Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The quality of screening colonoscopies in an office-based endoscopy clinic.

BACKGROUND Wait times for hospital screening colonoscopy have increased dramatically in recent years, resulting in an increase in patient referrals to office-based endoscopy clinics. There is no formal regulation of office endoscopy, and it has been suggested that the quality of service in some office locations may be inferior to hospital procedures. OBJECTIVE To compare the quality of office-based screening colonoscopies at a clinic in Oakville, Ontario, with published benchmarks for cecal intubation, withdrawal times, polyp detection, adenoma detection, cancer detection and patient complications. METHODS Demographic information on consecutive patients and colonoscopy reports by all nine gastroenterologists at the Oakville Endoscopy Centre between August 2006 and December 2007 were prospectively obtained. RESULTS A total of 3741 colonoscopies were analyzed. The mean age of patients was 57.1 years and 51.9% were women. The cecal intubation rate was 98.98% with an average withdrawal time of 9.75 min. A total of 3857 polyps were retrieved from 1725 patients (46.11%), and 1721 adenomas were detected in 953 patients (25.47%). A total of 126 patients (3.37%) had advanced polyps and 18 (0.48%) were diagnosed with colon cancer. One patient (0.027%) had a colonic perforation and two patients had postpolypectomy bleeding (0.053%). These results meet or exceed published benchmarks for quality colonoscopy. CONCLUSIONS The Ontario Endoscopy Centre data demonstrate that office-based colonoscopies, performed by well-trained physicians using adequate sedation and hospital-grade equipment, result in outcomes at least equal to or better than those of published academic/community hospital practices and are therefore a viable option for the future of screening colonoscopy in Canada.
The Role of Growth Options in Explaining Stock Returns

Abstract We extend the Fama-French (1992) model by considering growth option (as well as distress/leverage) variables in explaining the cross section of stock returns. We find that growth option variables, namely growth in capital investment and yet-unexercised growth options (GO), are significantly and negatively related to stock returns. Investors may be willing to accept lower average returns from growth stocks in exchange for a more favorable (positively skewed) risk-return profile. Book-to-market (BM) ratio seems to proxy for omitted distress/leverage variables. When these are explicitly accounted for, BM is not that significant. Our growth options variables have added explanatory power.
Achieving Dramatic School Improvement: An Exploratory Study A Cross-site Analysis From the Evaluation of Comprehensive School Reform Program Implementation and Outcomes Study

Herman served as the contracting officer's representative. The content of this report does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Education, nor does the mention of commercial products or organizations imply endorsements by the U.S. government. The inclusion of such information is for the reader's convenience and is not intended to endorse any views expressed, or products, programs, models or services offered. Preface ix PREFACE This report from the Evaluation of the Comprehensive School Reform Program Implementation and Outcomes (ECSRIO) presents findings about low-performing schools that dramatically improved their performance. It follows prior research from this study examining the implementation and outcomes of the federal Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) program. The CSR program was established as a demonstration program in 1998 and authorized as a full program in 2002 as part of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). It is one approach to help low-performing K–12 public schools meet state performance standards. In 2006, the U.S. Department of Education contracted with WestEd and American Institutes for Research to add an additional substudy to ECSRIO, involving case studies of 11 CSR schools. The focus of this study is on schools that made significant improvements in student achievement in a relatively short (one-to two-year) time frame as well as at a slower, steadier pace over a longer period. To avoid reader confusion, we want to emphasize that this study examines quick-and-dramatic as well as slow-and-steady school improvement retrospectively, seeking to understand the policies, programs, and practices that contributed to " turning around " these schools' performance. This stands in contrast to current federal policy objectives that aim to prospectively identify the lowest-performing schools in each state as targets for concerted turnaround interventions. The findings of this study can inform the development of high quality school turnaround designs and programs in these sites. In addition, this report concludes with suggestions for an ongoing research agenda for contemporaneously studying low-performing schools that are targeted for school turnaround.
Adjusted Hurst exponent evaluations for equity and energy markets

Abstract This study introduced an alternative method in long memory volatility financial time series evaluation using the autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity models. Instead of direct measurement for long memory Hurst exponent parameter, this approach suggested a short memory filtering procedures using the conditional heteroscedastic specification. The stationary time series which is free from short memory is later evaluated using two heuristic long memory estimations. It is found that this method is able to eliminate the possible spurious long memory in the selected equity and energy markets. The findings of this study are important in long memory estimation and market efficiency analysis.
Information Searching in Governmental Bureaucracies: An Integrated Model

