Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Closed-Form Mortgage Valuation Using Reduced-Form Model

Valuing mortgage-related securities is more complicated than valuing regular defaultable claims due to the borrower's prepayment behavior as well as the possibility of default. Some researchers use a structural-form model to obtain the closed-form formulas for the mortgage value. With this method, however, it is difficult to identify the critical region of early exercise. As an alternative, the reduced-form model developed in this article is able to value the mortgage without setting boundary conditions, and it can thereby accurately handle the multidimensional space of correlated state variables. The purpose of this article is to derive a closed-form solution of the mortgage valuation equation under a general reduced-form model that embeds relevant economic variables. This new approach enables portfolio managers to undertake sophisticated portfolio optimization and hedging analyses. An implementation procedure for the model is also provided to demonstrate how the valuation framework can be utilized in practical applications.
Son Preference, Number of Children, Education and Occupational Choice in Rural Nepal

A unique family survey was conducted in Nepal to investigate the economic consequences of having a first-born girl. Women get more children, but we find no causal effect of number of children on economic outcomes. But independently of the number of children there is a positive effect on boys' education of having a first born sister, who presumably takes care of household work so the boys can focus on school. This indicates a stronger son-preference in Nepal than what is found in studies from neighboring countries.
CXCR2−/− Mice Show Enhanced Susceptibility to Herpetic Stromal Keratitis: A Role for IL-6-Induced Neovascularization1

Ocular infection with HSV results in a blinding immunoinflammatory lesion known as herpetic stromal keratitis (HSK). Early preclinical events include inflammatory cell, mainly neutrophils, infiltration of the stroma, and neovascularization. To further evaluate the role of neutrophils in pathogenesis, HSV infection was compared in BALB/c and mice of the same background, but lacking CXCR2, the receptor for chemokines involved in neutrophil recruitment. Our results show clear differences in the outcome of ocular HSV infection in CXCR2−/− compared with control BALB/c mice. Thus, CXCR2−/− animals had minimal PMN influx during the first 7 days postinfection, and this correlated with a longer duration of virus infection in the eye compared with BALB/c mice. The CXCR2−/− mice were also more susceptible to HSV-induced lesions and developed HSK upon exposure to a dose of HSV that was minimally pathogenic to BALB/c mice. The basis for the greater HSK lesion susceptibility of CXCR2−/− mice was associated with an elevated IL-6 response, which appeared in turn to induce the angiogenic factor, vascular endothelial growth factor. Our results serve to further demonstrate the critical role of angiogenesis in the pathogenesis of ocular lesions.
Familiar Gangsters: Gang Violence, Brotherhood, and the Media’s Fascination With a Crime Family

Media reports can have a significant and lasting impact on public perceptions about crime and criminals. Jonathan, Jarrod, and Jamie Bacon gained notoriety in Vancouver through substantial media coverage for their involvement in gang-related shootings and criminal activity. The present study examines how the media have portrayed the Bacon brothers and their importance in the region’s gang scene. We examine all articles published in the area’s largest newspaper, the Vancouver Sun, mentioning the Bacon family between 2008 and 2015 (N = 401). Specifically, we explore the media’s depiction of the Bacons through developing a thematic content analysis, with themes tested in a keyword analysis using a corpora comparison with a set of reference articles. We argue that the Bacon brothers’ family relationship, tumultuous gang alliances, and alleged involvement in Vancouver’s worst gang-related shooting led to the media overreporting and sensationalizing their criminal activity and prominence in the local gang landscape. In addition, we contend that the popular theme of crime families provided the media with a narrative that proved useful in a context where the police and the courts were simultaneously trying to adapt to the emerging reality of violent gang conflict.
Human Capital and Stock Returns: Is the Value Premium an Approximation for Return on Human Capital?

This study, using a direct measure of the wage growth rate within firms, examines the value premium in relation to human capital. The results suggest that the dispersion in wage growth in value and growth stocks explains a large portion of the differences in stock returns. It appears that value stocks are less exposed to shocks in rents to human capital. Differences in labor force characteristics among value and growth stocks also proved to be an important factor in determining both the impact of future changes in labor income growth rate and firm value. The present findings are understood to mean that the ability of investors to forecast the dispersion in wage growth in firms is limited.
The mortality inflection point for age and acute cervical spinal cord injury.

