Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Campaign Externalities, Programmatic Spending, and Voting Preferences in Rural Mexico: The Case of Progresa-Oportunidades-Prospera Programme

This study presents an analysis of the electoral impacts of one of the most prominent conditional cash transfers in the world: Mexico’s Progresa-Oportunidades-Prospera (POP) programme. Using population censuses, and POP’s administrative records and elections data, we exploit the targeting criteria of the programme and its gradual expansion to implement differencein-differences estimators and a regression discontinuity design for past presidential elections (2000, 2006, and 2012). Overall, we find no sizeable electoral effects of POP in favour to the incumbent in the 2000 and 2012 presidential elections, but instead a significant negative effect in the very competitive presidential election of 2006. We provide a theoretical rationalization for this result, which highlights the role of behaviour towards risk near a subsistence threshold and ex-ante expectations among the poor in control localities that were influenced by campaign externalities. We conclude with a discussion on the implications of our results for future theoretical and empirical research.
Towards a European R&D incentive? An assessment of R&D provisions under a common corporate tax base

ABSTRACT A recent proposal for a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) across the European Union (EU) includes provisions in support of business R&D investment. This paper presents the rationale for the inclusion of R&D provisions, quantifies the subsidy implied by alternative options using the user's cost approach and approximates aggregate impacts by means of simple extrapolations from elasticities found in literature. We find that the provisions for immediate expensing of R&D included in the 2011 proposal would be less generous than what national schemes currently offer. We present alternative allowances that would serve to either maintain present levels or increase business R&D expenditure and we cost them in terms of foregone CIT revenue. In view of the pressing current need for a boost in business investment and the EU's R&D investment targets for the year 2020, we argue that the level of support should be ambitious. Importantly, to take full advantage of the opportunities afforded by this tax reform, EU member states will have to engage in complementary interventions in their national innovation systems. We conclude with a broad consideration of what these may be for the varied and variably developed business innovation capabilities found across the EU.
Trends in oral cancer mortality in Japan: 1950-1993.

OBJECTIVES To investigate trends in mortality rates of oral cancer patients in Japan between 1950 and 1993 by sex, age and cancer site, and compare the results with previous studies to determine whether there are any common characteristics of oral cancer patterns between Japan and European countries. MATERIAL AND METHODS The mortality data obtained from the Japanese Vital Statistics were analyzed using the 5-year moving average method, and the mortality rates were adjusted to the 1990 world population by age and sex. Age-specific mortality rates were analyzed by birth cohort. RESULTS The age-standardized mortality rates among the males increased from 1.14 per 100,000 person--years in 1952 to 1.84 in 1991, whereas the corresponding rate among females changed little over the same period. Cancer of the tongue was the most common cause of death in Japan among the five studied oral regions: lip, tongue, floor of the mouth, major salivary glands and oropharynx, males aged under 54 born in 1920 or later were found to have an increased risk of such disease. CONCLUSION Further epidemiological investigations are necessary to clarify the etiology of oral cancer in Japan.
The role of autoantibodies to zinc transporter 8 in prediction of type 1 diabetes in relatives: lessons from the European Nicotinamide Diabetes Intervention Trial (ENDIT) cohort.

CONTEXT Antibodies to islet autoantigens are detectable many years before clinical onset of type 1 diabetes and can be used to identify individuals at increased risk of diabetes. Zinc transporter 8 is a recently identified islet autoantigen. OBJECTIVE Our aim was to determine whether addition of zinc transporter 8 autoantibodies (ZnT8A) improved prediction of type 1 diabetes in a well-characterized cohort of islet cell antibody (ICA)-positive first-degree relatives. We were particularly interested in the role of ZnT8A in prediction in antibody-positive relatives with intermediate and low overall risk of diabetes. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS ZnT8A were assayed in baseline samples from 526 ICA-positive first-degree relatives randomized in the European Nicotinamide Diabetes Intervention Trial. Antibodies to insulin, glutamate decarboxylase, islet antigen-2 (IA-2A) and IA-2β (IA-2βA), and human leukocyte antigen type had been previously determined. Risk of diabetes was assessed by survival analysis. RESULTS Of 221 ZnT8A-positive individuals, 113 developed diabetes during follow-up (5-yr cumulative risk, 55%). In multivariate models based on other autoantibodies, ZnT8A improved prediction in relatives at low genetic risk of diabetes (P = 0.030) and over age 20 yr (P = 0.026), but not in those with ICA alone or with one additional autoantibody (P = 0.696), IA-2A-negative relatives (P = 0.361), those at high or intermediate genetic risk, or younger relatives. CONCLUSIONS ZnT8A are useful additional risk markers in relatives at low genetic risk of diabetes and older individuals, but they add relatively little in younger populations because of the precise prediction possible with current autoantibody combinations.
Phacoemulsification Versus Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery in Patients With Fuchs Heterochromic Iridocyclitis

