Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Locomotor Training Remodels fMRI Sensorimotor Cortical Activations in Children After Cerebral Hemispherectomy

Purpose. This study examined whether locomotor training, which included body weight—supported treadmill therapy, improved walking and induced cortical representational adaptations using functional magnetic resonance imaging in the remaining sensorimotor network after cerebral hemispherectomy. Methods. Hemispherectomy patients (n = 12) underwent 2 weeks of gait training for at least 30 hours each. They were tested pre- and posttraining with the Fugl-Meyer Motor Assessment, unassisted single-limb stance time, and usual and fastest walking speeds. Three patients performed voluntary ankle movements as the functional magnetic resonance imaging activation task pre- and posttraining. Control subjects included 5 healthy children tested 2 weeks apart, 2 of whom trained on the treadmill, and 2 hemispherectomy patients who received upper extremity rehabilitation and no gait therapy. Results. Although patients reported improvements with gait training, behavioral outcomes did not significantly change. Training was associated with increased volume and intensity of cortical activation in the primary sensorimotor (S1M1), supplementary motor, motor cingulate, and secondary somatosensory cortex for the paretic foot, along with greater overlap in the representation for each moving foot in S1M1 and the supplementary motor area of the remaining hemisphere. Control subjects showed a decrease in activation in these cortical regions after training. Conclusions. Locomotor training of hemispherectomy patients improved mobility subjectively in association with functional magnetic resonance imaging evidence of cortical remodeling with ankle dorsiflexion. These findings support the notion that hemispherectomy patients may respond to rehabilitation interventions through mechanisms of activity-dependent cortical plasticity. The authors hypothesize that developmentally persistent descending ipsilateral and contralateral corticospinal tracts may allow the remaining hemisphere to maintain bilateral lower extremity motor control after surgery.
The cost of equity in emerging markets: The case of Latin America

We applied ten methods to calculate the cost of equity in a set of companies included in the MSCI emerging markets list from five countries in Latin America. The methods modify the discount rate obtained using the standard Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) by adjusting for country risk premiums. We found that country effects are more important than industry effects in Latin America. This work also contributes to a better understanding of how different ways of calculating country risk can affect a firm’s cost of equity. Furthermore, it gives empirical evidence for specific country and industry determinants of the cost of equity that are not explicitly treated in the extant literature
In Vitro Glucuronidation of Thyroxine and Triiodothyronine by Liver Microsomes and Recombinant Human UDP-Glucuronosyltransferases

Glucuronidation, which may take place on the phenolic hydroxyl and carboxyl groups, is a major pathway of metabolism for thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3). In this study, a liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) method was developed to separate phenolic and acyl glucuronides of T4 and T3. The method was used to collect the phenolic glucuronide of T4 for definitive characterization by NMR and to determine effects of incubation pH, species differences, and human UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) involved in the formation of the glucuronides. Formation of T4 phenolic glucuronide was favored at pH 7.4, whereas formation of T4 acyl glucuronide was favored at pH 6.8. All the UGTs examined catalyzed the formation of T4 phenolic glucuronide except UGT1A4; the highest activity was detected with UGT1A3, UGT1A8, and UGT1A10, followed by UGT1A1 and UGT2B4. Formation of T3 phenolic glucuronide was observed in the order of UGT1A8 > UGT1A10 > UGT1A3 > UGT1A1; trace activity was observed with UGT1A6 and UGT1A9. UGT1A3 was the major isoform catalyzing the formation of T4 and T3 acyl glucuronides. In liver microsomes, phenolic glucuronidation was the highest in mice for T4 and in rats for T3 and lowest in monkeys for both T4 and T3. Acyl glucuronidation was highest in humans and lowest in mice for T4 and T3. Phenolic glucuronidation was higher than acyl glucuronidation for T4 in humans; in contrast, the acyl glucuronidation was slightly higher than phenolic glucuronidation for T3. UGT activities were lower toward T3 than T4 in all the species. The LC/MS method was a useful tool in studying glucuronidation of T4 and T3.
Asset Pricing Model Selection

The Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) has dominated finance theory for over thirty years; it suggests that the market beta alone is sufficient to explain stock returns. However evidence shows that the cross-section of stock returns cannot be described solely by the one-factor CAPM. Therefore, the idea is to add other factors in order to complete the beta in explaining the price movements in the stock exchange. The Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT) has been proposed as the first multifactor successor to the CAPM without being a real success. Later, researchers support that average stock returns are related to some fundamental factors such as size, book-to-market equity and momentum. Alternative studies come as a response to the poor performance of the standard CAPM. They argue that investors choose their portfolio by using not only the first two moments but also the skewness and kurtosis. The main contribution of this paper is comparison between the CAPM, the Fama and French asset pricing model (TPFM) and the Four Factor Pricing Model (FFPM) adding the third and fourth moments to calculate expected return of non-financial Indonesian listed firms. The selection of the best model is based on the highest coefficient of determination. The kurtosis-FFPM turned out to be the best model.
Telepresence and fantasy in online apparel shopping experience

