Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The World Price of Insider Trading

The existence and the enforcement of insider trading laws in stock markets is a phenomenon of the 1990s. A study of the 103 countries that have stock markets reveals that insider trading laws exist in 87 of them, but enforcement-as evidenced by prosecutions-has taken place in only 38 of them. Before 1990, the respective numbers were 34 and 9. We find that the cost of equity in a country, after controlling for a number of other variables, does not change after the introduction of insider trading laws, but decreases significantly after the first prosecution. Copyright The American Finance Association 2002.
Measuring Population Health: A Comparison Of Three Generic Health Status Measures

Objectives. The relative performance of three widely used generic health status measures (EQ-5D, a modified HUI3 [mHUI3], and SF-12) was compared within a general population sample. Materials and methods. Data were taken from a cohort of persons identified from the patient list of a large general practice in York, UK. Two-way comparisons were made between EQ-5D and mHUI3 and EQ-5D and SF-12. The measures were assessed in terms of their practical viability, coverage, and discrimination. Practical viability was evaluated in terms of the extent of missing responses and the proportion indicating difficulty with a measure. Coverage examined the range of responses across the items in the measures. Discrimination examined the capacity of the measures to discriminate between persons according to their self-reported morbidity and socioeconomic status. Results. One thousand one hundred twenty-six persons completed a postal questionnaire containing EQ-5D and either mHUI3 (n = 593) or SF-12 (n = 533). Missing responses were low across all three instruments. SF-12 showed a broad distribution of responses across its items however, responses on the mHUI3 hearing, speech and dexterity dimensions and the EQ-5D self-care dimension were highly skewed, with few persons reporting problems. In terms of summary scores, mHUI3 identified more mild health states than EQ-5D. EQ-5D and mHUI3 showed slightly better discrimination than SF-12. Conclusions. Despite the inherent differences in their descriptive systems and scoring functions, no one instrument performed better or worse than the other with respect to the criteria applied in this study. Some of the issues to be considered when choosing a population health measure are discussed.
Trimodal therapy for invasive bladder cancer: is it really equal to radical cystectomy?

Purpose of review Trimodal therapy (TMT) is considered the most effective bladder-sparing approach for muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (MIBC) and an alternative to radical cystectomy. The purpose of this article was to review and summarize the current knowledge on the equivalence of TMT and radical cystectomy based on the recent literature. Recent findings TMT consists of a maximal transuretral resection of the bladder, followed by a concurrent radiotherapy and chemotherapy, limiting salvage radical cystectomy to nonresponder tumors or muscle-invasive recurrence. In large population studies, less than 6% of the patients with nonmetastatic MIBC receive a chemoradiation therapy and this rate is stable. A growing body of evidence exists that TMT provides good oncologic outcomes with low morbidity when compared with radical cystectomy. TMT requires, however, a close follow-up because of the high risk of local recurrence and salvage radical cystectomy in up to 30% of the patients. Salvage radical cystectomy can be performed with adequate results but does not offer the same opportunity of reconstruction and functional outcomes than primary radical cystectomy. Summary Although radical cystectomy is still the treatment of reference for most of the patients with localized MIBC, TMT represents a reasonable alternative in highly selected patients. Any firm conclusion on the equivalence or superiority of one treatment to the other is still limited by the lack of randomized controlled trials and the heterogeneity of the available literature. Future studies and multidisciplinary approach are mandatory to optimize the patient selection and regimen of TMT.
Fear of the First Strike: The Full Deterrent Effect of California’s Two‐ and Three‐Strikes Legislation

Many states have recently enacted three‐strikes laws to increase punishment for frequent offenders. However, only California actively enforces its three‐strikes legislation. Existing studies of the impact on crime in California consider only partial deterrence: the deterrence of offenders committing their last strike. The only study addressing full deterrence, the deterrence of all potential offenders, examines the impact across all states in a model that does not consider the simultaneity of crime and the passage of three‐strikes laws. I offer a theoretical model that shows that strike laws should deter all offenders and that partial deterrence measurements underestimate the laws’ benefits. Theory‐based empirical results indicate that strike sentences generally deter the crimes covered by the laws. During the first 2 years of the legislation, approximately eight murders, 3,952 aggravated assaults, 10,672 robberies, and 384,488 burglaries were deterred in California; however, larcenies increased by 17,700 during this period.
Vole population cycles in northern and southern Europe: is there a need for different explanations for single pattern?