PurposeTo compare the safety and efficacy of phacoemulsification and manual small incision cataract surgery (SICS) to treat cataract in patients with Fuchs heterochromic iridocyclitis (FHI). DesignA randomized, double-masked, prospective, multicenter study. MethodsConsecutive patients with cataract after FHI were randomly assigned to have phacoemulsification or manual SICS by 1 of 2 surgeons experienced in both techniques. Complications (intraoperatively and postoperatively), operative time, visual acuities, endothelial cell counts, and surgically induced astigmatism were compared. ResultsAt 6 months, 65 (92.8%) patients in the phacoemulsification group and 70 (92.1%) in the manual SICS group had a corrected distance visual acuity of 20/63 or better (P = 0.974). Surgical time was significantly shorter in the SICS group (11.2 ± 2.4 minutes) than in the phacoemulsification group (14.2 ± 3.1 minutes) (P < 0.001). The mean surgically induced astigmatism was 0.8 ± 0.2 diopters (D) in the phacoemulsification group and 1.16 ± 0.2 D in the SICS group (P < 0.001). Endothelial cell counts at 1 week and at 6 months did not differ significantly in the phacoemulsification and SICS groups (t test; P = 0.133 and P = 0.032, respectively). Intraoperatively, 2 (3%) eyes randomized to receive phacoemulsification and 4 (5.3%) eyes randomized to receive SICS had posterior capsular rent (P = 0.465). ConclusionsBoth techniques achieved good visual outcomes with low rates of complications. Manual SICS may be a viable alternative for cataract management in patients with FHI in settings with limited access to phacoemulsification.
Patient change processes in psychotherapy: Development of a new scale

Abstract There is considerable interest in understanding and augmenting the process of change in psychotherapy. In this study qualitative and quantitative analyses were used to examine patient processes associated with change in recorded psychotherapy sessions from the Christchurch Psychotherapy for Depression Study. The sample consisted of 177 outpatients with a primary diagnosis of major depressive disorder randomized to receive weekly therapy sessions of Cognitive Behavior Therapy or Interpersonal Psychotherapy. Qualitative analyses identified four main themes associated with patient change. From these themes a 10-item rating scale, the Patient Psychotherapy Process Scale (PPPS), was developed. Analyses indicated the PPPS is a reliable and valid measure of important patient change processes, with higher scores associated with a better response to psychotherapy.
Cytokine activation of murine macrophages for in vitro killing of Entamoeba histolytica trophozoites

Macrophage-mediated effector mechanisms against the protozoan parasite Entamoeba histolytica were studied. Unstimulated macrophages were inefficient at killing E. histolytica trophozoites in vitro and were killed by the trophozoites. Conversely, immature cells of the mononuclear phagocyte lineage (promonocytes) were shown to display a strong spontaneous amebicidal activity. The acquisition of macrophage amebicidal activity following cytokine treatment was investigated. Gamma interferon, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and macrophage colony-stimulating factor 1, or combinations thereof, were shown to endow murine bone marrow-derived macrophages with significant amebicidal activity. Low doses of gamma interferon and tumor necrosis factor alpha and of gamma interferon and colony-stimulating factor 1 were shown to act synergistically in this phenomenon. This enhancement of amebicidal activity was shown to operate on bone marrow-derived macrophages, elicited peritoneal macrophages, and, to a much lesser extent, spleen macrophages. Although acquisition of amebicidal activity was associated with a strong respiratory burst, the addition of oxygen-free radical scavengers showed that the killing activity was approximately 45% H2O2 dependent. In addition, amebicidal activity by macrophages was shown to be contact dependent and was inhibited by 61% with the protease inhibitor tosyl lysyl chloromethyl ketone. Our results indicate that immunologic production of gamma interferon, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and colony-stimulating factor 1 could be important in the activation of macrophages for host defense against amebiasis and that promonocytes are strong effector cells against virulent amebae.
Valuating Friends' Privacy: Does Anonymity of Sharing Personal Data Matter?

