Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Price Hedging with Local and Aggregate Quantity Risk

The authors present a method to minimize Value–at–Risk where price, local quantity, and aggregate quantity are all stochastic and correlated. The framework is quite general in that it accommodates both local and aggregate quantity, and the quantity variable may be for an asset that is subject to a stochastic convenience yield. The framework is more general than that of Ahn et al. [1999]. The solution identifies an optimal strike price for a quantity–triggered put option used to minimize Value–at–Risk. The authors identify situations where this put option is more effective than its plain–vanilla counterpart in reducing both price and quantity risks.
Asset Allocation and Individual Risk Aversion

Portfolio theory assumes that investors are rational, utility-maximizing individuals who exhibit differing degrees of relative risk aversion, depending on such factors as age, wealth, income and education.1 Previous studies have employed a variety of approaches to infer individual risk preferences from the proportion of an individual's total wealth allocated to risky assets.2 Some of these researchers used questionnaires designed to elicit from individuals explicit answers about their risk preferences; others examined individuals' actual asset allocation decisions.
Preventive Effect on Post-Operative Pneumonia of Oral Health Care among Patients Who Undergo Esophageal Resection: A Multi-Center Retrospective Study.

BACKGROUND Post-operative pneumonia is a frequent and possibly fatal complication of esophagectomy and is likely caused by aspiration of oropharyngeal fluid that contains pathogenic micro-organisms. We conducted a multi-center retrospective study to investigate the preventive effect of oral health care on post-operative pneumonia among patients with esophageal cancer who underwent esophagectomy. METHODS A total of 280 patients underwent esophagectomy at three university hospitals. These patients were divided retrospectively into those who received pre-operative oral care from dentists and dental hygienists (oral care group; n = 173) and those who did not receive such care (control group; n = 107). We evaluated the correlations between the occurrence of post-operative pneumonia and 18 predictive variables (patient factors, tumor factors, treatment factors, and pre-operative oral care) using the χ(2) test and logistic regression analysis. The differences of mean hospital days and mortality rate in both groups were analyzed by the Student t-test. RESULTS Age, post-operative dysphagia, and absence of pre-operative oral care were correlated significantly with post-operative pneumonia in the univariable analysis. Multivariable analysis revealed that diabetes mellitus, post-operative dysphagia, and the absence of pre-operative oral care were independent risk factors for post-operative pneumonia. The mean hospital stay and mortality rate did not differ between the oral care and control groups. CONCLUSION Pre-operative oral care may be an effective and easy method to prevent post-operative pneumonia in patients who are undergoing esophagectomy.
Consumption inequality and family labor supply Discussion Paper Series

Consumption Inequality and Family Labor Supply In this paper we examine the link between wage inequality and consumption inequality using a life cycle model that incorporates household consumption and family labor supply decisions. We derive analytical expressions based on approximations for the dynamics of consumption, hours, and earnings of two earners in the presence of correlated wage shocks, non-separability and asset accumulation decisions. We show how the model can be estimated and identified using panel data for hours, earnings, assets and consumption. We focus on the importance of family labour supply as an insurance mechanism to wage shocks and find strong evidence of smoothing of male’s and female’s permanent shocks to wages. Once family labor supply, assets and taxes are properly accounted for, there is little evidence of additional insurance. JEL Classification: J22
Core component EccB1 of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis type VII secretion system is a periplasmic ATPase

Pathogenic mycobacteria transport virulence factors across their complex cell wall via a type VII secretion system (T7SS)/early secreted antigenic target‐6 of kDa secretion system (ESX). ESX conserved component (Ecc) B, a core component of the T7SS architecture, is predicted to be a membrane bound protein, but little is known about its structure and function. Here, we characterize EccB1, showing that it is an ATPase with no sequence or structural homology to other ATPases located in the cell envelope of Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv. We obtained the crystal structure of an EccB1‐ΔN72 truncated transmembrane helix and performed modeling and ATP docking studies, showing that EccB1 likely exists as a hexamer. Sequence alignment and ATPase activity determination of EccB1 homologues indicated the presence of 3 conserved motifs in the N‐ and C‐terminals of EccB1‐ΔN72 that assemble together between 2 membrane proximal domains of the EccB1‐ΔN72 monomer. Models of the EccB1 hexamer show that 2 of the conserved motifs are involved in ATPase activity and form an ATP binding pocket located on the surface of 2 adjacent molecules. Our results suggest that EccB may act as the energy provider in the transport of T7SS virulence factors and may be involved in the formation of a channel across the mycomembrane. —Zhang, X. ‐L. , Li, D. ‐F. , Fleming, J., Wang, L. ‐W. , Zhou, Y. , Wang, D. ‐C. , Zhang, X. ‐E. , Bi, L. ‐J. Core component EccB1 of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis type VII secretion system is a periplasmic ATPase. FASEB J. 29, 4804–4814 (2015). www.fasebj. org
The vulnerable populist right parties: No economic realignment fuelling their electoral success

