Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Political Uncertainty Exposure of Individual Companies: The Case of the Brexit Referendum

Abstract This paper studies cross-sectional determinants of the exposure of U.K. firms to Brexit, an event which resulted in an unprecedented rise in political uncertainty. We find that internationalization has a moderating effect on Brexit exposure which goes beyond the pure currency translation effect and is consistent with international activities acting as a diversification mechanism for domestic risks. We also provide some indicative evidence that high-growth firms are more affected by Brexit. At the industry level, we show that Financials and firms in the consumer-facing sectors have the highest exposure to Brexit-related uncertainty. Knowledge of the variation in exposure of individual firms and sectors to political uncertainty associated with major political events can assist managers, investors and policymakers in taking remedial actions to limit its impact.
Measuring Income Polarization for Twenty European Countries, 2004–13: A Shapley Growth-Redistribution Decomposition

Income polarization adds to the literature on income distribution by providing information on the poles of the distribution of income, but little is known about this issue in Europe. This article explores income polarization and its determinants for twenty European countries over the period 2004–13 based on EU-SILC microdata and Shapley decomposition. The results suggest that income polarization is rather low in Europe; it rose in West-EU15 countries during 2004–08, but declined afterwards. The opposite development is witnessed for Central and Eastern European new member states. Moreover, in most cases, market income induced higher polarization, while tax-benefit systems were polarization-reducing.
A Survey of Traditional and MapReduceBased Spatial Query Processing Approaches

Various indexing methods of spatial data have come out after rigorous efforts put by many researchers for fast processing of spatial queries. Parallelizing spatial index building and query processing have become very popular for improving efficiency. The MapReduce framework provides a modern way of parallel processing. A MapReduce-based works for spatial queries consider the existing traditional spatial indexing for building spatial indexes in parallel. The majority of the spatial indexes implemented in MapReduce use R-Tree and its variants. Therefore, R-Tree and its variantbased traditional spatial indexes are thoroughly surveyed in the paper. The objective is to search for still less explored spatial indexing approaches, having the potential for parallelism in MapReduce. The review work also provides a detailed survey of MapReduce-based spatial query processing approaches - hierarchical indexed and packed key-value storage based spatial dataset. Both approaches use different data partitioning strategies for distributing data among cluster nodes and managing the partitioned dataset through different indexing. Finally, a number of parameters are selected for comparison and analysis of all the existing approaches in the literature.
3D interconnection by FIB assisted Pt deposition and electroless nickel deposition on the sides and edges of an I-Seed

This paper reports on the development of a 3D interconnection process leading to the successful assembly of a five-layer 3-D 1 mm cube module. This proof of concept module demonstrates the capability for successful integration and interconnection of commercial off the shelf components to fabricate functional modules in 1 mm cube dimensions. It also demonstrates that use of established volume scale technologies like flip-chip dicing and patterning techniques are viable for fabricating these 1 mm modules. The demonstrator consists of LED's bonded to the six sides of the 1 mm cube, interconnected and powered up. The work particularly report on two different processes to fabricate the interconnection pattern using direct focused ion beam (FIB) assisted Pt deposition and electroless metal deposition, which again patterned by FIB. Uniform thickness of the deposit and excellent coverage on all six sides is achieved by electroless nickel deposition. Voltage current characterisation of the deposited Pt shows a resistivity value of 1864 plusmn 100 muOmega cm, whereas electroless Ni film shows a resistivity of 25 muOmega cm due to boron inclusion. 100 nm Au layer is deposited by chemical displacement reaction to enhance the conductivity and solderability of the film
Maternal Asthma and Transient Tachypnea of the Newborn