1. Students of population cycles in small rodents in Fennoscandia have accumulated support for the predation hypothesis, which states that the gradient in cycle length and amplitude running from southern to northern Fennoscandia reflects the relative influence of specialist and generalist predators on vole dynamics, itself modulated by the presence of snow cover. The hypothesized role of snow cover is to isolate linked specialist predators, primarily the least weasel, Mustela n. nivalis L. and their prey, primarily field voles Microtus agrestis L. , from the stabilizing influence of generalist predators. 2. The predation hypothesis does not readily account for the high amplitude and regular 3-year cycles of common voles documented in agricultural areas of western, central and eastern Europe. Such cycles are rarely mentioned in the literature pertaining to Fennoscandian cycles. 3. We consider new data on population cycles and demographic patterns of common voles Microtus arvalis Pallas in south-west France. We show that the patterns are wholly consistent with five of six patterns that characterize rodent cycles in Fennoscandia and that are satisfactorily explained by the predation hypothesis. They include the: (a) existence of cycle; (b) the occurrence of long-term changes in relative abundance and type of dynamics; (c) geographical synchrony over large areas; (d) interspecific synchrony; and (e) voles are large in the increase and peak phase and small in decline and low phase, namely. There is a striking similarity between the patterns shown by common vole populations in south-west France and those from Fennoscandian cyclic rodent populations, although the former are not consistent with a geographical extension of the latitudinal gradient south of Fennoscandia. 4. It is possible that the dominant interaction leading to multiannual rodent oscillations is different in different regions. We argue, however, that advocates of the predation hypothesis should embrace the challenge of developing a widely applicable explanation to population cycles, including justifying any limits to its applicability on ecological and not geographical grounds.
Laminin and collagen IV inclusion in immunoisolating microcapsules reduces cytokine‐mediated cell death in human pancreatic islets

Extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules have several functions in pancreatic islets, including provision of mechanical support and prevention of cytotoxicity during inflammation. During islet isolation, ECM connections are damaged, and are not restored after encapsulation and transplantation. Inclusion of specific combinations of collagen type IV and laminins in immunoisolating capsules can enhance survival of pancreatic islets. Here we investigated whether ECM can also enhance survival and lower susceptibility of human islets to cytokine‐mediated cytotoxicity. To this end, human islets were encapsulated in alginate with collagen IV and either RGD, LRE or PDSGR, i.e. laminin sequences. Islets in capsules without ECM served as control. The encapsulated islets were exposed to IL‐1β, IFN‐γ and TNF‐α for 24 and 72 h. All combinations of ECM improved the islet cell survival, and reduced necrosis and apoptosis after cytokine exposure (P < 0.01). Collagen IV‐RGD and collagen IV‐LRE reduced danger‐associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) release from islets (P < 0.05). Moreover, collagen IV‐RGD and collagen IV‐PDSGR, but not collagen IV‐LRE, reduced NO release from encapsulated human islets (P < 0.05). This reduction correlated with a higher oxygen consumption rate (OCR) of islets in capsules containing collagen IV‐RGD and collagen IV‐PDSGR. Islets in capsules with collagen IV‐LRE showed more dysfunction, and OCR was not different from islets in control capsules without ECM. Our study demonstrates that incorporation of specific ECM molecules such as collagen type IV with the laminin sequences RGD and PDSGR in immunoisolated islets can protect against cytokine toxicity.
A Theoretical Analysis of the Impact of Adopting Rolling Budgets, Activity-Based Budgeting and Beyond Budgeting