Individual information searching has become increasingly a critical aspect of bureaucratic behavior. In this study I attempt to empirically investigate the causality among the factors involved in the bureaucratic information searching process. I test an integrated model of information searching that contains four sets of primary variables: decision makers' environment (i.e., nature of policy issues), organization, individual characteristics, and characteristics of information. Based on the conceptual model, a path model is built and tested against data about knowledge utilization and policy change in two areas of mental health policy—i.e., service provision and financing. The model provides a good fit for the data and demonstrates that decision makers' selection of information sources (e.g., internal or external sources) is directly and indirectly affected by a variety of factors and their linkages, not dominated by one set of factors (e.g., trustworthiness of sources or research methods) defined by a single perspective (e.g., organizational interest or rational actions of decision makers). The most important paths in the model are those between factors associated with information (i.e., types of information and the amount of information obtained) and information searching. These factors also play a role of intermediating mechanisms for linking other variables (e.g., content of information or demographics) to information searching. More importantly, the general pattern of the findings indicates that policy areas make a difference in bureaucratic information searching.
Learning from “Listening” to Peers in Online Political Science Classes

Studies of classroom behavior and learning outcomes have demonstrated that student discussion leads to better learner outcomes. Do these effects, which are based on studies of face-to-face interaction, transfer to the virtual classroom? Existing studies of online postings in asynchronous discussion forums have primarily studied the effects on the authors of the postings. The effect on the recipients—the students reading the postings—has been largely neglected. We set out to fill this gap in our understanding of online discussions by analyzing the effect of reading behavior on course performance. We first perform an in-depth analysis of student discussion behavior in two online courses. We consider the quantity and quality of student postings, as well as the number of postings read by each student. We then test our main findings using a larger dataset of 279 students from eight additional classes, controlling for student grade point average, major, class standing, race, gender, and instructor. Overall, our results suggest that reading is significantly and independently related to course performance. We conclude that discussions have an important place in online classes.
A study of information systems investment evaluation in the Greek banking sector

This article describes the idiosyncrasies towards information systems investment evaluation approaches in the emerging market of Greece. Five case studies are examined from the banking industry, each of them representing a different positioning in the market. The article discusses forms of formal and informal investment evaluation techniques used, relating them with the business and strategic concept of information systems and formulating a matrix that positions the organizations based on the techniques used and market maturity. The research highlights how the differentiation towards the concept of information systems investment evaluation correlates with market maturity and industry goals. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A comprehensive description of the severity groups in Cockayne syndrome

Cockayne syndrome (CS) is a rare degenerative disorder with a common set of symptoms but a very wide variation in phenotype. The variation is sufficiently wide that CS patients have traditionally been described in three different severity groups. Unfortunately, there is no single source for information about the different severity groups. This problem can complicate not only diagnosis, but accurate prognosis as well. The goal of this study was to describe the phenotypic variation in CS as completely as possible. This article provides extensive descriptions of traits common to each group and their degree of severity in each group. Forty‐five people with CS were surveyed and information from the published literature was used to increase the sample sizes for calculations. This study provides new information, including statistical data for each of the three severity groups (mean age at death, average head circumference, and average length or stature). The study includes cerebro‐oculo‐facial syndrome (COFS) as a severe form of CS, based on results of recently published genetic studies performed by other authors. This study proposes revised names for CS severity groups: severe, moderate, and mild. The groups were formerly called Type II/early onset CS, Type I/classical CS, and Type III/atypical/mild/late‐onset CS, respectively. A fourth newly documented group, UV sensitivity only/adult onset, is also described. Average ages of death were calculated as 5.0 years (severe), 16.1 years (moderate), and 30.3 years (mild). © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Financial repression and liability of foreignness in developing countries

Using non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis, this paper suggests that the era of financial repression in developing countries, by providing policy-induced competitive advantages to domestic banks, may create liability of foreignness for foreign banks that impeded their resource utilization. Implementation of financial liberalization programme, which endeavours to create a more market-oriented financial sector, may enable foreign banks to overcome the liability of foreignness and enhance their resource utilization.
Measurement and Decomposition of Consumption Inequality in Pakistan