Through their third-party app installation decisions, users are frequently triggering interdependent privacy consequences by sharing personal information of their friends who are unable to control these information flows. With our study, we aim to quantify the value which app users attribute to their friends’ information (i.e., value of interdependent privacy) and to understand how this valuation is affected by two factors: sharing anonymity (i.e., whether disclosure of friends’ information is anonymous), and context relevance (i.e., whether friends’ information is necessary for apps’ functionality). Specifically, we conduct a between-subject, choicebased conjoint analysis study with 4 treatment conditions (2 sharing anonymity × 2 context relevance). Our study confirms the important roles that sharing anonymity and context relevance play in the process of interdependent privacy valuation. In addition, we also investigate how other factors, e.g., individuals’ personal attributes and experiences, affect interdependent privacy valuations by applying structural equation modeling analysis. Our research findings yield design implications as well as contribute to policy discussions to better account for the problem of interdependent privacy.
Dehydrosteroid measurements in maternal urine or serum for the prenatal diagnosis of Smith–Lemli–Opitz syndrome (SLOS)

In a large multi‐center trial involving prenatal screening for Smith–Lemli–Opitz syndrome (SLOS), we evaluated maternal urine and serum steroid analysis as a non‐invasive diagnostic alternative to amniotic fluid sterol analysis. Candidate steroid ratios included: 7‐dehydropregnanetriol/pregnanetriol (7‐PT/PT), 8‐dehydropregnanetriol/PT (8‐PT/PT), the sum of these two (7 + 8‐PT/PT), and dehydroestriol/estriol (DHE3/E3). Results are presented from 19 SLOS pregnancies, and 732 reference pregnancies that were screen positive for SLOS but negative on testing in amniotic fluid. Steroid ratios are expressed as multiples of the 75th centile (MoS), rather than multiples of the median, as most reference measurements were undetectable. All four urine ratios were available in 12 SLOS pregnancies; the median 7‐PT/PT MoS was 94, with no overlap between affected and reference pregnancies in the second trimester. The separation between these groups increased by 27% per week. The other three ratios performed similarly in urine, with (7 + 8)‐PT/PT ratios being marginally superior, due to fewer high reference outliers. All four steroid ratios in urine were diagnostic for SLOS between 14 and 22 weeks' gestation. In six SLOS pregnancies in which all serum analytes were measured, the median 7‐PT/PT MoS was 71, and there was slight overlap in the second trimester. The separation increased by 28% per week. Steroid ratios in serum were less definitive than in urine but might be useful in certain circumstances, at 14 weeks gestation or later. Urine testing performance prior to 14 weeks gestation appears promising, but reference data are sparse. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Transnational Saudi Arabian Youth and Facebook: Enacting Privacy and Identity

Transnational Saudi Arabian Youth and Facebook: Enacting Privacy and Identity Norah Abdulwahab Abokhodair Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Assistant Professor, David Hendry Information School Theories of privacy and identity in relationship to the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) have been a topic of research for decades. However, little attention has been paid to the perception of privacy and identity from the perspective of Muslim Arab technology users. Privacy and identity in the context of the Arab world is highly influenced by the Islamic religion and the deeply rooted Bedouin cultural traditions. I examined the use of social media, specifically, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, by 34 transnational Saudi Arabian young adults (ages 18-35). The aim was to understand how they conceptualize and enact privacy and selfpresentation as transnationals, that is, during back-and-forth movement from Saudi Arabia to the United States. Specifically, I employed a qualitative cross-sectional approach from three different points in their transnational experience: before coming to the US, during their time in the US and after their return to Saudi Arabia upon graduation. Resisting the culturally hegemonic form of privacy, this study provided culturally-inclusive and expansive design insights from an understudied user group to address some of the questionable privacy models in current social media design. I also provided empirical data that revealed new findings regarding Saudis’ sense
The effect of daylength and level of feeding on serum prolactin in growing lambs.