Objective. To examine the relationship between transient tachypnea of the newborn and asthma complicating pregnancy. Design. Historical cohort analysis. Setting. Singleton live deliveries in New Jersey hospitals during 1989 to 1992 (n = 447 963). Patients. Mother-infant dyads were identified from linked birth certificate and maternal and infant hospital claims data. Women with an International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) diagnosis code (493) for asthma (n = 2289) were compared with a four-fold larger randomly selected control sample (n = 9156) from the remaining pool of women. Main Outcome Measure. Transient tachypnea of the newborn. Results. In the overall sample, after controlling for the confounding effects of important variables, infants of asthmatic mothers were more likely [odds ratio (OR), 1.79; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.35–2.37] than infants of control mothers to exhibit transient tachypnea of the newborn. A stratified analysis by gestational age and sex revealed larger and statistically significant associations in term infants (OR, 2.02; 95% CI, 1.42–2.87) as opposed to preterm infants (OR, 1.51; 95% CI, 0.94–2.43) and in male infants (OR, 1.91; 95% CI, 1.35–2.71) as opposed to female infants (OR, 1.51; 95% CI, 0.92–2.47). On the other hand, after adjusting for important confounding variables, respiratory distress syndrome and maternal asthma were not found to be associated (OR, 1.14; 95% CI, 0.79–1.64). Conclusion. The results of this study provide evidence that maternal asthma is a risk factor for transient tachypnea of the newborn and differences in gestational age and sex were apparent in this association. The mechanism for this association remains to be determined.
Role of buprenorphine in prolonging the duration of post-operative analgesia in percutaneous nephrolithotomy: Comparison between bupivacaine versus bupivacaine and buprenorphine combination

Introduction: Percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) is the treatment of choice for large renal calculi. Pain around the nephrostomy tube is a clinical problem and we have previously reported alleviation of pain by peritubal block with bupivacaine, which lasted for 14 hours. The present study aimed to investigate the role of buprenorphine and bupivacaine combination in prolonging the duration of analgesia in peritubal block. Materials and Methods: A prospective, randomized controlled study was undertaken in 40 American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) grade I and II patients who were scheduled for PCNL. Group I patients received 20 mL of 0.25% bupivacaine and group II patients received 20 mL of 0.25% bupivacaine with 100 μg of buprenorphine. Peritubal infiltration was given under fluoroscopic guidance along the nephrostomy tube from the renal capsule to the skin. Post-operative pain was assessed by Visual Analog Score (VAS), dynamic VAS (DVAS), sedation score, duration of analgesia and number of rescue analgesic demands. Rescue analgesia was inj tramadol 1 mg/kg IV if pain score exceeded 3. Results: Demographic data were comparable between the groups. Median duration of analgesia was 16 h in group I and 20 h in group II (P = 0.002). The maximum median VAS was 4 in group I and 2 in group II (P = 0.002). The median area under curve (AUC) for VAS was 7 and 5 in groups I and II, respectively (P = 0.047). The median maximum DVAS in group I was 6 and 4 in group II. The median AUC for DVAS in 24 h was 16 in group I and 15 in group II (P = 0.017). Conclusions: Peritubal infiltration of 0.25% bupivacaine with 100 μg buprenorphine around a nephrostomy tube increased the duration of analgesia following PCNL without any side-effects.
Reviewing the Challenges of Implementing Formative Assessment in Asia: The Need for a Professional Development Program

This paper aims to review research on the challenges of implementing formative assessment in Asian classrooms. Multiple electronic databases were used to search for relevant articles and twenty-one studies were selected. The challenges faced while conducting formative assessments were analyzed and categorized into three levels (micro-, meso- and macro- level) based on Kozma’s model, which examines contextual factors influencing teachers’ classroom instructional practice as well as inherent disadvantages of formative assessment, namely, being time-consuming and demanding a heavy workload. The findings showed that the majority of challenges were on the micro and macro-levels, and were basic formative assessment disadvantages. Significantly, 80 percent of the studies reviewed reported inadequate knowledge of formative assessment among teachers at the micro-level. This is a vital issue for future research on formative assessment in Asian countries and highlights the need to draw more attention to training teachers through effective professional development programs. Future studies in this area should focus on practical formative assessment activities to reconcile formative assessment theories within the Asian culture and conditions.
The Efficacy of Hemodynamic and T wave Criteria for Detecting Intravascular Injection of Epinephrine Test Doses in Anesthetized Adults: A Dose-Response Study

