landmark clinical trials have shown that, 3-hydroxy-3methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase inhibitors (i.e., statins) effectively and significantly reduce elevated serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) concentrations, improve cardiovascular outcome, and reduce the risk for coronary events. Despite the availability of statins and other lipid lowering drugs, a significant number of patients with hypercholesterolemia do not achieve adequate cholesterol reduction, having blood cholesterol concentrations higher than desired. Thus, treatment options with drugs possessing different mechanisms of action and improved safety profile, are needed. Ezetimibe, 1-(4-fluorophenyl)-3(R)-(3-(4-fluorophenyl)­ 3(S)-hydroxypropyl)-4(S)-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-2-azetidinone, is a selective cholesterol absorption inhibitor that effectively blocks intestinal absorption of cholesterol. Such drugs prevent the absorption of cholesterol, by inhibiting the passage of dietary and biliary cholesterol across the intestinal wall. These drugs represent a new class of pharmaceutical agents that can be used to treat patients with hypercholesterolemia. Ezetimibe alone, or in combination with statins, effectively reduce LDL-C concentrations. It also increases high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and may reduce elevated triglyceride (TG) concentrations. The role of free radicals, is almost clear in many disorders. In atherosclerosis, oxidative stress generates free radicals, which has harmful effects on every organ. This free radical oxidizes LDL-C to convert the latter into oxidized LDL (oxLDL), which leads to the atherosclerosis. Ezetimibe has not been evaluated so far, for its effects on free radical scavenging activity. Therefore, the present investigation was undertaken to evaluate the effects of Ezetimibe on hypercholesterolemic rats, with special reference to antioxidant activity. Effect of Ezetimibe was observed on lipid profile, as well as lipid peroxidation, in rats
Neuroendocrine control mechanisms and the onset of puberty.

Puberty is the transitional period between the juvenile state and adulthood during which the adolescent growth spurt occurs, secondary sexual charac­ teristics appear, fertility is achieved, and profound psychological changes take place. We propose that the events characterizing pubertal maturation of the reproductive endocrine system can be viewed as part of a continuum extending from sexual differentiation and the ontogeny of the hypothalam­ ic-pituitary gonadotropin-gonadal system in the fetus to the attainment of full sexual maturation and fertility, and then ultimately to senescence (20, 21). Two independent processes, controlled by different mechanisms but closely linked temporally, are involved in the increase of sex steroid secre­ tion in the peripubertal and pubertal periods. One process, adrenarche, involves the increase in adrenal androgen secretion, which precedes by about two years the second event, gonadarche, the activation of the hypo­ thalamic-pituitary gonadotropin-gonadal apparatus that had been active at a low level during childhood. The regulatory systems that control human male and female reproduc­ tion comprise the following fundamental components:
Recurrent aphthous stomatitis: Mystery unravelled -

Recurrent aphthous stomatitis has been posing a challenge to the field of oral medicine and radiology for the past few decades. This review article throws light and derives clarity in the etiology, clinical features, immunopathology and the management of this entity. Different possibilities in the onset, clinical features are described in detail. Management criteria of this entity has also been described in detail. Henceforth a clarity in this entity in oral medicine and radiology is attained. This article details out the exact the literature available till date about etiology and clinical features of recurrent aphthous stomatitis. It also details the immunopathogenesis in the onset of an ulcer along with the management options needed in the successful treatment protocol for recurrent aphthous stomatitis.
Indigeneity and the judicial decision to imprison : a study of Western Australia’s higher courts

Internationally, sentencing research has largely neglected the impact of Indigeneity on sentencing outcomes. Using data from Western Australia’s higher courts for the years 2003–05, we investigate the direct and interactive effects of Indigenous status on the judicial decision to imprison. Unlike prior research on race/ethnicity in which minority offenders are often found to be more harshly treated by sentencing courts, we find that Indigenous status has no direct effect on the decision to imprison,after adjusting for other sentencing factors (especially past and current criminality). However, there are sub-group differences: Indigenous males are more likely to receive a prison sentence compared to non-Indigenous females. We draw on the focal concerns perspective of judicial decision making in interpreting our findings.
Living with prejudice -- xenophobia and race.

