Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE TREAT-TO-TARGET PARADIGM: A CROSS-SECTIONAL SURVEY OF CURRENT THERAPIES AND ACHIEVED METABOLIC CONTROL IN 800 TYPE 2 DIABETIC PATIENTS

Abstract The aim of this cross-sectional study is to analyse the current treatment schemes as well as the quality of control (metabolic; blood pressure) in a cohort of 800 type 2 diabetic patients recruited in a University Center and not by generalist practionners, in scope with current international recommendations. Insulin therapy was administered, alone or combined with oral antihyperglycaemic drugs, to 48% of subjects. HbA1c was 7.7% (6.7-8.7 (median; percentiles 25-75)). Anti-dyslipidaemic drugs were used in 45% of individuals. However, only 27% of the cohort had LDL levels lower than 100 mg/dl while 58% of males and 48% of females attained HDL targets. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels were 144 ± 21 and 81 ± 12 mmHg (mean ± SD), despite one or more antihypertensive agent(s) prescribed to 68% of subjects. In conclusion, in a Belgian adult type 2 diabetic population attending a tertiary centre for follow-up, overall metabolic and blood pressure controls remain unsatisfactory according to targets defined by international guidelines. This audit makes a multi-faceted intervention aimed at intensifying current therapies all the more necessary.
Tourist Satisfaction with Mallorca, Spain, as an Off-Season Holiday Destination

A number of research studies have investigated tourist satisfaction with mass tourism destinations, particularly during the peak (summer) season. However, there has been limited investigation of tourist satisfaction with off-season holiday destinations. This article reports the findings of a study to determine destination attributes critical to the over-all satisfaction levels of tourists visiting Mallorca, Spain, during the winter season. Their future holiday intentions also are investigated. Findings are analyzed, and implications and limitations are discussed.
Profiling the Users of Travel Websites for Planning and Online Experience Sharing

This article reports the findings of a study that examined Hong Kong online users who use travel websites for travel planning and online travel experience sharing. The empirical findings from a large-scale domestic survey conducted in 2010 reveal that 32.7% of the respondents had used at least one travel website for travel planning in the past 2 years. In addition, 24.5% of these respondents had shared their travel experience online. On the whole, the travel website users were young, highly educated, and had a high level of personal income. In general, the propensity to share travel experiences decreased with age. In contrast, education level up to college/university level positively influenced the respondents’ willingness to share travel experiences, but the propensity decreased with higher levels of education. This study, although limited in scope, will be of interest to academic researchers and industry practitioners who are seeking to better understand the behavior of travelers using the Internet.
Generalized Rank Weights of Reducible Codes, Optimal Cases, and Related Properties

Reducible codes for the rank metric were introduced for cryptographic purposes. They have fast encoding and decoding algorithms, include maximum rank distance (MRD) codes, and can correct many rank errors beyond half of their minimum rank distance, which makes them suitable for error correction in network coding. In this paper, we study their security behavior against information leakage on networks when applied as coset coding schemes, giving the following main results: 1) we give lower and upper bounds on their generalized rank weights (GRWs), which measure worst case information leakage to the wire tapper; 2) we find new parameters for which these codes are MRD (meaning that their first GRW is optimal) and use the previous bounds to estimate their higher GRWs; 3) we show that all linear (over the extension field) codes, whose GRWs are all optimal for fixed packet and code sizes but varying length are reducible codes up to rank equivalence; and 4) we show that the information leaked to a wire tapper when using reducible codes is often much less than the worst case given by their (optimal in some cases) GRWs. We conclude with some secondary related properties: conditions to be rank equivalent to Cartesian products of linear codes and conditions to be rank degenerate, duality properties, and MRD ranks.
The role of familial values in understanding the impact of social class on weight concern.

OBJECTIVE To examine the role of social class on aspects of weight concern and to assess the possible impact of values on mediating this association. METHOD Two hundred fifty-seven girls ranging in age from 13 to 16, from either a fee paying inner city independent girls school (higher class school, n = 135) or a state comprehensive, inner city girls school (lower class school, n = 122) completed a questionnaire concerning their profile characteristics (age, social class), aspects of their weight concern, and their own and their perceptions of their significant others' values (achievement, family life, and physical appearance). RESULTS The results showed consistent effects of class on weight concern, with the higher class subjects reporting higher levels of restrained eating, greater body dissatisfaction, and body distortion than their lower class counterparts. The results also showed an effect of class on values, with the lower class subjects placing more importance on family life from both their own perspective and that of their parents and friends, and rating their friends as valuing achievement and physical appearance more than the higher class subjects. In terms of the best predictors of weight concern, the results showed that higher levels of restrained eating were related to being from a higher class, placing greater importance upon physical appearance, preferring a thinner ideal female body, and placing less importance upon family life; greater body dissatisfaction was related to being from a higher social class, placing greater importance upon physical appearance and a lower importance upon achievement, and greater body distortion was related to being from a higher social class and a high value placed upon physical appearance. CONCLUSION The results indicate both a direct social class/weight concern link and a relationship which is mediated by values. The results are discussed in terms of developing an improved measure of class values and the relatively stable nature of class boundaries.
Exploring Strategic Positioning in the UK Charitable Sector: Emerging Evidence from Charitable Organizations that Provide Public Services