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the roles of telepresence and fantasy in an online apparel shopping experience. Online apparel consumers undergo a virtual product experience (telepresence) that simulates the product experience in a brick‐and‐mortar store. Fantasy entails the pleasurable mental imagery involving product use.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 86 female university students completed a survey after browsing a stimulus web site in a laboratory setting. Path analysis was used to identify hypothesized relationships between telepresence, fantasy, shopping enjoyment, willingness to purchase, and willingness to patronize the online retailer.Findings – Results showed that telepresence influenced consumer fantasy and both telepresence and consumer fantasy led to shopping enjoyment (experiential value). Telepresence, fantasy, and shopping enjoyment directly contributed to willingness to purchase from the online retailer, whereas telepresence, fantasy and shopping enjoyment cont.
Unlocking Patterns of Alcohol Consumption in British Columbia Using Alcohol Sales Data: A Foundation for Public Health Monitoring

Alcohol sales data provide a more accurate indication of alcohol consumption than alternative methods such as population surveys. This information can be used to better understand epidemiological issues related to alcohol consumption, policy development and evaluation. Official sales records were collected for the 28 regional districts of British Columbia (BC) for 2002–2005, while homemade alcohol was estimated from survey data. Alcohol consumption rates were found to vary across geographic regions, by season, and with population level demographics. Government stores were the largest source of alcohol consumption in BC, accounting for 45.1% of total alcohol consumption in 2004. U-Brews/U-Vins accounted for 4.0%, private liquor stores accounted for 27.5% of the total, and homemade alcohol made up 4.3% of total alcohol consumption. Analysis also revealed that the average alcohol concentration in wines (12.53%) and coolers (6.77%) has been underestimated by Statistics Canada. The feasibility of developing this type of alcohol monitoring system is examined. Finally, implications for the development of targeted public health initiatives and future research are discussed.
FLOWER AND COTYLEDON ASYMMETRY IN BRASSICA CRETICA: GENETIC VARIATION AND RELATIONSHIPS WITH FITNESS

Abstract Plants of the partially self-incompatible perennial herb Brassica cretica, derived from controlled cross- and self-pollinations within each of seven populations, were raised under uniform conditions and scored for two measures of developmental stability, flower asymmetry (quantified as the difference in length and width between opposite petals) and cotyledon asymmetry (quantified as the difference in the area of the two lobes of each cotyledon). The primary goals were to assess the level of heritable variation in asymmetry, the effect of selfing on mean asymmetry, and the relationship between asymmetry and components of fitness. A paternal half-sibling analysis of data on flower asymmetry failed to detect significant levels of genetic variation at the within-population level, whereas the between-population component reached significance for all measures of asymmetry. Analysis of family-structured data from another crossing experiment revealed significant between-population variation in cotyledon asymmetry and a tendency for inbred progeny to produce more asymmetric cotyledons than outbred progeny. However, the response to inbreeding was weak and differed in magnitude between populations. Judging from the ranking of populations, we found no support for the hypothesis that the mean expression of developmental stability is controlled by genomewide characteristics such as the level of inbreeding. Correlations between measures of asymmetry and fitness were too low to be declared statistically or biologically significant. The present study provides little evidence that flower and cotyledon asymmetry serve as more appropriate predictors of genetic health than conventional (direct) measures of fitness. Corresponding Editor: M. Dudash
Audit Quality and Private Finnish Firms

Despite the economic importance of private firms, most of the auditing literature focuses on public firms, primarily in the common law environments. The literature on audit quality is largely limited to an environment where the demand for accounting quality is high and auditors have strong incentives to maintain their independence. Therefore, the existing evidence on audit quality may not be directly applicable in environments where the demand for accounting quality is lower and auditors face lower litigation and reputation risks. Using the research setting of private Finnish firms, the purpose of this dissertation is to address this limitation and enhance our understanding of the relevance of audit quality in private firms through four related articles. The dissertation provides evidence of the demand for audit quality by lenders and different types of private firm owners, as well as evidence of audit partner industry specialization as a source for audit quality differentiation in the audit market of private firms. For private firms, practical implications emerging from the results relate to choice of a credible auditor for fulfilling monitoring needs of various stakeholders and resulting benefits in terms of lower cost of capital. In addition, the results provide insight into the current regulatory debate on the requirement to disclose audit partner identity. The results suggest that in the presence of lower litigation and reputation risks this requirement can provide auditors an additional incentive to contribute to audit quality.
CHOP vs. ProMACE‐CytaBOM in the treatment of aggressive non‐Hodgkin's lymphomas: long‐term results of a multicenter randomized trial