Recent studies have shown that an epidural test dose containing 15 &mgr;g of epinephrine has a sensitivity and specificity of 100% for detecting intravascular injection based on the systolic blood pressure (SBP) (positive if ≥15-mm Hg increase) and the T wave criteria (positive if ≥0.1 mV and 25% decrease in amplitude), whereas the modified heart rate (HR) criterion (positive if ≥10-bpm increase) produced uncertain results in sevoflurane-anesthetized adults. Because a fractional dose of the test dose may be injected intravascularly in actual clinical situations, we designed this study to determine, in a dose-related manner, the efficacy and minimum effective dose of epinephrine based on those hemodynamic and the T wave criteria. Eighty healthy adult patients were randomly assigned to one of four groups according to a simulated IV test dose under 2% end-tidal sevoflurane and nitrous oxide anesthesia after endotracheal intubation (n = 20 each). The saline group received 3 mL of normal saline IV; the epinephrine-15 group received 3 mL of 1.5% lidocaine containing 15 &mgr;g of epinephrine (1); and the epinephrine-10 and -5 groups received 2 and 1 mL of the test dose of the identical components, respectively. HR, SBP, and lead II of the electrocardiograph were recorded continuously for 5 min after the IV injection of the study drug. Sensitivities and specificities of 100% were obtained based on the HR and the SBP criteria only if 15 &mgr;g of epinephrine was injected IV, whereas sensitivities and specificities of 100% were obtained based on both T wave criteria after 15 and 10 &mgr;g of epinephrine was injected IV. Two blinded observers were able to detect all T wave changes in patients who received 15, 10, and 5 &mgr;g of epinephrine IV, resulting in 100% efficacy (P < 0.05 versus HR and SBP criteria). We conclude that minimum effective epinephrine doses for detecting accidental intravascular injection are 15 &mgr;g on the HR and the SBP criteria, and 10 &mgr;g on both T wave criteria, and that observing T wave changes may detect even smaller (5 &mgr;g) doses of epinephrine injected IV in adult patients anesthetized with sevoflurane and nitrous oxide. Implications To determine whether an epidural catheter is in a blood vessel, an epidural test dose containing 15 &mgr;g of epinephrine is used. We found that a decrease in T wave amplitude appears to be more sensitive than heart rate and systolic blood pressure change for detecting accidental intravascular injection of a small dose of epinephrine-containing test dose in sevoflurane-anesthetized patients.
State-of-Charge Balance Using Adaptive Droop Control for Distributed Energy Storage Systems in DC Microgrid Applications

This paper presents the coordinated control of distributed energy storage systems in dc microgrids. In order to balance the state-of-charge (SoC) of each energy storage unit (ESU), an SoC-based adaptive droop control method is proposed. In this decentralized control method, the droop coefficient is inversely proportional to the nth order of SoC. By using a SoC-based droop method, the ESUs with higher SoC deliver more power, whereas the ones with lower SoC deliver less power. Therefore, the energy stored in the ESU with higher SoC decreases faster than that with lower SoC. The SoC difference between each ESU gradually becomes smaller, and finally, the load power is equally shared between the distributed ESUs. Meanwhile, the load sharing speed can be adjusted by changing the exponent of SoC in the adaptive droop control. The model of the SoC-based adaptive droop control system is established, and the system stability is thereby analyzed by using this model. Simulation and experimental results from a 2 × 2.2 kW parallel converter system are presented in order to validate the proposed approach.
Pancreatitis-Associated Protein I Suppresses NF-κB Activation through a JAK/STAT-Mediated Mechanism in Epithelial Cells1