The UK voluntary sector operates in an arguably enabling policy context. Yet, other external environmental influences have posed major challenges for charitable organizations within the wider voluntary sector. This paper aims to rectify the current lack of empirical research on how charitable organizations have responded in terms of their strategic positioning to the changing external operating environment and policy context. It both explores the positioning strategies adopted by two contrasting British charities that deliver public services in different ways, and investigates the factors that have influenced their choice of positioning strategies. The cases studied extend our knowledge of strategic positioning in organizations other than commercial (for-profit) ones. The findings provide new evidence that charities have begun to strategically position themselves in response to both internal organizational factors and external environmental influences. Emerging lessons from the experiences of the case study organizations provide guidance to charity managers in planning and implementing strategic positioning in their organizations. The findings also underscore the need to develop theoretical and conceptual management models specific to non-profit organizations, such as charities.
Automated and Semiautomated Analysis of Rat Alkaline Phosphatase Isoenzymes

A semiautomated quantitative assay for rat serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) isoenzyme determination was developed, incorporating selective precipitation of bone alkaline phosphatase (BALP) with wheat germ lectin and differential inhibition with levamisole for determination of intestinal alkaline phosphatase (IALP). The assays for each isoenzyme were linear over a broad range of activities. The within-run and between-run coefficients of variation were less than 11% for all 3 isoenzymes. Dilution of serum with saline results in an artifactual overestimation of BALP activity. Comparison of ALP and ALP isoenzyme activity in rats of various ages showed that BALP activity drops dramatically with increasing age of rats. IALP activity is greater in immature rats compared to that in mature rats. While there was no difference between male and female rats at 4 wk of age with regard to total ALP activity and activity of any of the isoenzymes, total ALP activity and activity of the individual isoenzymes were higher in males than in females at most ages over 4 wk. Gavage with corn oil resulted in increased serum IALP activity, and bile duct ligation resulted in increased liver alkaline phosphatase activity. This combined assay for the 3 ALP isoenzymes in rat serum is an efficient means of analysis of large numbers of samples and should increase markedly the specificity of serum ALP activity in identifying the target organ in toxicologic studies when serum ALP activity is increased.
COMBINING INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL INPUTS FOR SUSTAINABLE INTENSIFICATION

Farmers and local development organizations around the world use and promote a variety of technologies to increase food production. But the high cost of inorganic fertilizers and other agrochemicals often drives farmers to rely on locally available resources instead of purchased, externally produced inputs. So-called low external input agriculture (LEIA) has spread rapidly to different parts of the globe as a challenging alternative to—or, more frequently, a complement to— Green Revolution technologies.The goal of policy, research, and extension should be to help LEIA farmers achieve "sustainable intensification", which refers to the simultaneous increase in returns to land and labor (in the short run) and the maintenance of soil nutrient balances (in the long run).
A Markovian Defaultable Term Structure Model with State Dependent Volatilities

The defaultable forward rate is modelled as a jump diffusion process within the Schonbucher [26,27] general Heath, Jarrow and Morton [20] framework where jumps in the defaultable term structure fd(t,T) cause jumps and defaults to the defaultable bond prices Pd(t,T). Within this framework, we investigate an appropriate forward rate volatility structure that results in Markovian defaultable spot rate dynamics. In particular, we consider state dependent Wiener volatility functions and time dependent Poisson volatility functions. The corresponding term structures of interest rates are expressed as finite dimensional affine realizations in terms of benchmark defaultable forward rates. In addition, we extend this model to incorporate stochastic spreads by allowing jump intensities to follow a square-root diffusion process. In that case the dynamics become non-Markovian and to restore path independence we propose either an approximate Markovian scheme or, alternatively, constant Poisson volatility functions. We also conduct some numerical simulations to gauge the effect of the stochastic intensity and the distributional implications of various volatility specifications.
Descriptive epidemiology of ovarian cancer in the United States, 1992–1997