Budgeting accomplishes many goals in an organization and evaluating the potential impact of a change is difficult. I investigate the organization-wide effects of three distinct budgeting alternatives (rolling budgets, activity-based budgeting and beyond budgeting) using a model that incorporates three important budgeting functions: forecasting, operational planning and performance evaluation. From the perspective of the whole organization, each budgeting alternative improves profits. I then examine the department preferences for each alternative when each function is under the control of a different department and each department has its own, department-specific performance metric. Forecasting is judged on the variance of the base demand forecast, operational planning on the expected unit capacity costs and performance evaluation on the salesperson's expected action. In my model all departments always favor rolling forecasts, while only one department always favors beyond budgeting (or activity-based budgeting). For beyond budgeting and activity-based budgeting, the preferences of the two other departments vary depending upon the model parameters.
Obstetric outcomes in 102 pregnancies after preimplantation genetic diagnosis.

OBJECTIVE We sought to determine whether preimplantation genetic diagnosis is associated with particular pregnancy or delivery complications. STUDY DESIGN A total of 102 consecutive pregnancies after preimplantation genetic diagnosis by polar body removal performed at Illinois Masonic Medical Center resulting in 114 live births were analyzed. All patients were given a delivery and newborn questionnaire, and attempts were made to contact and question them regarding any pregnancy complications and type of delivery. Permission was obtained to examine medical records and discuss the patient's pregnancy with her obstetrician when questions existed with respect to complications or indication for cesarean delivery. RESULTS Delivery and newborn questionnaires were completed or telephone contact was achieved for 100 of the 102 pregnancies. There were 85 singleton, 9 twin, and 7 triplet pregnancies. Of the 7 triplet gestations, 3 couples elected multifetal pregnancy reduction to twins and healthy triplets were born to 4 couples between 32 and 36 weeks by cesarean delivery. Of the 80 singleton deliveries, 60 (75%) progressed to term. Of these 60 term singleton deliveries, 34 were vaginal, 23 were cesarean (40%), and 3 delivery types were unknown. The incidence of small-for-gestational-age infants was 3% for neonates in the 60 term singleton deliveries and 7% in the entire cohort of 80 singleton deliveries. Only 3 pregnancy complications (other than premature delivery) were reported more than once. There were 3 instances each of gestational diabetes, intrauterine growth restriction, and pregnancy-induced hypertension. There was 1 case each of HELLP (hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelets) syndrome, congestive heart failure, mild oligohydramnios, and abruptio placentae. The indications for cesarean delivery were (in descending order) failure of labor to progress (n = 7), fetal distress (n = 4), placenta previa (n = 4), elective repeat cesarean delivery (n = 4), triplets (n = 3), uterine scarring (n = 3), 1 twin in the breech position (n = 3), failed forceps delivery (n = 2), and a variety of other indications that occurred in only 1 patient each. All preimplantation genetic diagnoses were confirmed by prenatal or postnatal testing. No diagnostic errors were made in this cohort of patients or in any patients undergoing preimplantation genetic diagnosis having polar body removal in our center. CONCLUSIONS Preimplantation genetic diagnosis is associated with a risk of multiple gestations, cesarean delivery, and placenta previa. Cesarean delivery rates and multiple gestation rates are comparable to those of patients undergoing in vitro fertilization in general. The preimplantation genetic diagnosis itself does not seem to cause an increased risk for any particular pregnancy complication, with the possible exception of placenta previa, which was seen in 4% of patients.
Evaluating outcomes from ISO 9000-certified quality systems of Hong Kong constructors