Pancreatitis-associated protein I (PAP I), also known as HIP, p23, or Reg2 protein, has recently been implicated in the endogenous regulation of inflammation. Although it was initially characterized as a protein that is overexpressed in acute pancreatitis, PAP I has also been associated with a number of inflammatory diseases, such as Crohn’s disease. Knowing that PAP I and IL-10 responses share several features, we have used a pancreatic acinar cell line (AR42J) to assess the extent to which their expression is reciprocally regulated, and whether the JAK/STAT and NF-κB signaling pathways are involved in the suppression of inflammation mediated by PAP I. We observed that PAP I is induced in epithelial cells by IL-10 and by PAP I itself. In contrast, we found phosphorylation and nuclear translocation of STAT3 and induction of suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 in response to PAP I exposure. Finally, a JAK-specific inhibitor, tyrphostin AG490, markedly prevented PAP I-induced NF-κB inhibition, pointing to a cross-talk between JAK/STAT3 and NF-κB signaling pathways. Together, these findings indicate that PAP I inhibits the inflammatory response by blocking NF-κB activation through a STAT3-dependent mechanism. Important functional similarities to the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 suggest that PAP I could play a role similar to that of IL-10 in epithelial cells.
Contesting almsgiving in post-New Order Indonesia

This article explores the origin and development of the ideas and practice of zakat (Islamic tax) on salary and identifies how it affects the nature of zakat practice in contemporary Indonesia. The recent trend suggests that Indonesian Muslims are attempting to translate and reinterpret the Islamic concept of social justice by utilizing zakat on salary (zakat profesi) as a discursive center. Despite the fact that this has been the subject of heated debate among Muslim scholars since the 1980s, the Indonesian state has attempted to make its payment mandatory by enacting zakat regulations at both the provincial and district levels. This new phenomenon is stimulating new debates among the country’s Islamic scholars over the legality, from a jurisprudential aspect, of imposing zakat regulations on civil servants. Some believe that zakat practice has been precisely prescribed in the Qur’an and Sunnah and thus such an “innovation” is not necessary; others consider zakat to belong to that part of the Islamic ethical and economic system that is open to reinterpretation and innovation. Disagreement among Islamic scholars, competition between civil society organizations and state agencies, and tension between the government (political authorities) as a policymaker and people at the grassroots level are indications of how almsgiving is contested in democratic Indonesia.
Distribution of testicular tumors in Lebanon: a single institution overview.

BACKGROUND Testicular tumors constitute a rare type of cancer affecting adolescents and young adults with recent reports confirming an increase in incidence worldwide. The purpose of this study was to estimate the epidemiological characteristics and histological subtypes of testicular tumors in the Lebanese population according to the WHO classification of testicular and paratesticular tumors. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this single institutional retrospective study, all patients diagnosed with a testicular tumor in Hotel-Dieu de France Hospital University in Beirut between 1992 and 2014 were enrolled. The age, subtype based on the 2004 WHO classification and body side of tumor were analyzed. RESULTS A total of two hundred and forty-four (244) patients diagnosed with a testicular tumor in our institution were included in the study. Two hundred and one patients (82.4% of all testicular tumors) had germ cell tumors (TGCT). Among TGCT, 50% were seminomatous tumors, 48% non-seminomatous tumors (NST) and 2% were spermatocytic seminomas. The NST were further divided into mixed germ cell tumors (63.9%), embryonic carcinomas (18.6%), teratomas (15.4%) and yolk sac tumors (2.1%). The mean age for testicular tumors was 32 years. The mean age for germ cell tumors was 31 years and further subtypes such as seminomatous tumors had a mean age of 34 years, 28 years in non-seminomatous tumors and 56 years in spermatocytic seminoma. Patients with right testicular tumor were the predominant group with 55% of patients. Three patients (1.2%) presented with bilateral tumors. CONCLUSIONS The distribution of different subgroups and the mean age for testicular tumors proved comparable to most countries of the world except for some Asian countries. Germ cell tumors are the most common subtype of testicular tumors with seminomatous tumors being slightly more prevalent than non-seminomatous tumors in Lebanese patients.
Dead But Not Gone: Contemporary Legacies of Communism, Imperialism, and Authoritarianism