BACKGROUND Acute cervical spinal cord injury (cSCI) is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Vertebral level and American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) score influence both hospital course and ultimate outcome. While controlling for these variables, we describe the effect of age on cSCI-related pneumonia and mortality. METHODS All patients treated at our regional spinal cord injury center with an acute cSCI during a 5-year period (2005-2009) were reviewed retrospectively. Patient demographics, injury level, ASIA score, length of stay (LOS), radiologic, laboratory, and microbiology data were reviewed. Pneumonia was defined as an infiltrate on chest X-ray along with two of the following: leukocytosis, fever greater than 101°F, or positive bronchial alveolar lavage cultures; all occurring within the same 24-hour period. RESULTS There were 244 cSCI during the study period. In-hospital mortality was significantly higher for those older than 75 years (40.5% vs. 4.0%, p < 0.0001). Pneumonia rates were not significantly different between age groups. In all age groups, high ASIA scores (A and B) were associated with increased pneumonia (61.9% vs. 17.4%, p < 0.0001) and mortality (16.7% vs. 3.5%, p = 0.002). Similarly, patients with higher cervical injury levels (C4 and above) had a higher incidence of pneumonia (39.5% vs. 25.9%, p < 0.05) and a trend toward higher mortality. CONCLUSIONS Age was associated with an increase in mortality among patients with an acute cSCI. Injury level and ASIA score contributed significantly to overall pneumonia rate and mortality at all ages; however, pneumonia did not correlate directly with mortality in this population. Other factors play a role in the mortality associated with geriatric spinal cord-injured patients, including end-of-life decision making; these need to be investigated further in future studies.
Culture moderates the self-regulation of shame and its effects on performance: the case of salespersons in The Netherlands and the Philippines.

In this study, the authors investigated how salespeople within an interdependent-based culture (the Philippines) and an independent-based culture (the Netherlands) experience and self-regulate shame. Filipino and Dutch employees were found to experience shame as a consequence of customer actions in largely similar ways (i.e., for both, shame is a painful self-conscious emotion with unique physiological/behavioral urges, self-focused attention, and felt threat to the core self) but have different responses to their felt shame. Specifically, shame is self-regulated dissimilarly in the 2 cultures and leads to opposite effects on performance, namely, enhanced customer relationship building and civic virtue and helping occur for Filipino employees, and diminished sales volume, communication effectiveness, and relationship building transpire for Dutch employees. The positive effects experienced by Filipino employees occur through direct responses to felt shame and as a result of adaptive resource utilization. The negative effects experienced by Dutch employees occur as a result of the dysfunctional (from the firm's point of view) discharge of protective actions.
A Questionnaire of Parental Perceptions of Conscious Sedation in Pediatric Dentistry.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine the opinions of parents about oral sedation in pediatric dentistry. METHODS A 21-question questionnaire, administered to parents of children presenting for care in four pediatric dental practices, collected demographic information, media exposure to sedation, and parental knowledge/opinions regarding sedation procedures, such as NPO (nothing by mouth) guidelines, need for restraint, parental presence, and parental acceptance of treatment scenarios. RESULTS Among 256 questionnaires completed, 235 were usable. Fifty-eight percent of respondents reported using public insurance. Parents agreed/strongly agreed (75 percent) that protective stabilization should not be necessary during sedation, and 87 percent preferred to stay with their child during the appointment. No parents perceived sedation as unsafe. Seventy-three percent of parents were unaware of media coverage of sedation; 82 percent reported it was acceptable for their child to sleep through a sedation appointment, while only 18 percent found it acceptable for the child to be highly reactive. CONCLUSIONS Parents prefer to remain with their child, believe that sedation is safe and restraint should not be necessary, and are more accepting of the child sleeping during treatment. Most parents are unaware of media coverage of dental sedation for children.
Bacteriologic Effects of Antibiotic Prophylaxis in High-Risk Cesarean Section

A double-blind placebo-controlled experiment was performed in 100 patients in labor with membrane rupture to determine the bacteriologic effects of antibiotic prophylaxis. Each subject received either 2.0 g cefamandole or placebo after cord clamping and 4 and 8 hours later. The cefamandole group had significantly less endometritis, but did not have significantly fewer major complications. Amniotic fluid cultures of the 2 groups were similar, but uterine lavage cultures of the cefamandole group showed significant increases in enterococci and gram-negative aerobes and decreases in gram-positive anaerobes and low virulence organisms (Staphylococcus epidermidis, lactobacilli, and diphtheroids). Although clinical problems did not regularly accompany these changes, it would be foolhardy to ignore them. Thus, when patients develop infection after antibiotic prophylaxis, the physician should check for infection with resistant organisms.
Shape coarticulation in the spatial frequency domain: An example using /ɹ/

One facet of coarticulation is tongue shape assimilation to surrounding segments. This study demonstrates the use of the Fourier transform for quantifying the effect of rhotics on surrounding sounds. Ultrasound images taken from American English speakers producing a rhotic-heavy sentence are used as test data. The method shows promise for describing shape coarticulation without the need for head stabilization. Potential uses of this method involve quantification of speech motor control strategies among different groups of speakers, such as children acquiring language and speakers with disorders of the speech motor system.
Multistrategic Spatial Competition in Banking