Twenty-four castrated male lambs initially maintained on a photoperiod of 12 h light:12 h dark were allocated to a factorial experiment with two daylengths (8 h L: 16 h D or 16 h L: 8 h D) and two levels of feeding (restricted or ad libitum). Blood samples were taken every 4 h for 24 h during the introductory period and after 24, 51 and 79 days of treatment. There were highly significant positive effects of daylength and level of feeding on serum prolactin: mean concentrations increased from a mean of 38 plus or minus 1 ng/ml during the introductory period until at day 79 they were: 8L: 16D (restricted diet), 81 ng/ml; (food ad libitum), 167 ng/ml; 16L:8D (restricted diet), 262 ng/ml; (food ad libitum), 262 ng/ml (S.E. of treatment mean plus or minus 4). Long daylength and feeding ad libitum also significantly increased growth rate.
Ultradian clocks in eukaryotic microbes: from behavioural observation to functional genomics.

Period homeostasis is the defining characteristic of a biological clock. Strict period homeostasis is found for the ultradian clocks of eukaryotic microbes. In addition to being temperature-compensated, the period of these rhythms is unaffected by differences in nutrient composition or changes in other environmental variables. The best-studied examples of ultradian clocks are those of the ciliates Paramecium tetraurelia and Tetrahymena sp. and of the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe. In these single cell eukaryotes, up to seven different parameters display ultradian rhythmicity with the same, species- and strain-specific period. In fission yeast, the molecular genetic analysis of ultradian clock mechanisms has begun with the systematic analysis of mutants in identified candidate genes. More than 40 "clock mutants" have already been identified, most of them affected in components of major regulatory and signalling pathways. These results indicate a high degree of complexity for a eukaryotic clock mechanism. BioEssays 22:16-22, 2000.
Time course of NT‐proBNP levels after acute ischemic stroke

Studies suggest that N‐terminal‐pro‐brain natriuretic peptide (NT‐proBNP) can be a biomarker of cardioembolic stroke. However, the best time to measure it after stroke is unknown. We studied the time course of NT‐proBNP in patients with ischemic stroke.
Development of a new pneumatic-driven earthworm-like soft robot

This paper presents the design and fabrication of a new pneumatic-driven soft robot which can imitate the crawling locomotion of an earthworm. The soft robot is consist of two soft actuators and three unidirectional crawling foots, all of which are fabricated by casting two-component RTV (room temperature vulcanized) silicone rubber in a three-dimensional (3-D) printed customized mold. The gait of the soft robot based on the simplified model of the earthworm's motion is designed. The soft actuator is composed of a cylindrical main body with a cylindrical chambers embedded in and a spring wrapping around the body. Since the spring limits the expansion in radial direction, the deformation of the soft actuator happens only in the axial direction by compressed air. The soft robot crawls faster and efficiently with the help of unidirectional crawling foots. The experiment shows that the soft robot can move forward continuously on condition of actuators expanding and contracting in a regular pattern.
Naive Attributors' Attributions and Predictions: What Is Informative and When Is an Effect an Effect?

Wells and Harvey (1977) critically evaluated past research that suggested people do not use consensus information when making predictions and causal attributions. Borgida (1978) takes issue with a subset of Wells and Harvey's conclusions. Below, we address the issues raised by Borgida. In particular, it is argued that (a) Borgida incorrectly states the position of Wells and Harvey concerning the issue of ignoring versus underutilizing consensus information; (b) Borgida incompletely summarizes Wells and Harvey's attribution data; (c) Kahneman and Tversky (1973) statistically controlled for target description informativeness, while Nisbett and Borgida (197S) used no control for target description informativeness; (d) Kahneman and Tversky's presentation of data in their lawyerengineer study tended to underrepresen t the majority of their subjects' data; and (e) a replication of Kahneman and Tversky's lawyer-engineer study, using a more appropriate
Revisiting the structure of mental disorders: borderline personality disorder and the internalizing/externalizing spectra.