This paper shows that inequality in consumption expenditure in Pakistan improved slightly between 1992/93 and 2004/05, and that the extent of inequality in food consumption has remained substantially lower than in nonfood consumption. An important result is that household expenditure on education has been more unequally distributed than overall consumption expenditures. In contrast, healthcare expenditure in urban areas has been distributed relatively more evenly in recent years, while the level of inequality in healthcare expenditures in rural areas has remained persistent and somewhat higher.
Environmental and socio-economic sustainability of chinampas (raised beds) in Xochimilco, Mexico City

The chinampas (raised beds) of Xochimilco, Mexico City, are highly productive, traditional wetland agricultural systems, which were able to feed most of the population in pre-hispanic times. There is a strong trend to substitute chinampas with plastic greenhouses for flower production, which creates negative impacts in the landscape, environment and culture. This study compares the environmental and socio-economic sustainability of chinampas and greenhouses, at both the farm and regional levels, using the MESMIS framework. Even though the results show that greenhouses are more profitable, the contribution of chinampas to ecosystem services cannot be substituted by greenhouses, as tree cover is lost, canals are filled and food is not provided. Greenhouses had a higher diversity, but also a higher agrochemical use and are heavily dependent on external inputs and subsidies. Chinampas have shifted from staple crops to commercial horticulture in order to remain a technically viable and economically feasible option for local farmers. However, compensation mechanisms for the provision of ecosystem services are urgently needed if this ancient system is to be maintained. The framework allowed the integration of indicators at both farm and regional scales, combining on-farm surveys with GIS techniques, which could assist in ecosystem service valuation.
Monozygotic twin pairs discordant for Hashimoto's thyroiditis share a high proportion of thyroid peroxidase autoantibodies to the immunodominant region A. Further evidence for genetic transmission of epitopic “fingerprints”

Thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAbs) in patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) predominantly react with two immunodominant regions (IDR-A, IDR-B). Theoretically, as shown for the level of TPOAbs, the autoantibody epitopic recognition of the IDRs could be under genetic control. To examine this, we compared the distribution of TPOAb epitopic fingerprints between healthy monozygotic (MZ) co-twins and siblings to patients with clinically overt HT with a control group of euthyroid subjects, matched for sex and age, but without autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) among their first-degree relatives. Two ELISAs based on competition with rabbit antisera were used to determine the IDR specificities in 23 patients with HT, 6 MZ co-twins, 8 siblings to patients with HT, and 11 healthy euthyroid subjects without predisposition to AITD. The fraction of TPOAbs recognizing IDR-A was 19, 18, and 9% in HT patients, MZ-co-twins, and siblings, respectively, which was higher than the 0% found in the group of healthy subjects without predisposition to AITD (p = 0.007 vs. HT; p = 0.1078 vs. MZ co-twin and p = 0.069 vs. siblings). Moreover, the IDR-A fraction differed between healthy MZ-co-twins and ordinary siblings (18% vs. 9%, p = 0.0127). In conclusion, our data indicate that the propensity to produce autoantibodies directed against the IDR-A epitope of TPO is genetically determined. This finding may have implications with respect to inheritance of autoantibody specificities in other autoimmune diseases.
How Do Agricultural Policy Restrictions on Global Trade and Welfare Differ Across Commodities?

For decades the world's agricultural markets have been highly distorted by national government policies, but very differently for different commodities. Hence a weighted average across countries of nominal rates of assistance or consumer tax equivalents for a product can be misleading as an indicator of the trade or welfare effects of policies affecting that product's global market. This is especially the case when some countries tax and others subsidize its production or consumption. This article develops a new set of more-satisfactory indicators for that purpose, drawing on the recent literature on trade restrictiveness indexes. It then exploits a global agricultural distortions database recently compiled by the World Bank to generate the first set of estimates of those two indicators for each of 28 key agricultural commodities from 1960 to 2004, based on a sample of 75 countries that together account for more than three-quarters of the world's production of those agricultural commodities. These reveal the considerable extent of reforms in agricultural policies of developing as well as high-income countries over the past two decades.
Does Living Alone Confer a Higher Risk of Hospitalisation?