ISO 9000-certified quality systems have increased rapidly in many industries and countries, including Hong Kong. A study was recently launched to identify the motivators, perceived advantages/benefits and disadvantages/drawbacks of implementing ISO 9000-certified quality systems in Hong Kong construction organizations. The experiences of 33 construction contractors indicate that although net benefits are perceived, the main motivator behind the implementation of ISO 9000-certified quality systems is to meet customer prerequisites, such as to qualify for public works tender lists. The principal perceived benefits of ISO 9000-certified quality systems for constructors include more systematic record keeping, improved internal communication and enhanced competitiveness of the company. On the other hand, the principal drawbacks are perceived to be more paperwork, increased time spent in management and higher overall project cost. A high degree of agreement was observed between medium and large constructors on the ranking of the relative strengths of such outcomes. Common strategies may thus be formulated to enhance the net benefits from a constructor's viewpoint.
Dividend Policy and Market Valuation in British Industry

The objectives of the article are: firstly, to identify the principal factors which determine interfirm variation in dividend policy within the UK; and secondly, to examine the effect of dividend policy on company stock-market valuation. This cross-section empirical study is based on a random sample of 60 publiclyquoted British companies, and refers to the year 1970. The Lintner (1956) model is rejected, in that capital requirements and earnings risk are seen to play an important part in determining dividend policy. The ‘dividend neutrality’ hypothesis is strongly rejected once risk and profitability-of-retained-earnings are taken into account.
Osteonecrosis: An emerging complication of intensive chemotherapy for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Osteonecrosis (ON) is a potentially disabling complication of combination chemotherapy including high doses of steroids. The incidence and main risk factors for symptomatic ON have been investigated in a large group of children treated with high-dose steroids, prednisone and dexamethasone for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). DESIGN AND METHODS From May 1995 to December 1999, 1421 patients <18 years old, with newly diagnosed non-B ALL, were registered in the AIEOP-ALL 95 study. Their data were reviewed to identify patients who developed symptomatic ON. For those who were positively identified additional data were requested concerning ON-related symptoms, treatment and outcome. RESULTS Overall, 15 of the 1421 patients developed symptomatic ON (1.1%) in a total of 29 sites. The estimated 5-year cumulative risk for clinically diagnosed ON was 1.6% (SE 0.4). The incidence was significantly higher among females (p=0.01) and older patients, with a peak rate of 7.4% (2.3) among those aged 10 to 17 years (p<0.0001). When the two factors, i.e. age and gender were combined, there was a striking increase in the risk among female patients aged 10 to 17 years. The median time between the diagnosis of ALL and that of ON was 17 months (range 8-45). The hip was the most frequently involved (19/29) site. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS Symptomatic ON occurred in only 1.1% of patients treated with BFM-type, intensive chemotherapy for childhood ALL. Female adolescents appear to be the subset of patients with the highest risk of ON, especially when categorized as having high risk leukemia and thus administered higher cumulative doses of dexamethasone.
A matrix approach to the Gini index decomposition by subgroup and by income source

The literature offers two main ways of decomposing the Gini index: decomposition by population subgroup and by income source. This article proposes merging the two decomposition dimensions by suggesting a matrix formula for the Gini index which permits the simultaneous decomposition by subgroup and by income source. Using this multi‐decomposition, one can investigate the role of the interaction between the subgroup and the source components in determining the overall inequality. We apply the methodology to sample data on Italian household incomes collected in 2008.
Access of the Rural Poor to Primary Healthcare in India

The 11th Five-Year Plan of India emphasises the wider and better coverage of services, such as primary healthcare for the majority of population. For this purpose, various healthcare related programmes have aimed at the vulnerable sections of the society traditionally using social criteria like Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) populations. Although they are found to have marginally worse health outcomes than the national average, they are far better than the one’s for the poor on economic criteria. The present article examines the coverage of basic primary healthcare services among the below the poverty line (BPL) population in rural areas of India and provides direct empirical evidence. Data used for the study was from a primary sample survey of rural BPL households in six states of India. The results of the survey showed that the coverage of primary healthcare services, such as ante-natal care (ANC), institutional deliveries, and immunisation was very low among the BPL population. Moreover, results of a comparison of the SC and ST and non-SC and ST population within the sample of the selected households showed that the former had a relatively poorer coverage compared to the latter. The focus of the programme for improving coverage of primary healthcare services should be on the BPL population. If it is done, it would also result in the improvement of coverage among the SC and ST population. Merely focusing on the SC and ST population will leave the poorest of the poor ignored and unattended.
Occlusion handling and human detection based on Histogram of Oriented Gradients for automatic video surveillance

