Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Agglomeration Economies in Japan: Technical Efficiency, Growth and Unemployment

This paper examines if the effects of agglomeration economies get manifested in technical efficiency and generate faster economic growth and higher (lower) levels of employment (unemployment). Using the prefecture level data for each of the two-digit groups of industries in Japan, the paper estimates region-specific technical efficiency index based on the stochastic frontier production function framework. The results of the factor analysis show that in most of the industry-groups (with a few exceptions) efficiency has a positive association with external scale variable(s). Though the relationship is not seen to be very strong, it would be equally erroneous to ignore the effect of agglomeration economies on efficiency. In the case of some of the light goods industries the agglomeration effect is relatively stronger. Further, economic growth varies positively with external scale variable(s) and unemployment rate tends to fall with respect to growth and concentration. All this tends to suggest that measures against industrial concentration may be counter-productive, particularly in the context of globalisation when countries are in dire need of raising productivity.
Polymorphisms in drug-metabolizing enzymes: what is their clinical relevance and why do they exist?

The beautiful report by Sachse et al. (1997) in this issue of the Journal represents the culmination of 2 decades of increasingly exciting work on the "debrisoquine oxidation polymorphism," one of dozens of pharmacogenetic or ecogenetic polymorphisms that have been shown to have an important impact on innumerable clinical diseases. Pharmacogenetics is the study of the hereditary basis of the differences in responses to drugs. Ecogenetics is the broader field of interindividual differences in response to all environmental chemical and physical agents (e.g., heavy metals, insecticides, compounds formed during combustion, and UV radiation). It is now clear that each of us has his or her own "individual fingerprint" of unique alleles encoding the socalled drug-metabolizing enzymes (DMEs) and the receptors that regulate these enzymes. In this invited editorial, I first introduce the current thinking in the field of DME (and DME-receptor) research and how DMEs have evolved from animal-plant interactions. I then describe the debrisoquine oxidation polymorphism, as well as two other relevant DME polymorphisms; show the relationship between these polymorphisms and human disease; provide examples of synergistic effects caused by the combination of two DME polymorphisms; and discuss the ethical considerations of such research. Last, I speculate on why these allelic frequencies of the DME genes might exist in human populations in the first place.
The Influence of Chemokine Receptor CCR2 Genotypes in the Route to Cervical Carcinogenesis

Invasive squamous cell carcinomas of the cervix arise from earlier, reversible precursor lesions called low- and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL and HSIL, respectively). The aim of our study was to analyse the influence of the CCR2-64I polymorphism in the development of SIL due to its preponderant role in the cervical carcinogenesis and in the progression of these lesions to invasive cervical carcinoma. We conducted a case-control study, analyzing 565 Caucasian women from the north of Portugal. The CCR2-64I polymorphism was analysed through polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism. The frequency of GG, GA and AA genotypes was 76.5, 23.5 and 0.0% respectively, in HSIL patients, and 87.8, 11.1 and 1.1% respectively, in the control group. The G allele frequency was 88.2% in the HSIL group and 93.4% in the control group. Regarding the A allele frequency, it was 11.8% in the HSIL group and 6.6% in the control group. Overall, the frequency of A carrier genotypes was higher in HSIL patients than in the control group (p = 0.013; OR = 2.21; 95%CI: 1.17–4.15), suggesting that CCR2-64I polymorphism might contribute to the establishment of HSIL, through the disruption of the naturally fragile immune response directed towards human papillomavirus infection.
Effects of microbial phytase, produced by solid-state fermentation, on the performance and nutrient utilisation of broilers fed maize- and wheat-based diets

1. The influence of a microbial phytase on the performance, toe ash contents and nutrient utilisation of male broilers fed diets based on maize and wheat was investigated. The experiment was conducted as 2 × 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments. Within the factorial, two diet types (maize–soy or wheat–soy) containing two levels of non-phytate phosphorus (3·0 or 4·5 g/kg) were evaluated and each level of non-phytate phosphorus was supplemented with 0 or 500 PU phytase/kg diet. Each of the 8 dietary treatments were fed to 6 pens of 8 birds from d 1 to 21 post-hatching. 2. Main effects of diet type and phytase were observed for all parameters. Main effect of non-phytate phosphorus was significant only for feed/gain and toe ash contents. Phytase addition improved weight gains irrespective of diet type or non-phytate phosphorus level, but the magnitude of improvement in the phosphorus-deficient wheat–soy diet was greater, resulting in a diet type × non-phytate phosphorus interaction. Responses in toe ash contents were noted only in phosphorus-deficient diets, as indicated by a non-phytate phosphorus × phytase interaction. 3. Phytase addition improved apparent metabolisable energy values of wheat-based diets, but had little effect on the apparent metabolisable energy of maize-based diets as shown by a diet type × phytase interaction. The apparent metabolisable energy was not influenced by dietary non-phytate P. 4. Phytase improved ileal nitrogen digestibility in both diet types, but the responses to added phytase tended to be higher in wheat-based diets, as shown by a diet type × phytase interaction. 5. Increasing the dietary non-phytate phosphorus level reduced phosphorus digestibility and increased excreta phosphorus content. Addition of phytase improved phosphorus digestibility, but the increments were higher in low phosphorus diets resulting in a non-phytate phosphorus × phytase interaction. Phytase addition tended to lower the excreta phosphorus content, but the effects were greater in birds fed low phosphorus diets, as shown by a non-phytate phosphorus × phytase interaction.
Cruise visitors' experience in a Mediterranean port of call