The rise in one-person households is a worldwide trend. This means that informal care is less available, particularly for elderly people, with important implications for health-care utilisation and health expenditure. This paper uses a two-part model to examine the relationship between living alone and hospitalisations in Australia in terms of both the likelihood and the length of hospitalisation. The results show living alone increases the probability of hospitalisation by 2.9 percentage points and length of stay by 3.8 days for people aged 45 and above. Further analysis indicates that these impacts depend on the length of living alone. Additionally, the probability and the length of hospitalisation vary depending on whether the cause of living alone is separation/divorce, widowhood or never having married.
Reputations and Fairness in Bargaining - Experimental Evidence from a Repeated Ultimatum Game With Fixed Opponents

The results of Ultimatum Game experiments are often quoted as evidence for the role of fairness in bargaining or in economic behaviour more generally. This paper argues that the observed fairness levels are contingent on the traditional experimental design where players are newly matched each round, and reputations are therefore excluded. Evidence from a new experiment shows that average behaviour is more competitive and conflict rates are higher when subjects play against the same opponent repeatedly. This finding is not expected by the traditional fairness hypothesis. A detailed analysis of the dynamics of pairs of players shows that different types of players coexist in the subject pool. Whereas previous experiments found evidence for the existence of "fair" players, the present study reports also a significant number of "tough" players. Hence, there is evidence that allowing for reputations in repeated ultimatum bargaining induces different patterns of behaviour that have not been observed before in this game.
Cranioplasty With Adipose-Derived Stem Cells and Biomaterial: A Novel Method for Cranial Reconstruction

BACKGROUND:There is no optimal method for reconstruction of large calvarial defects. Because of the limitations of autologous bone grafts and alloplastic materials, new methods for performing cranioplasties are needed. OBJECTIVE:To create autologous bone to repair cranial defects. METHODS:We performed a cranioplasty procedure with this new method in 4 patients who had large calvarial defects of different etiologies. We used autologous adipose-derived stem cells seeded in beta-tricalcium phosphate granules. For 2 patients, we used a bilaminate technique with resorbable mesh. RESULTS:During follow-up, there were no clinically relevant postoperative complications. The computed tomography scans revealed satisfactory outcome in ossification, and in the clinical examinations, the outcomes were good. The cranioplasty was measured in Hounsfield units from each computed tomography scan. The Hounsfield units increased gradually to equal the value of bone. CONCLUSION:The combination of scaffold material such as beta-tricalcium phosphate and autologous adipose-derived stem cells constitutes a promising model for reconstruction of human large cranial defects. The success of these clinical cases paves way for further studies and clinical applications to turn this method into a reliable treatment regimen.
Deliberately Incomplete Press Censorship Preliminary version-please cite only with author's permission

The level of press freedom in non-democratic states is commonly interpreted as the outcome of a contest between a civil society pushing for greater press freedom and an authoritarian regime struggling to suppress all independent voices. This paper presents a formal model showing that signi cant press freedom may in fact be desirable to an authoritarian central government as a check on di¢ cult-to-control local o¢ cials, and explores how this motivation is balanced against the potentially destabilizing e¤ects of negative media reports. The model helps to explain why the Chinese Communist Party has permitted greater media freedom since the early 1990s despite its continued strength.
Do politics matter? Women in Swedish local elected assemblies 1970–2010 and gender equality in outcomes

A substantial number of studies support the notion that having a high number of women in elected office helps strengthen the position of women in society. However, some of the most cited studies rely on questionnaires asking elected representatives about their attitudes and priorities, thus focusing on the input side of the political system. The closer one gets to outcomes in citizens’ everyday lives, the fewer empirical findings there are to report. In this study, we attempt to explain contemporary variations in gender equality at the sub-national level in Sweden. We use six indicators to capture a broad spectrum of everyday life situations. The overall finding is that having a high number of women elected does affect conditions for women citizens, making them more equal to men in terms of factors such as income levels, full-time vs. part-time employment, and distribution of parental leave between mothers and fathers, even when controlling for party ideology and modernization at the municipal level. No effect was found, however, on factors such as unemployment, poor health, and poverty among women. Thus, the politics of presence theory (Phillips, 1995), which emphasizes the importance of having a high number of women elected, does exert an effect, but the effect needs to be specified. For some dimensions of gender equality, the driving forces of change have more to do with general transformations of society than the equal distribution of women and men in elected assemblies. We thoroughly discuss measurement challenges since there is no accepted or straightforward way of testing the politics of presence theory. We challenge the conventional wisdom of using indexes to capture the network of circumstances that determines the relationship between women and men in society; aggregating several factors undermines the possibility of building fine-tuned understandings of the operative mechanisms.