Abstract This paper presents a model whereby banking firms use various strategies (price and non‐price) simultaneously in a monopolistically competitive model of spatial competition when the various strategies are used across different markets in the presence of a multioutput technology. The theoretical model is estimated with Spanish data pertaining to the pre‐ and post‐deregulatory periods in order to investigate the effects of deregulation of both interest rates and branches on the (differential) strategic conduct of private and savings bank.
Linking Council and European Parliament? Voting unity of national parties in bicameral EU decision-making

The two institutions forming the bicameral EU legislature, Council and European Parliament, are composed of representatives who belong to national political parties. In traditional European bicameral systems, parties are the main factor linking the different chambers. Do national parties similarly provide a linkage mechanism between chambers in the EU, by co-ordinating voting behaviour of ministers and MEPs? For example, do MEPs unite with ‘their’ minister against a proposal if sincere national or party-political interests are touched? Based on a dataset combining Council votes with EP roll-calls, the analysis reveals that voting behaviour might differ considerably between institutions. While ministers are subject to the logic of Council consensus, MEPs are influenced by their transnational EP groups. Internal party co-ordination across institutions is thus rare. Ministers and MEPs hardly ever vote united against a proposal.
Human Asset Development and the Transition from School to Work: Policy Lessons for the 21st Century

The transition from school to work is the lynchpin in the transition to adulthood. Because full-time employment usually permits financial independence as well as social and emotional independence, both of which are crucial for developing private (i.e., family) and public (i.e., civic) adult roles, there is great societal interest in youth negotiating this transition successfully. The ability of young adults to establish independent households and to be financially independent as well as socially and emotionally mature depends crucially on how well they prepare themselves to compete for and secure well-paying jobs and to participate in social, civic, and familial activities.
In vivo role of the PIF‐binding docking site of PDK1 defined by knock‐in mutation

PKB/Akt, S6K, SGK and RSK are mediators of responses triggered by insulin and growth factors and are activated following phosphorylation by 3‐phosphoinositide‐dependent protein kinase‐1 (PDK1). To investigate the importance of a substrate‐docking site in the kinase domain of PDK1 termed the ‘PIF‐pocket’, we generated embryonic stem (ES) cells in which both copies of the PDK1 gene were altered by knock‐in mutation to express a form of PDK1 retaining catalytic activity, in which the PIF‐pocket site was disrupted. The knock‐in ES cells were viable, mutant PDK1 was expressed at normal levels and insulin‐like growth factor 1 induced normal activation of PKB and phosphorylation of the PKB substrates GSK3 and FKHR. In contrast, S6K, RSK and SGK were not activated, nor were physiological substrates of S6K and RSK phosphorylated. These experiments establish the importance of the PIF‐pocket in governing the activation of S6K, RSK, SGK, but not PKB, in vivo. They also illustrate the power of knock‐in technology to probe the physiological roles of docking interactions in regulating the specificity of signal transduction pathways.
Effects of Prenatal PM10 Exposure on Fetal Cardiovascular Malformations in Fuzhou, China: A Retrospective Case–Control Study

Background: Maternal exposure to ambient air pollution has been associated with an increased risk of congenital heart defects in offspring; however, the results are inconsistent. Objectives: We investigated whether there is an association between prenatal exposure to particulate matter with diameter ≤10μm (PM10) during early pregnancy and fetal cardiovascular malformations. Methods: The gravidae from a hospital-based case–control study in Fuzhou, China, during 2007–2013 were assigned 10-d or 1-mo averages of daily PM10 using an air monitor–based inverse distance weighting method during early pregnancy. A total of 662 live-birth or selectively terminated cases and 3,972 live-birth controls were enrolled. The exposure was considered as a categorical variable. A multivariable logistic regression model was constructed to quantify the adjusted odds ratios (aORs) of the exposure to PM10 and the risks of fetal cardiovascular malformations. Results: PM10 levels were positively associated with the risks of atrial septal defect (aORs ranging from 1.29 to 2.17), patent ductus arteriosus [aORs=1.54, 1.63; 95% confidence intervals (CIs): 1.17, 2.23; 1.06, 3.24], overall fetal cardiovascular malformations (aOR=1.28; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.61), ventricular septal defect (aOR=1.19; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.43), and tetralogy of Fallot (aOR=1.44; 95% CI: 1.01, 2.19) in the various observed periods scaled by 10 d or 1 mo in the first and second gestation months. The strongest associations were observed for exposure to PM10 in the second quartile, whereas the associations were attenuated when higher concentrations of PM10 in the third and fourth quartiles of the exposure were evaluated. No correlations of PM10 levels with these cardiovascular malformations in the other time periods of gestation were observed. Conclusions: Our findings suggest some positive associations between maternal exposure to ambient PM10 during the first two months of pregnancy and fetal cardiovascular malformations. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP289
Frequent Occurrence of Rapid as Well as Delayed Gastric Emptying of a Corn Flakes and Milk Meal in Clinical Patients With Gastrointestinal Symptoms