This study aims to provide a better understanding on cruise travel experience by studying cruise ship passengers motivation, satisfaction and likelihood of return to the port of Heraklion (Crete, Greece). From the findings, it is evident that ‘exploration’ and ‘escape’ were among the main motivations of visitors, and ‘product and services’ as well as ‘tour pace’ were significant dimensions in shaping overall satisfaction levels. Nevertheless, onshore activities were restricted to sightseeing and shopping, because of the limited available time. Based on these findings, relevant proposals are made in order to provide positive port experiences. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Attitudes and preferences of parents about being present in the dental operatory.

PURPOSE To determine if there was an association between the type of dental procedure being performed on children and parental desire to be present in the operatory. METHODS Parents (N=339) whose children had dental appointments at a university pediatric dental clinic or affiliated practices in Southern Nevada completed a survey. Parents identified attitudes/preferences associated with five commonly conducted pediatric dental procedural scenarios. Data were analyzed using chi-square tests (P=.05). RESULTS Most respondents (N=339) were female (N=248) and/or Hispanic (N=204), had a household income of less than $50,000 annually (N=251), and a high school education. The primary reason (78 percent) parents wanted to be present during their child's dental treatment was comfort. Most parents wanted to observe exams/X-rays (70 percent), sedation procedures (69 percent), fillings and crowns (66 percent), extractions (64 percent), and physical restraint (61 percent). Only 38 percent of parents would be content with the dentist unilaterally deciding about their presence in the operatory. CONCLUSIONS Parents in this study expressed a preference to remain with their child during any dental treatment. Practitioners are encouraged to consider their presence customary and establish office policies and protocols that beneficially involve parents in the pediatric patient's care.
Cognitive and cerebral metabolic effects of celecoxib versus placebo in people with age-related memory loss: randomized controlled study.

OBJECTIVE Because anti-inflammatory drugs may delay cognitive decline and influence brain metabolism in normal aging, the authors determined the effects of the cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor, celecoxib, on cognitive performance and regional cerebral glucose metabolism in nondemented volunteers with mild age-related memory decline. DESIGN Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel group trial with 18-months of exposure to study medication. SETTING University research institute. PARTICIPANTS Eighty-eight subjects, aged 40-81 years (mean: 58.7, SD: 8.9 years) with mild self-reported memory complaints but normal memory performance scores were recruited from community physician referrals, media coverage, and advertising. Forty subjects completed the study. INTERVENTIONS Daily celecoxib dose of 200 or 400 mg, or placebo. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Standardized neuropsychological test battery and statistical parametric mapping (SPM) of FDG-PET scans performed during mental rest. RESULTS Measures of cognition showed significant between-group differences in executive functioning (F [1, 30] = 5.06, p = 0.03) and language/semantic memory (F [1, 31] = 6.19, p = 0.02), favoring the celecoxib group compared with the placebo group. Concomitantly, FDG-PET scans demonstrated bilateral metabolic increases in prefrontal cortex in the celecoxib group in the vicinity of Brodmann's areas 9 and 10, but not in the placebo group. SPM analyses of the PET data pooled by treatment arm corresponded to a 6% increase in activity over pretreatment levels (p <0.01, after adjustment for multiple comparisons). CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that daily celecoxib use may improve cognitive performance and increase regional brain metabolism in people with age-associated memory decline.
Evaluating Equity Outcomes in State Public Sectors: A Comparison of Three Housing Agencies