Descriptive Epidemiology of Ovarian Cancer in the United States, 1992-1997 Marc T. Goodman and Holly L. Howe Ovarian cancer is relatively uncommon, and therefore little has been published to date regarding racial or ethnic variations in the incidence or mortality of this malignancy. As the U.S. population becomes more diverse, the interest in health problems and disparities in outcomes among minority and economically disadvantaged groups will continue to increase. In this supplement, the authors focus on epidemiology, pathology and classification issues, multiple primary tumors, staging, and incidence and mortality for race/ethnic groups. The authors also focused on epidemiologic differences between borderline tumors of low malignant potential and carcinomas.
The Persistence of a Stigmatized Practice: A Study of Competitive Intelligence

Studies on the diffusion of practices provide valuable insights into how organizations adopt, adapt, sustain and abandon practices over time. However, few studies focus on how stigmatized practices diffuse and persist, even when they risk tainting the adopters. To address this issue and understand how firms manage stigmatized practices, we study US organizations associated with the practice of competitive intelligence (CI) between 1985 and 2012. CI includes legitimate information gathering practices that are sometimes also associated with infringements and espionage. Our findings suggest that CI became highly diffused and persisted despite the risk of stigmatizing its adopters. We identified three factors to explain CI's persistence: (1) keeping it opaque to avoid the negative effects of stigmatization, (2) ‘constructing’ usefulness to justify its ongoing use by leveraging accepted beliefs and invoking fear of unilateral abandonment and (3) adapting it by developing multiple versions to increase its zone of acceptability. These three factors contribute to practice persistence by allowing firms to dilute the potential stigma from use of the practice. Our contribution lies in explaining the adoption, diffusion and ongoing use of a stigmatized practice whose benefits cannot be overtly acknowledged or made public.
Measuring service performance in mobile communications

With the rapid growth in the size of the cellular phone market, performance standards are emerging as the strategic imperative for the service providers in ensuring customer satisfaction. This article develops and validates a psychometrically sound multi-item measure of service performance in mobile communications. A pool of 16 items was developed to cover the hypothesised multiple aspects of service performance and tested using a sample of 120 customers. The construct validity of the multi-aspect service performance measure was evaluated through assessing convergent, discriminant and predictive validity. Mr Satinder provides consultating services in the marketing of high technology products and services.
A modular solar engine with solar cell, heat pipe, and heat sink in an integrated package for high concentrating photovoltaic

This paper presents design, development and testing of a modular solar engine for CPV. Solar cell, heat pipe, package substrate, heat sink, secondary optics rod and wirings are integrated in a self-contained, plug-and-play module. The integrated solar engine can generate 30W per 1 cm2 solar cell area with natural (passive) cooling.
Information sources and perceived destination image: insights from an empirical study in India

This paper seeks to examine the level of importance domestic tourists’ accord to different information sources and its impact on perceived destination image. The primary goal of this study is to explore the heterogeneous patterns in the representative sample based on their inclination for a particular category of information source. Based on a survey administered to 178 respondents from Ooty, India; cluster analysis was employed to identify different segments of tourists. The results indicate that tourists can be classified into different segments based on their importance for information sources. Further, consumer segments differ in their perception about destination image on several dimensions. Also, demographic profiles of the different tourist segments and the tourist ratings on the cognitive destination image and affective image dimensions were examined. These results are important to academicians, researchers, government and tourism marketers as they provide a base for segmenting tourists and secondly in measuring and improving the destination image.
From Bricks to Clicks: The Impact of Online Retailing on Transport and the Environment

Abstract Online retailing is growing fast and claims are being made about its positive environmental impact relative to traditional shopping, particularly by the retailers themselves. There is, however, little concrete evidence to support the claims. Whilst there exists some research into the passenger travel implications of e‐shopping, this paper seeks to analyse the issues involved in online shopping from both a passenger and freight transport perspective. The objectives of the paper are first, to set out the complex transport relationships involved in online shopping and in particular the interaction between the passenger and freight aspects and second, to shed some light on the environmental impact of online shopping. It concludes that as things currently stand, it cannot be stated with any degree of certainty that clicks are any more environmentally responsible than bricks. The paper is conceptual in nature and is the pre‐cursor to an empirical study of the issue.
Mood and hormonal changes during late pregnancy and puerperium.