Human detection in a video surveillance system has vast application areas including suspicious event detection and human activity recognition. In the current environment of our society suspicious event detection is a burning issue. For that reason, this paper proposes a framework for detecting humans in different appearances and poses by generating a human feature vector. Initially, every pixel of a frame is represented as an incorporation of several Gaussians and use a probabilistic method to refurbish the representation. These Gaussian representations are then estimated to classify the background pixels from foreground pixels. Shadow regions are eliminated from foreground by utilizing a Hue-Intensity disparity value between background and current frame. Then morphological operation is used to remove discontinuities in the foreground extracted from the shadow elimination process. Partial occlusion handling is utilized by color correlogram to label objects within a group. After that, the framework generates ROIs by determining which of the foregrounds represent human by considering conditions related to human body. Finally, Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG) feature is extracted from ROI for classification. Various videos containing moving humans are utilized to evaluate the proposed framework and presented outcomes demonstrate the adequacy.
Effects of Swim Training on Energetics and Performance

Abstract The aim of this study was to determine the effect of several months of training on performance and energetic profile of elite swimmers. 9 elite swimmers were evaluated at 3 different time periods during the 2010–2011 calendar. Swimming performance was assessed based on lists of times for the 200 m freestyle event. An incremental set of 7×200 m swims was applied to obtain the energetic data. Measurements and/or estimations were made for the: velocity at 4 mmol l − 1 of lactate concentrations, highest value of lactate concentrations, maximal oxygen consumption, minimum swimming velocity where the maximal oxygen consumption is reached and total energy expenditure (Etot). The performance and most of the energetic variables assessed presented no significant variations during the study period. The only exception was the Etot with significant differences between all measurements. Correlation coefficients suggested a high stability for all variables. Cohen’s Kappa tracking index demonstrated high variability in the individual adaptations to training. It is concluded that elite swimmers demonstrate a slight improvement in performance and energetic profile in response to several months of training. Each subject has an individual way of adapting to the training load, combining the different energetic confounders to enhance performance.
Making Circadian Cancer Therapy Practical

Practical circadian therapy for the cancer patient involves 3 spheres of intervention—improving lifestyle, optimizing internal biochemical milieu, and adjusting treatment times. The potential value of improving overall circadian functioning is shown in the work of Mormont et al in which pronounced rest—activity rhythms were associated with better survival in colorectal cancer patients receiving chronomodulated chemotherapy. Lifestyle interventions that may improve circadian functioning involve diet, physical activity, and mind—body therapies. A diet that is anti-inflammatory and has appropriate carbohydrate intake, as well as regular meal timing, encourages normal circadian cycles. Adequate daytime physical activity encourages restful sleep, and morning light exposure during exercise may entrain melatonin rhythms. Meditation and other mind—body therapies can reduce anxiety and depression that may disrupt sleep. Aspects of the biochemical milieu that specifically disrupt circadian functioning are inflammation and stress hormones. Inflammation and cytokine disruption can be addressed with diet, herbs, and other natural substances. Chronomodulation of chemotherapy in a US clinical setting will be discussed. A series of 12 cases will be presented of patients who experienced grade 3 to 4 toxicities with various chemotherapy regimens for colorectal cancer. When rechallenged with the same regimens administered chronotherapeutically, none of the patients experienced grade 3 to 4 toxicity. Integrating all the above treatment modalities has the potential to improve both the quality of life and disease outcomes in cancer patients.