In this article, state public sector Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) outcomes of housing agencies in three states, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia are analysed and compared. EEO policies, programs and subsequent outcomes for women in the areas of reducing gender-based job segregation and income disparities, providing avenues for career progression and access to non-traditional jobs are evaluated to determine how different types of administrative and managerial structures influence equity outcomes. The research addresses the question of whether a centralised administrative structure or a devolved corporate management approach provides a more appropriate model for delivering public sector equity policies and programs. The case study findings indicate that a traditional administrative structure based on central control provides no guarantee of better equity results.
Toward a Contingency Theory of Business Strategy

In the past two decades the concept of organizational strategy has emerged as one of the cornerstones of both management theory and practice. During the period, numerous papers, articles, and books have explored this concept and its myriad characteristics and nuances. Nevertheless, some aspects of the subject have received far more attention than others. For example, much greater emphasis has been placed on the organizational processes by which strategies are developed than on the content of the strategies themselves. Also, more attention has been focused on strategy formulation at the corporate level than at the business level. [The term business level refers to that level in an organization at which responsibility for the formulation of a multifunctional strategy for a single industry or product-market arena is determined; the term corporate level refers to the top level of the organization regardless of the number of industries in which it competes. Thus, for a multi-industry company, the business level normally would correspond to the divisional level. In a single product line company, however, the business and corporate levels would be the same. ] Likewise, more emphasis has been placed on the analytical and informational aspects of the strategic planning process than on its behavioral and political dimensions. Finally, nearly all of the research studies and many of the papers and articles have been descriptive rather than prescriptive in their orientation, especially with respect to the content of the strategies involved.
Where Are the Gains from International Diversification

EAFE and international marketlike mandates are popular with U.S. institutional fund sponsors. The rationale seems to be that the international equity market has higher expected returns than the U.S. equity market and can substantially diversify U.S. portfolios. The empirical evidence for the 1970–94 period does not support either claim. Nor does theory help. Asset pricing models do not argue that risk factors have geographically different expected returns. Recent research for the U.S. market shows that two risk factors, value and size, explain differences in expected returns across equity portfolios. Preliminary evidence suggests that the same factors work in foreign markets, as well. International value stocks and international small stocks diversify U.S. portfolios more than EAFE. In fact, a sensible reason to diversify internationally is to “load up” on value stocks and small stocks without concentrating in one geographic region. If one does not wish to concentrate in such stocks, then international di.
Diagnosis and treatment of dementia: 5. Nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic therapy for mild to moderate dementia

Background: Practising physicians frequently seek advice on the most effective interventions for dementia. In this article, we provide practical guidance on nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic interventions for the management of mild to moderate dementia based on recommendations from the Third Canadian Consensus Conference on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Dementia. Methods: We developed evidence-based guidelines using systematic literature searches, with specific criteria for the selection and quality assessment of articles, and a clear and transparent decision-making process. We selected articles published from January 1996 to December 2005 that dealt with the management of mild to moderate stages of Alzheimer disease and other forms of dementia. Recommendations based on the literature review were drafted and voted on. Consensus required 80% or more agreement by participants. Subsequent to the conference, we searched for additional articles published from January 2006 to April 2008 using the same major keywords and secondary search terms. We graded the strength of the evidence using the criteria of the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care. Results: We identified 1615 articles, of which 954 were selected for further study. From a synthesis of the evidence in these studies, we made 48 recommendations for the management of mild to moderate dementia (28) and dementia with a cerebrovascular component (8) as well as recommendations for addressing ethical issues (e.g., disclosure of the diagnosis) (12). The updated literature review did not change these recommendations. An exercise program is recommended for patients with mild to moderate dementia. Physicians should decide whether to prescribe a cholinesterase inhibitor on an individual basis, balancing anticipated benefits with the potential for harm. For mild mood and behavioural concerns, nonpharmacologic approaches should be considered first. Interpretation: Although the available therapies for dementia can help with the management of symptoms, there is a need to develop more effective interventions.
Corporate Capital Structure Choices in Mena: Empirical Evidence from Non-Listed Firms in Morocco

Based on their perceptions, more than three quarters of Moroccan manufacturing firms have identified access to finance as one of the major constraints affecting their performance. However, compared to a number of emerging countries, Moroccan firms appear relatively undercapitalized and more reliant on external finance. These two findings seem contradictory and have very different policy implications. The purpose of this paper is to provide a rigorous understanding of the rationale behind financial choices made by Moroccan firms, and assess the severity of financial constraints they effectively face. The paper uses a panel dataset covering 550 non-listed manufacturing firms over the period 1998–2003 and investigates both long-term and short-term measures of leverage with the objective of understanding the factors that shape “debt-equity choice” as well as “debt maturity structure”. Our analysis reveals the existence of a negative relationship between asset tangibility and both aggregate leverage and short-term debt ratio. However, no clear cut relationship between asset tangibility and long-term debt is uncovered. Small firms tend to increase their debt instead of opening their capital to outside investors and larger firms seem to rely much more on their retained earnings for their long-term financial needs. For short-term debt, size does not appear to matter. The impact of growth is positive on short-term leverage and irrelevant for long-term leverage. Finally, profitability exerts a positive effect on long-term leverage and a negative one on short-term leverage.
Estimation of the Euro Area Output Gap Using the NAWM