While research has established that South Africans are hostile toward foreigners living in South Africa there is comparatively little research on how foreigners particularly refugees experience this prejudice. The traditional lack of emphasis on the targets’ perspective has resulted in a bias towards understanding the perpetrators rather than the targets of prejudice (Harrison 1974). Research on the targets’ experience of prejudice provides the opportunity to understand ‘how targets manage aspects of their social world rather than how they are only manipulated by the prejudice of others’ and how targets are survivors rather than victims of prejudice. This briefing is based on a study conducted in Cape Town as part of a Psychology Honours research project which aimed to explore the ways in which refugees experience prejudice and how they explain it. It pursues the themes that emerged around xenophobia and race and demonstrates that men and women experience xenophobia in different ways. (excerpt)
CONVERGENCE IN THE FEEDING MECHANICS OF ECOMORPHOLOGICALLY SIMILAR SPECIES IN THE CENTRARCHIDAE AND CICHLIDAE

We examined the hypothesis that fish species with similar ecomorphological patterns, but from different taxonomic groups, would use similar feeding modes. We contrasted the feeding behavior of Micropterus salmoides (Lacepede) (Centrarchidae) and Cichla ocellaris (Block and Schneider) (Cichlidae), both large-mouthed piscivores with a locomotor morphology designed for fast acceleration, with Lepomis spp. (Centrarchidae) and Cichlosoma severum (Heckel) (Cichlidae), both small-mouthed predators on benthic invertebrates with a locomotor morphology designed for maneuverability. Pressure profiles in the buccal and opercular cavities were more similar for species that shared ecomorphological patterns than for species that shared phylogenetic histories. For small- mouthed predators, minimum buccal pressures were significantly greater and occurred earlier than the corresponding opercular pressures. For both large-mouthed predators, minimum buccal and opercular pressures were similar in magnitude and in timing. We developed the ram-suction index (RSI) to identify the relative contributions of ram feeding (i.e. predator movement) and of suction feeding (i.e. prey movement) to shortening the predator-prey distance during the strike. The RSI values for small- mouthed predators fell closer to the suction end of the ram-suction continuum than did strikes by the large-mouthed predators. The RSI provides a bench mark for evaluating the hydrodynamic consequences of intraspecific, interspecific and interprey variation in strike mechanics.
Determination of Normal Ranges of Shock Index and Other Haemodynamic Variables in the Immediate Postpartum Period: A Cohort Study

Objective To determine the normal ranges of vital signs, including blood pressure (BP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR) and shock index (SI) (HR/systolic BP), in the immediate postpartum period to inform the development of robust obstetric early warning scores. Study Design We conducted a secondary analysis of a prospective observational cohort study evaluating vital signs collected within one hour following delivery in women with estimated blood loss (EBL) <500ml (316 women) delivering at a UK tertiary centre over a one-year period. Simple and multiple linear regression were used to explore associations of demographic and obstetric factors with SI. Results Median (90% reference range) was 120 (100–145) for systolic BP, 75 (58–90) for diastolic BP, 90 (73–108) for MAP, 81 (61–102) for HR, and 0.66 (0.52–0.89) for SI. Third stage Syntometrine® administration was associated with a 0.03 decrease in SI (p = 0.035) and epidural use with a 0.05 increase (p = 0.003). No other demographic or obstetric factors were associated with a change in shock index in this cohort. Conclusion This is the first study to determine normal ranges of maternal BP, MAP, HR and SI within one hour of birth, a time of considerable haemodynamic adjustment, with minimal effect of demographic and obstetric factors demonstrated. The lower 90% reference point for systolic BP and upper 90% reference point for HR correspond to triggers used to recognise shock in obstetric practice, as do the upper 90% reference points for systolic and diastolic BP for obstetric hypertensive triggers. The SI upper limit of 0.89 in well postpartum women supports current literature suggesting a threshold of 0.9 as indicating increased risk of adverse outcomes.
Rapid growth causes abnormal vaterite formation in farmed fish otoliths

ABSTRACT Sagittal otoliths are essential components of the sensory organs that enable all teleost fish to hear and maintain balance, and are primarily composed of calcium carbonate. A deformity, where aragonite (the normal crystal form) is replaced with vaterite, was first noted over 50 years ago but its underlying cause is unresolved. We evaluated the prevalence of vateritic otoliths from two captive rearing studies which suggested that fast growth, due to environmental rather than genetic control, led to vaterite development. We then tested this by varying light and temperature to create phenotypes with different growth rates, which resulted in fast growers (5 times larger) having 3 times more vaterite than slow growers. A decrease in either the ratio of otolith matrix proteins (otolin-1/OMM-64) or [Ca2+]/[CO32−] may explain why fast growth causes vaterite deposition. As vaterite decreases hearing sensitivity, reducing growth rates in hatcheries may improve the welfare of farmed fish and increase the success of conservation efforts. Summary: The rapid growth experienced by farmed fishes causes an otolith deformation rarely seen in the wild.
Dual chamber pacing: how many patients remain in DDD mode over the long term?