Purpose: Early satiety, nausea and vomiting have traditionally been associated with delayed gastric emptying (GE). A study was performed to determine the frequency of rapid/delayed GE in 100 patients sequentially referred for scintigraphic GE using a corn flakes and milk meal. Methods and Materials: A retrospective review of 100 consecutive GE studies at the University Hospital, San Antonio, Texas, was performed. Each patient received a semisolid meal containing corn flakes, milk, and sugar (200 kcal, 6 g fat, 7 g protein, and 30 g carbohydrates) and 37.0 MBq (1 mCi) of Tc-99m sulfur colloid according to a standard clinical protocol followed by dynamic 1-minute planar acquisitions for 60 minutes. Gastric emptying times were classified based on the 50% emptying time as follows: 30 to 60 minutes for normal, abnormally delayed as >60 minutes, and abnormally rapid as <30 minutes. Results: Twenty-eight patients demonstrated rapid GE, 25 delayed GE, and 45 normal GE. Fifteen (54%) patients with rapid GE were diabetic, 4 (14%) had impaired fasting glucose values, and 9 (32%) were normoglycemic. Fourteen (56%) patients with delayed GE were diabetic, one (4%) had impaired fasting glucose, and 10 (40%) were normoglycemic. Both patients with delayed and those with rapid GE had nausea as the most common symptom followed by early satiety (rapid GE) and vomiting (delayed GE). Of 28 patients with rapid GE, 26 were on promotility agents. Conclusion: The number of patients with rapid GE of the corn flakes, milk, and sugar meal is appreciably greater (28%) than previously reported with other meals. This relative large number is likely related to the meal composition and the homogeneous dispersal of the label within the meal.
Reinvested Earnings Bias, the 'Five Percent' Rule and the Interpretation of the Balance of Payments - with an Application to Transition Economies

We show that the imputation of reinvested profits of the subsidiaries of foreign firms as a debit item on a host country's balance of payments account tends to overstate the current account deficit. We also show that, because of the workings of the FDI financial life cycle, this phenomenon is most evident for countries that have recently received large inflows of capital. The transition economies of East Europe certainly fall among such countries, and we show that, for the Czech Republic and Hungary, this imputation has a large effect on their reported current account balance. We verify the working of the FDI financial life cycle using two different panels of developed, developing and transition economies.
Structural Insights into the Pharmacophore of Vinca Domain Inhibitors of Microtubules

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) have achieved great success in cancer therapy in recent years. Some peptidyl microtubule inhibitors consisting of natural and unnatural amino acids, such as monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE) and F (MMAF), are extremely cytotoxic and have been used as a payload in ADCs. However, their precise molecular interaction with tubulin and microtubules remains unclear. We determined the crystal structures of tubulin in complex with three ultra-potent peptidyl microtubule inhibitors [MMAE, taltobulin (HTI- 286), and tubulysin M] at 2.5 Å. Our data showed that the three peptides bound to the vinca domain and shared a common and key pharmacophore containing two consecutive hydrophobic groups (Val, Ile-like side chain). These groups protruded in opposite directions into hydrophobic pockets on the tubulin β and α subunits. Nitrogen and oxygen atoms from the same backbone formed hydrogen bonds with Asn329 from the α subunit and Asp179 from the β subunit in a direction normal to the surface formed by the aforementioned hydrophobic groups. In addition, our crystal structure data indicated that tubulysin M bound to the β subunit alone, providing a structural explanation for its higher affinity. We also compared the conformations of two representative structurally different vinca domain compounds, ustiloxin D and vinblastine, with those of the aforementioned peptidyl ligands, and found that they shared a similar pharmacophore. Our findings lay a foundation for the rational design of novel vinca domain ligands and may facilitate the development of microtubule inhibitors with high specificity, affinity, and efficiency as payloads for ADCs in cancer therapy.
Exchange Rate and Fundamentals: The Case of Brazil

Forecasting performance is tested for a broad set of empirical exchange rate models for an emerging economy with independently floating regime and inflation target monetary arrangement. Compared to the recent literature on out-of-sample exchange rate predictability, we include a more extensive set of models. We test vintage monetary models of the 1980's, exchange rate equilibrium models of the 1990's and a Taylor Rule based model. This last model assumes an endogenous monetary policy, where the Central Bank follows a Taylor rule reaction function to set interest rates. Our results show that Taylor Rule models and Behavioral Equilibrium Exchange Rate models, the last one combining productivity differentials with portfolio balance effect, have superior predictive accuracy when compared to the random walk benchmark. Some out-of-sample predictability is also obtained with parsimonious models based on uncovered interest parity arguments.