Abstract: From May 1985 to May 1989, 175 patients with previously untreated aggressive non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma were randomized to receive CHOP or ProMACE‐CytaBOM. Eligibility criteria included follicular large‐cell, diffuse small cleaved‐cell, diffuse mixed, diffuse large‐cell and immunoblastic lymphoma with an Ann Arbor stage II, III or IV. One hundred and forty‐eight patients were evaluable. There were no significant differences between the 2 treatments in response rate (83.5% [57.5% CR] for CHOP vs. 88% [62% CR] for ProMACE‐CytaBOM), time to treatment failure (29% vs. 31% at 5 yr), or overall survival (42% in both groups at 5 yr). Furthermore, there were no significant differences between the 2 regimens when response rates and outcome were analyzed for different prognostic subgroups. Toxicity was not significantly different between the 2 regimens, although only 1 patient died as result of treatment‐related toxicity in the CHOP arm compared to 6 patients in the ProMACE‐CytaBOM group (p = 0.126). In conclusion, in this study ProMACE‐CytaBOM has not proved to be superior to CHOP in aggressive lymphomas. This trial gives support to the notion that CHOP still is the standard chemotherapy for aggressive lymphomas, and that new treatment approaches for these lymphomas should be compared to CHOP.
Shareholder Characteristics and Accruals Manipulation to Meet Earnings Targets

This study examines how firms' tendency to manipulate accruals to meet quarterly earnings targets, as measured by abnormal accruals volatility, relates to transient and non-transient institutional shareholdings. Abnormal accruals volatility is found to increase with transient (short-term) institutional shareholdings, but decrease with non-transient (long-term) institutional shareholdings. Robust across Jones-type models commonly used to estimate abnormal accruals, this result can be interpreted as suggesting that relative to individual investors' shareholdings, transient (non-transient) institutional shareholdings put more (less) pressure on firms to manipulate accruals. The difference in pressure applied is understandable given the difference in investment horizons and trading strategies across institutions; while transient institutions have short investment horizons and trade on short-term earnings news, non-transient institutions have long investment horizons and are insensitive to short term earnings news. The study also finds that estimated abnormal accruals volatility increases with analyst following, research and development expenditures, and the value-relevance of earnings, but decreases with firm size and the long-term growth rate of earnings.
GPS frequency transfer with IPPP

Since many years, the time community has been using the Precise Point Positioning (PPP) technique using GPS phase and code observations to compute time and frequency links. However progresses in atomic clocks imply that the performance of PPP frequency comparisons is now a limiting factor in comparing the best frequency standards. One main limiting factor comes from the effect on the clock solution of the simultaneous resolution of floating phase ambiguities together with other parameters. In this paper we study how to improve the PPP frequency transfer using the Integer-PPP (IPPP) technique implemented by the CNES.
Diabetes and Diet : Purchasing Behavior in Response to Health News ∗

Individuals with obesity often appear reluctant to undertake dietary changes. Evaluating the reasons for this reluctance, as well as appropriate policy responses, is hampered by a lack of data on behavioral response to dietary advice. I use household scanner data to estimate food purchase response to a diagnosis of diabetes, a common complication of obesity. I infer diabetes diagnosis within the scanner data from purchases of glucose testing products. Households engage in statistically significant but small calorie reductions following diagnosis. The changes are sufficient to lose 4 to 8 pounds in the first year, but are only about 10% of what would be suggested by a doctor. The scanner data allows detailed analysis of changes by food type. In the first month after diagnosis, healthy foods increase and unhealthy foods decrease. However, only the decreases in unhealthy food persist. Changes are most pronounced on large, unhealthy, food categories. Those individuals whose pre-diagnosis diet is concentrated in one or a few foods groups show bigger subsequent calorie reductions, with these reductions occurring primarily occuring in these largest food groups. I suggest the facts may be consistent with a psychological framework in which rule-based behavior change is more successful. I compare the results to a policy of taxes or subsidies. ∗I thank Leemore Dafny, Ben Keys, Jim Salee, Steve Cicala, Aviv Nevo, Matt Notowidigdo, Amy Finkelstein, Andrei Shleifer, Jerome Adda and participants in seminars at Brown University, Columbia University, Harvard University, University of Chicago and Kellogg School of Management for helpful comments. Kejia Ren, Angela Li and David Birke provided excellent research assistance.
Validation of sixteen leukemia and lymphoma cell lines as controls for molecular gene rearrangement assays.