This paper presents preliminary estimates of the euro area flexible-price output gap using the estimated version of the New Area-Wide Model (NAWM) – a large-scale DSGE model of the euro area developed and maintained by ECB staff. Following a definition of the flexible-price output gap frequently used in the literature, we show that the NAWM-based measure may at times differ quite considerably from more traditional output gap measures and may display fluctuations of larger amplitude. The dynamics of flexible-price output is mainly driven by shocks to technology, whereas fluctuations in the output gap can be attributed equally to supply and demand shocks. We analyse how robust this output gap estimate is with respect to new incoming data and compare it’s inflation forecast performance with alternative measures.
Emerging adulthood and cancer: How unmet needs vary with time-since-treatment

Abstract Objective: The impact of a cancer experience during emerging adulthood (18–25 years of age) is an under-studied phenomenon, with research on young people typically focussing on children or adolescents. Needs-based research on this population is even scarcer. This study sought to ascertain the most commonly-unmet needs of emerging adults with cancer, in various stages of time-since-treatment, and to investigate links to psychological functioning. Method: Using an earlier version of a needs-based questionnaire, presently under development, as well as additional items developed specifically for this age group, the ten most unmet needs were determined for 63 emerging adults in each of the following three groups: those on or within one year since treatment; those between one and five years since treatment; and those beyond five years since treatment. Psychological functioning was measured by the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS-21). Results: On average, participants rated 17.7 of the 132 needs as unmet. The 10 most unmet needs for each group generated a distinct picture of how needs change as time-since-treatment increases. For those at or within one year since treatment, there were a number of unmet needs directly related to health care provision and the hospital experience. For those whose treatment was more than one year previous, the most unmet needs were more focussed on emotional/psychological issues, particularly related to survivorship and life direction. Positive correlations were found between the number of unmet needs and levels of anxiety and stress. Significance of results: The results of the present study provide quantitative needs-based information about emerging adults with cancer, in the context of their treatment situation. This enables health care providers to better support the emerging adult with cancer in ways that are age-appropriate and time-sensitive. The persisting levels of unmet needs and psychological distress beyond five years since treatment underscore the importance of long-term follow-up and support.
Financing and Advising: Optimal Financial Contracts with Venture Capitalists

This paper analyses the joint provision of effort by an entrepreneur and by an advisor to improve the productivity of an investment project. Without moral hazard, it is optimal that both exert effort. With moral hazard, if the entrepreneur's effort is more efficient (less costly) than the advisor's effort, the latter is not hired if she does not provide funds. Outside financing arises endogenously. This paper thus provides a theory for why investors like venture capitalists are value enhancing. The optimal amount of outside financing is determined. Last, it is optimal to issue common stocks when the level of outside financing is not too large, while it is optimal to issue convertible bonds when the outside financing is large. These results are consistent with empirical evidence on venture capital.
Why Does Stock Market Volatility Change Over Time?

This paper analyzes the relation of stock volatility with real and nominal macroeconomic volatility, financial leverage, stock trading activity, default risk, and firm profitability using monthly data from 1857-1986. An important fact, previously noted by Officer [l973], is that stock return variability was unusually high during the 1929-1940 Great Depression. Moreover, leverage has a relatively small effect on stock volatility. The amplitude of the fluctuations in aggregate stock volatility is difficult to explain using simple models of stock valuation.
The seasonal unit root structure in New Zealand Macroeconomic variables

ADF unit root tests are generally applied to macroeconomic data prior to testing theoritical models to ensure that all relevant variables are integrated of the same order. Not only is it important to test that these variables are integrated of the same order but also that a cointegrating relationship exists; failure to do so raise the specture of false inference associated with the spurious regression problem. The seasonal nature of quarterly data adds a further proplem which has generally been overcome by seasonally adjusting the data using procedure such as the census X-11 rather than suppressing it, have attempted to determine whether the seasonal component in each variable exhibits stochastic non-stationary. This paper analysisunit roots in a seasonal setting and compares the recently developed tests for seasonal unit roots as well as the standard augmented Dickey-Fuller zerop frequency unit root tests. Of the variables tested relatively few paper to be integrated at the seasonal frequenciues and, as .