OBJECTIVE--DDD pacing is better than VVI pacing in complete heart block and sick sinus syndrome but is more expensive and demanding. In addition, some patients have to be programmed out of DDD mode and this may have an important impact on the cost-effectiveness of DDD pacing. The purpose of this study was to determine how many patients remain in DDD mode over the long term (up to 10 years). DESIGN--A retrospective analysis of the outcome over 10 years of consecutive patients who had their pacemakers programmed initially in DDD mode. SETTING--A district general hospital. PATIENTS--249 patients with DDD pacemakers. Sixty two patients (24.9%) had predominantly sick sinus syndrome and 180 (72.3%) had predominantly atrioventricular conduction disease. Mean (range) complete follow up for this group of patients was 32 months (1-10 years). RESULTS--Cumulative survival of DDD mode was 83.5% at 60 months. Atrial fibrillation was the commonest reason for abandonment of DDD pacing. Atrial fibrillation developed in 30 patients (12%), with atrial flutter in three (1.2%). Loss of atrial sensing or pacing, pacemaker mediated tachycardia, and various other reasons accounted for reprogramming out of DDD mode in eight patients (3.2%). Overall, an atrial pacing mode was maintained in 91% and VVI pacing was needed in only 9%. CONCLUSIONS--With careful use of programming facilities and appropriate secondary intervention, most patients with dual chamber pacemakers can be maintained successfully in DDD or an alternative atrial pacing mode until elective replacement, although atrial arrhythmia remains a significant problem. There are no good reasons, other than cost, for not using dual chamber pacing routinely as suggested by recent guidelines and this policy can be achieved successfully in a district general hospital pacing centre.
A novel Rho-mDia2-HDAC6 pathway controls podosome patterning through microtubule acetylation in osteoclasts

Osteoclast maturation is accompanied by changes in podosome patterning, resulting in the formation of a peripheral belt, which requires an intact microtubule network. Here, we report that by inhibiting Rho, the podosome belt is maintained at the cell periphery despite depolymerisation of microtubules by nocodazole. Rho inhibition was correlated to the increase in microtubule stabilisation and microtubule acetylation. By microinjecting activated Rho or its activated effector mDia2 in osteoclasts, we found that the podosome belt was disrupted and the level of microtubule acetylation dramatically decreased. We further characterised the molecular mechanism responsible for microtubule deacetylation by co-immunoprecipitation experiments. We found that not only was mDia2 coprecipitating with the recently identified microtubule deacetylase HDAC6 but that it also activated the microtubule deacetylase activity of HDAC6 in an in vitro deacetylase assay. Finally, we found that during osteoclastogenesis, there is a correlation between the increase in microtubule acetylation and the podosome belt stabilisation and that if Rho is inhibited in the early stages of osteoclast differentiation, it accelerates both microtubule acetylation and podosome belt stabilisation. Altogether, our data reveal a pathway in which Rho interferes with the osteoclast maturation process by controlling the level of microtubule acetylation and actin organisation through mDIA2 and HDAC6.
Prevalence of Chronic Ankle Instability in High School and Division I Athletes

Objective. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of chronic ankle instability among high school and collegiate athletes. Design. Descriptive epidemiological survey. Methods. Athletes from four high schools and a division I university were contacted to participate. For collegiate athletes, a questionnaire packet was distributed during preparticipation physicals. For high school athletes, parental consent was obtained and then questionnaires were distributed during preparticipation physicals, parent meetings, or individual team meetings. All athletes completed the Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool for both their left and right ankles. Subjects also provided general demographic data and completed the Ankle Instability Instrument regarding history of lateral ankle sprains and giving way. Athletes were identified as having chronic ankle instability if they scored less than 24 on the Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool. Results. Of the 512 athletes who completed and returned surveys, 23.4% were identified as having chronic ankle instability. High school athletes were more likely to have chronic ankle instability than their collegiate counterparts (P < .001). Chronic ankle instability was more prevalent among women than among men in both high school (P = .01) and collegiate settings (P = .01). Conclusions. Findings of this study revealed differences in the distribution of chronic ankle instability that warrant further study. Levels of Evidence: Prognostic, Level IV, case series
INFLUENCE OF INTEGRATED INTERVENTION ON THE SUCCESS OF YOUTH PROJECTS: A CASE OF NAKURU MUNICIPALITY, KENYA.

xiv CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION.1 1.1 Background of the study.1-4 1.2 Statement of the problem.4-5 1.3 Purpose of the study.5 1.4 Research objectives . 5 1.5 Research questions.5-6 1.7 Significance of the study.6-7 1.8 Delimitation of the study . 7 1.9 Limitation of the study.7 1.10 Basic assumption of the study . 8
Limited Benefit of Biochemical Response to Combination Therapy for Patients With Recurrent Hepatitis C After Living-Donor Liver Transplantation