BACKGROUND Assays for rearrangement of the immunoglobulin, T-cell receptor, bcr/abl, and bcl-2 genes are valuable tools to aid in the diagnosis of leukemias and lymphomas and are now offered by many pathology laboratories. However, there is a lack of well-characterized and validated calibrators and positive controls for these assays. We therefore evaluated 16 readily available leukemia and lymphoma cell lines for their potential use as controls. METHODS DNA and RNA were isolated from each cell line and analyzed by Southern blot and PCR or reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR). Rearrangements in the IgJ(H), IgJ(kappa), TcR-beta or TcR-gamma, bcr/abl, and bcl-2 genes were detected by commercially available probes and primers. Cell lineages were confirmed by immunophenotyping. RESULTS Immunoglobulin and T-cell receptor gene rearrangements were identified in five B- and three T-cell lines, respectively. Two cell lines tested positive for the bcr/abl gene, and one was positive for the bcl-2 gene rearrangement by Southern blot. CONCLUSIONS The 16 cell lines studied can be used as positive controls in molecular detection assays for gene rearrangements. The parallel processing of these cell lines with clinical samples can serve to quality control the experimental procedures from the first step of DNA or RNA extraction to the final step of result analysis.
Visual Crowding in V 1

In peripheral vision, objects in clutter are difficult to identify. The exact cause of this “crowding” effect is unclear. To perceive coherent shapes in clutter, the visual system must integrate certain local features across receptive fields while preventing others from being combined. It is believed that this selective feature integration– segmentation process is impaired in peripheral vision, leading to crowding. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neural origin of crowding. We found that crowding was associated with suppressed fMRI signal as early as V1, regardless of whether attention was directed toward or away from a target stimulus. This suppression in early visual cortex was greatest for stimuli that produced the strongest crowding. In contrast, the pattern of activity was mixed in higher level visual areas, such as the lateral occipital cortex. These results support the view that the deficiency in feature integration and segmentation in peripheral vision is present at the earliest stages of cortical processing.
Hedge Fund Activists and Share Repurchases

This paper documents a general decrease in the quality of open-market repurchase (OMR) timing within firms targeted by hedge fund activist investors. Prior to their being targeted, firms repurchased less often and did so at prices closer to the quarterly low stock price. Upon filing the SEC form 13D, not only does the average repurchase size increase, but the repurchases are made at prices significantly higher than both the quarterly low stock price and the quarterly average closing stock price. Despite this fact, there still exist positive abnormal returns following the OMR announcement, thereby suggesting that investors agree that company payout is too low. Taken together, these results suggest that as activist hedge funds increase repurchase pressure, repurchase quality decreases, potentially harming shareholders.
Assessment of Factors Associated with Low Yield of Cashew among Farmers in Growing Areas of Nigeria

The study assessed the factors affecting low yield of cashew among farmers in Kwara and Edo States between March and April, 2014. It examined the socio - economic characteristics, factors contributing to cashew low yield, sources of cashew planting materials and sources of information on cashew cultivation among farmers in the stud y areas. Data collection was through structured questionnaire administered on 160 respondents selected through multistage sampling procedure . Descriptive statistics and chi - square were used in data analysis. Results showed that majority of the farmers were ageing with a mean age of 52 years and 60% of them had more than 16 years of cashew farming experience. Most (69%) cashew farms were less than 15 years indicating that the cashew trees were of average age and are still in their productive years. The mean yield of respondents was 10 bags using 80kg bag which was low because this number is not economical considering other inputs of production. Majority of respondents obtained cashew planting materials from fellow farmers and their own farms and got informati on on cashew cultivation from fellow farmers. Chi - square results revealed that there was significant relationship (p<0.05) between insect pest attack, poor cashew price, lack of improved variety, farm abandonment, high cost of farm
Cassava Marketing: Option for Sustainable Agricultural Development in Nigeria

Recognizing Nigeria's tremendous agricultural potentials, Nigerian government now accepted the view that the country should resolved unequivocally to make agriculture the mainstay of the economy. The study, therefore investigated effectiveness of cassava marketing policy and its contribution to agriculture sector development in Nigeria. While the policy design have potential contributions to agricultural development in Nigeria, the policy framework failed to incorporate strategies for combating perennial constraints to effective and efficient cassava marketing in Nigeria. Therefore, sustainable policy issues and options for cassava marketing require different strategies for both domestic and international markets and different strategies for minimizing the problems confronting cassava marketing in Nigeria.
Characterization of Consultant Activities in ERP Projects - A Case Study

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are very common worldwide, but their implementation and upgrade projects are expensive, complex and often unsuccessful. A great role in their implementation is played by the consultancy firms, which provide manpower and qualified knowledge. Often, IT managers, on the preparation stage, need to know how the project will be organized, how the resources will be distributed and which effort will be necessary from the employees to perform a successful project. Through a case study we aim to define a way to measure the business value of the consultancy and understand if it is possible to build a model to achieve this result.