OBJECTIVE Researchers have turned to dimensional models of psychopathology as a means of explaining robust patterns of comorbidity. A hierarchical model consisting of internalizing and externalizing dimensions has been a useful approach to understanding comorbidity among some mental disorders, although a limited number of disorders have been examined within this framework. The objective of the present study is to determine how borderline personality disorder fits into this framework. DESIGN AND METHODS Dimensional measures of nine psychiatric disorders were used in a confirmatory factors analysis to compare five models of comorbidity in 1,197 members (N=541 women) of a population-based sample. Symptom composites were derived from the Michigan Composite International Diagnostic Interview and the International Personality Disorders Examination Questionnaire. RESULTS Five models were fit to dimensional indicators of nine disorders. A model in which borderline personality disorder served as a multidimensional indicator of the externalizing factor and the anxious-misery subfactor of internalizing disorders provided the best fit to the data in the whole sample and in men. For women, this model also fit well but an alternative model in which borderline personality disorder served only as an indicator of the anxious-misery subfactor of internalizing disorders fit equally well. CONCLUSIONS The present study demonstrates the utility of the internalizing/externalizing framework for characterizing personality disorders as well as Axis I disorders. Future work should explore how other personality disorders fit into this framework.
Ethnicity and end-of-life care: the use of feeding tubes.

BACKGROUND Blacks utilize many health care services at lower rates than do Whites. However, in end-of-life care, the situation is frequently reversed, with Blacks using life-sustaining interventions at higher rates than do Whites. We investigated the use of feeding tubes in very severely cognitively impaired nursing-home residents, and examined the findings in light of previous studies on the role of ethnicity in end-of-life decision making. DESIGN AND METHODS We performed a descriptive, cross-sectional population-based study of residents in Kansas nursing homes from January 1994 through June 1998, using Minimum Data Set reports. A total of 4,920 nursing home residents (4,691 White and 229 Black) with very severe and irreversible cognitive impairment comprised the study population. Factors associated with tube use were examined using bivariate and logistic regression tests. RESULTS Feeding tube use was strongly associated with swallowing difficulties, Black race, urban location of nursing home, stroke, and absence of dementia in multivariate analysis. Feeding tubes were used in 10.1% of White subjects and in 38.9% of Black subjects for an overall rate of 11.5%. Feeding tube use was greater (P<.001) among Black subjects in all demographic and clinical sub-populations examined. CONCLUSIONS Feeding tube use is significantly more common in Blacks than in Whites. These findings are consistent with published studies of Black-White differences in preferences for medical treatment at the end of life. Future research efforts should examine end-of-life decision making processes directly. Qualitative methods may be useful in generating new hypotheses regarding the role of ethnicity in these decisions.
Prediction of functional residues in water channels and related proteins

In this paper, we present an updated classification of the ubiquitous MIP (Major Intrinsic Protein) family proteins, including 153 fully or partially sequenced members available in public databases. Presently, about 30 of these proteins have been functionally characterized, exhibiting essentially two distinct types of channel properties: (1) specific water transport by the aquaporins, and (2) small neutral solutes transport, such as glycerol by the glycerol facilitators. Sequence alignments were used to predict amino acids and motifs discriminant in channel specificity. The protein sequences were also analyzed using statistical tools (comparisons of means and correspondence analysis). Five key positions were clearly identified where the residues are specific for each functional subgroup and exhibit high dissimilar physico‐chemical properties. Moreover, we have found that the putative channels for small neutral solutes clearly differ from the aquaporins by the amino acid content and the length of predicted loop regions, suggesting a substrate filter function for these loops. From these results, we propose a signature pattern for water transport.