A profusion of recent research has focused on historical legacies as key to understanding contemporary outcomes. We review this body of research, analyzing both the comparative-historical analysis (CHA) and modern political economy (MPE) research traditions as applied to the study of communism, imperialism, and authoritarianism. We restrict our focus to the sizeable subset of arguments that meets a relatively strict definition of legacies, i.e., arguments that locate the roots of present-day outcomes in causal factors operative during an extinct political order. For all their differences, the CHA and MPE approaches both face the challenges of convincingly identifying the sources of historical persistence and of reckoning with alternative channels of causation. We find that mechanisms of persistence in legacy research generally belong to one of three main categories. While both traditions acknowledge the role of institutions in historical persistence,CHA research tends to emphasize the lasting power of coa.
Clinical and Oncologic Outcomes of Robotic Versus Abdominal Radical Hysterectomy for Women With Cervical Cancer: Experience at a Referral Cancer Center

Objectives To compare the clinical and oncologic outcomes of robotic radical hysterectomy (RRH) vs abdominal radical hysterectomy (ARH) in patients with cervical carcinoma. Methods A retrospective analysis of women who underwent radical hysterectomy for cervical cancer from December 2006 to December 2014 at European Institute of Oncology was performed. Patients who underwent RRH were compared with women operated on by ARH. The groups were matched by age, body mass index, tumor size, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage, comorbidity, previous neoadjuvant chemotherapy, histology type, and tumor grade. Results A total of 203 and 104 women who underwent RRH and ARH, respectively, were analyzed. Baseline characteristics, stage of disease, histology type, and grade of differentiation were similar between groups. Surgical time was significantly shorter in the ARH group (208 vs 282 minutes, P ⩽ 0.001). Robotic radical hysterectomy was associated with significantly less estimated blood loss (219 vs 104 mL, P = 0.001) and with significantly shorter hospital stay (5.2 vs 3.9 days, P ⩽ 0.001). Abdominal radical hysterectomy was correlated with a significantly higher number of lymph nodes removed (25.8 vs 22, P = 0.003). None of the robotic procedures required conversion to laparotomy. A significantly higher number of patients in ARH required postoperative transfusion (11 [10.5%] vs 6 [2.9%], P = 0.006). Lower extremity lymphedema was significantly higher in ARH (28 [27.5%] vs 17 [8.3%], P = 0.001). Recurrence rates as well as progression-free survival and overall survival were similar between groups at a median follow-up of 41.64 months. Conclusions Robotic radical hysterectomy is safe and feasible and is associated with improved clinical outcomes. Although longer follow-up is needed, early data show equivalent oncologic outcomes compared with other surgical modalities.
French Households Fnancial Wealth: a Macro and Micro Overview of Changes in the last 20 Years?

Focusing on households’ financial assets, this work attempts to analyze microeconomic determinants of the global evolutions in French households’ portfolio from 1990 to 2010. In particular, we analyze the role of age and provide, from French data, an empirical ground to the large literature dedicated to wealth accumulation. The paper mobilizes successive Household Wealth Survey cross-sections (conducted in 1992, 1998, 2004 and 2010) and develops an age-cohort-period model. The estimation of age-patterns for financial assets building shows no decumulation in retirement, on the contrary to the standard Life-Cycle Hypothesis, and no significant differences between birth cohort groups. This approach is supplemented by exploring the role played by other microeconomic determinants, such as diploma, suggesting the existence of a large diversity of accumulation patterns within each generation. The paper ends with a brief focus on life insurance expansion in French households’ portfolio, describing its nature and which savers’ groups have supported it.
Paradigmatic Influences on Metadiscourse Features in Medical Research Articles

For the recent decades, scholars have examined the use of metadiscourse markers (MDMs) paradigmatically through several comparative studies across varying languages and cultures. No study to date, however, has investigated a comprehensive, full-fledged comparison of the possible disparities among the native English writers (NEW), Iranian English writers (IEW), and Iranian Persian writers (IPW) in crafting disciplinary research articles (RAs) in the academic field of medicine. By drawing on Hyland's (2005) metadiscourse taxonomy, the present research thus embarked on this comparison through the random selection of 240 medical research articles (RAs), 120 quantitative and 120 qualitative ones. The results could espouse the perspective that medical RA genre is less impacted by the inevitable language differences thereby giving rise to the greater importance of consensually-acknowledged disciplinary epistemology underlying medical sciences. It is then suggested that ESP classes as well as the article writing workshops held in L2 make every effort to include the interactional phase of the discourse as well.