The present study was designed to assess the relationship between puerperal hormonal changes and mood. Twenty-five postpartum physically and mentally healthy, drug-free women were included in the study; seven later dropped out. Blood samples 'were drawn between 8 and 9 a.m. just prior to delivery, and again three days after delivery, before discharge. Blood levels of LH TSH, FSH, estrogen and prolactin were determined. Three days after delivery, a psychiatric interview was conducted during which psychometric rating scales (Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, Hamilton Depression and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scales, and Beck Depression Inventory) were completed. The rate of change in hormonal blood levels was analyzed in relation to the scores on the rating scales. Results showed that the rise in prolactin plasma levels had a negative and significant correlation with the scores on the Hamilton anxiety scale. This may indicate that high prolactin plasma levels, associated with milk production, may lead to lower anxiety levels in lactating women.
Phosphocalcic Markers and Calcification Propensity for Assessment of Interstitial Fibrosis and Vascular Lesions in Kidney Allograft Recipients

Renal interstitial fibrosis and arterial lesions predict loss of function in chronic kidney disease. Noninvasive estimation of interstitial fibrosis and vascular lesions is currently not available. The aim of the study was to determine whether phosphocalcic markers are associated with, and can predict, renal chronic histological changes. We included 129 kidney allograft recipients with an available transplant biopsy in a retrospective study. We analyzed the associations and predictive values of phosphocalcic markers and serum calcification propensity (T50) for chronic histological changes (interstitial fibrosis and vascular lesions). PTH, T50 and vitamin D levels were independently associated to interstitial fibrosis. PTH elevation was associated with increasing interstitial fibrosis severity (r = 0.29, p = 0.001), while T50 and vitamin D were protective (r = -0.20, p = 0.025 and r = -0.23, p = 0.009 respectively). On the contrary, fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) and Klotho correlated only modestly with interstitial fibrosis (p = 0.045) whereas calcium and phosphate did not. PTH, vitamin D and T50 were predictors of extensive fibrosis (AUC: 0.73, 0.72 and 0.68 respectively), but did not add to renal function prediction. PTH, FGF23 and T50 were modestly predictive of low fibrosis (AUC: 0.63, 0.63 and 0.61) but did not add to renal function prediction. T50 decreased with increasing arterial lesions (r = -0.21, p = 0.038). The discriminative performance of T50 in predicting significant vascular lesions was modest (AUC 0.61). In summary, we demonstrated that PTH, vitamin D and T50 are associated to interstitial fibrosis and vascular lesions in kidney allograft recipients independently of renal function. Despite these associations, mineral metabolism indices do not show superiority or additive value to fibrosis prediction by eGFR and proteinuria in kidney allograft recipients, except for vascular lesions where T50 could be of relevance.
Alcohol Dependence and Suicidal Behavior: From Research to Clinical Challenges

&NA; Epidemiological and clinical data suggest high rates of suicidal behavior in alcohol‐dependent individuals. Suicide attempters are likely to be young, to be single or separated, and to have made prior attempts. They differ from non‐attempters by higher levels of impulsive aggression, drug use, and psychiatric comorbidity, particularly personality and depressive disorders. Treatment‐seeking, alcohol‐dependent individuals often present with multiple risk factors. Early recognition of suicidal behavior is hindered, however, by insufficient data regarding the acute phenomenology of imminent risk. Similarly, little research is available to guide intervention efforts. Initial trials support the use of fluoxetine for the treatment of suicidal, alcohol‐dependent persons with comorbid depressive disorders. Future studies may clarify the relative efficacy of various psychotherapeutic and pharmacological approaches to treating these patients.
RECOVERING PORTFOLIO DEFAULT INTENSITIES IMPLIED BY CDO QUOTES

We propose a stable nonparametric algorithm for the calibration of “top‐down” pricing models for portfolio credit derivatives: given a set of observations of market spreads for collateralized debt obligation (CDO) tranches, we construct a risk‐neutral default intensity process for the portfolio underlying the CDO which matches these observations, by looking for the risk‐neutral loss process “closest” to a prior loss process, verifying the calibration constraints. We formalize the problem in terms of minimization of relative entropy with respect to the prior under calibration constraints and use convex duality methods to solve the problem: the dual problem is shown to be an intensity control problem, characterized in terms of a Hamilton–Jacobi system of differential equations, for which we present an analytical solution. Given a set of observed CDO tranche spreads, our method allows to construct a default intensity process which leads to tranche spreads consistent with the observations. We illustrate our method on ITRAXX index data: our results reveal strong evidence for the dependence of loss transitions rates on the previous number of defaults, and offer quantitative evidence for contagion effects in the (risk‐neutral) loss process.
The effect of human resource management practices on the perceptions of organizational and market performance of the firm

The purpose of our study is to extend the emerging empirical literature on the firm-level impact of human resource management practices. Results based on a national sample of organizations from private and public sectors in Israel indicate that these practices have a significant impact on both the perceived organizational and market performance of the organization. The single independent variable found to be statistically significant in affecting perceived organizational performance was training practices. In the case of perceived market performance, we found that, in addition to training practices, employee selection practices also significantly affected the perceived market performance.1 © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.