Background. Effective management of patients with recurrent hepatitis C after liver transplantation has not been established. In this study, we tested the significance of biochemical response (BR) as well as sustained virological response (SVR) to combination therapy with interferon alpha-2b and ribavirin for recurrent hepatitis C after living-donor liver transplantation. Methods. Forty patients received therapy and formed 3 groups by response: SVR (n=14, 35%) and BR (n=14, 35%), defined when serum alanine aminotransferase normalized during therapy in non-SVR patients, and no response (NR; n=12, 30%). Histological changes of these groups after the combination therapy were investigated. Results. Activity grade of liver histology improved significantly in patients with an SVR at 1 and at 2–4 years after the initiation of treatment, showing difference from the BR and NR groups in which the activity was not improved by interferon therapy. Fibrosis deteriorated significantly in both the BR and the NR groups at two to four years. The rates of patients whose fibrosis stage deteriorated to stage F2 or more were significantly greater in the BR and NR groups than in the SVR group. Fibrosis decreased or remained stable in five of eight patients (63%) with an SVR at two to four years, whereas it increased in 12 of 15 patients (80%) with a BR or NR. Conclusions. Patients with an SVR showed histological improvement, but the benefit of a BR for non-SVR patients to improve the activity grade or to inhibit the progression of fibrosis was limited.
Searching for the missing baryons in theWarm‐Hot Intergalactic Medium

At low redshift (z < 2), almost half of the baryons in the Universe are not found in bound structures like galaxies and clusters and therefore most likely reside in a Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium (WHIM), as predicted by simulations. Attempts to detect WHIM filaments at cosmological distances in absorption towards bright background sources have yielded controversial results that I review here. I argue that a secure detection of absorption features by the WHIM is at the limit of the XMM-Newton capabilities, but feasible. A proper characterisation of the whole WHIM belongs to the realm of future X-ray missions. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Clustering and Hierarchy in Interpersonal Relations: Testing Two Graph Theoretical Models on 742 Sociomatrices

Growth of a Policy (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946), p. 138. 33 U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Digest of Education Statistics, 1968 Edition (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1968) p. 128 (Table 160). 34Ibid. , p. 95. Table 115. It should perhaps be added that the total of $3.2 billion spent for basic research in 1966 compared with $18.9 billion spent for applied research and development. 35 Clark Kerr, The Uses of the University (Harper Torchbooks. New York: Harper & Row, 1966), pp. 57-69. This summary selects the aspects most directly related to the autonomy of decision-making by scholars and universities. It should be noted that Kerr concentrates on the "federal grant university," but that analogous considerations apply to research funds from private foundations. 36 Bush, op. cit., p. 52. 37 Reinhard Bendix, Social Science and the Distrust of Reason (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1951), passim.
Approaches to Enzyme and Substrate Design of the Murine Dnmt3a DNA Methyltransferase

Dnmt3a‐C, the catalytic domain of the Dnmt3a DNA‐(cytosine‐C5)‐methyltransferase, is active in an isolated form but, like the full‐length Dnmt3a, shows only weak DNA methylation activity. To improve this activity by directed evolution, we set up a selection system in which Dnmt3a‐C methylated its own expression plasmid in E. coli, and protected it from cleavage by methylation‐sensitive restriction enzymes. However, despite screening about 400 clones that were selected in three rounds from a random mutagenesis library of 60 000 clones, we were not able to isolate a variant with improved activity, most likely because of a background of uncleaved plasmids and plasmids that had lost the restriction sites. To improve the catalytic activity of Dnmt3a‐C by optimization of the sequence of the DNA substrate, we analyzed its flanking‐sequence preference in detail by bisulfite DNA‐methylation analysis and sequencing of individual clones. Based on the enrichment and depletion of certain bases in the positions flanking >1300 methylated CpG sites, we were able to define a sequence‐preference profile for Dnmt3a‐C from the −6 to the +6 position of the flanking sequence. This revealed preferences for T over a purine at position −2, A over G at −1, a pyrimidine at +1, and A and T over G at +3. We designed one “good” substrate optimized for methylation and one “bad” substrate designed not to be efficiently methylated, and showed that the optimized substrate is methylated >20 times more rapidly at its central CpG site. The optimized Dnmt3a‐C substrate can be applied in enzymatic high‐throughput assays with Dnmt3a‐C (e.g., for inhibitor screening), because the increased activity provides an improved dynamic range and better signal/noise ratio.