Abstract. The two occupational groups most likely to vote for populist right parties in Western Europe in the 1990s also disagree the most over issues relating to the economic dimension of politics. The two groups were: blue-collar workers – who support extensive state intervention in the economy – and owners of small businesses – who are against such state intervention. Proponents of economic realignment theories have held that both groups voted for the populist right because their economic preferences became aligned in recent decades. This article analyzes more detailed comparative data than has previously been available in the two cases held to be most propitious for the realignment hypotheses – France and Denmark – and finds strong evidence against them. The key mechanism for bringing together voters who disagree on state intervention in the economy is the populist right's appeal on issues cross-cutting the economic dimension, and these voters’ willingness to grant such issues pre-eminence over economic ones. As a result, it is argued, populist right parties in Western Europe are limited by or vulnerable to the salience of the economic dimension.
Endovascular Repair of Acute Type B Aortic Dissection: Midterm Results

Purpose: To evaluate midterm results of endovascular stent-graft placement for acute Stanford type B dissection (TBD). Methods: A retrospective review was conducted of 35 consecutive patients who were treated with stent-graft implantation for acute TBD between July 1996 and July 2007. Computed tomographic (CT) volumetric analysis of the true lumen (TL) and false lumen (FL) changes in 23 patients was performed, as well as evaluation of the influence of re-entry points and length of stent-graft coverage on volume changes. In addition, complications were evaluated. Follow-up was performed at 6 and 12 months and yearly thereafter Results: The technical success rate was 82.7%, and the 30-day mortality rate was 8.5%. Mean follow-up was 34 months. The overall survival rate at 5 years was 78.4%. Complications included retrograde type A dissections in 3 patients during the perioperative period and in 1 patient during midterm follow-up. In addition, 5 early and 3 late endoleaks were observed. Three patients were converted to open surgery and 2 needed secondary interventions. In the stented segment, stabilization of the aorta was achieved even during midterm follow-up, with a TL volume increase of 59% at 5 years and nearly stable FL volume. The segment from the distal end of the stent-graft to the celiac artery, however, showed unstable TL and FL volumes, with high standard deviations after the first postinterventional year and circumferential aneurysmal dilatation of the aorta immediately adjacent to the stent-graft in 5 patients. The abdominal aorta showed no substantial volume changes over time. The length of stent-graft coverage and the occurrence of reentries greatly influenced FL volume changes distal to the stent-graft. Conclusion: Serious complications can occur during and after endovascular repair of TBD. Therefore, it should be reserved for high-risk patients.
Older adults exhibit a reduced ability to fully activate their biceps brachii muscle.

BACKGROUND Voluntary muscle strength declines significantly in older adults. One contributing factor to the strength loss is muscle atrophy developed in old age. Whether the ability to maximally activate the muscle decreases with age, however, is unknown. This study was intended to determine if the central nervous system command to maximally activate the biceps brachii muscle deteriorates with age. METHODS Electrical stimulation pulses were applied to the skin overlying the biceps brachii muscle during maximal voluntary elbow-flexion contractions. The magnitude of force evoked on the maximal voluntary force was measured to determine the activation level (AL) of the muscle. RESULTS The AL was 94% for the elderly group and 97% for the young group (100% AL indicates complete activation). The AL for both the elderly and young groups was significantly (p<.05) lower than 100%. The AL of the elderly group was significantly (p<.05) lower than that of the young group. CONCLUSIONS The loss of voluntary strength in older adults is a mixed result of muscle atrophy and a reduced ability to fully activate muscle.
Germinal mutations of RET, SDHB, SDHD, and VHL genes in patients with apparently sporadic pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas.

INTRODUCTION Pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas are derived from neural crest cells and are localized mainly in adrenal medulla and sympathetic or parasympathetic ganglia. They can be inherited (25%) and be part of multi-endocrine syndromes such as MEN2 syndrome, von Hippel-Lindau syndrome, pheochromocytoma/paraganglioma syndrome, neurofibromatosis type 1, and Sturge-Weber syndrome. Clinical presentation can sometimes be atypical and does not always allow proper diagnosis. In such situations, DNA analysis can be helpful, especially when the pheochromocytoma is the first and only symptom. MATERIAL AND METHODS We analyzed DNA from 60 patients diagnosed and treated in the Centre of Oncology with a diagnosis of pheochromocytoma or paraganglioma. DNA analysis was carried out for RET (exons 10, 11, 13, and 16), SDHB, SDHD, and VHL genes. Techniques used for the analysis were direct sequence analysis, MSSCP, and RFLP. RESULTS Germinal mutations were found in 16 patients (26,7%). Most frequent were mutations in RET proto-oncogene, followed by VHL gene, one mutation in SDHB, and one in SDHD genes. A comparison of some of the clinical features of both groups (with and without mutation) showed statistically significant differences. CONCLUSIONS The results of our study show that genetic predisposition is frequent in chromaffin tissue tumours, which indicates that DNA analysis is necessary in every case, also because of possible atypical clinical presentation. (Pol J Endocrinol 2010; 61 (1): 43-48).
‘Saving’ the City: Collective Low‐budget Organizing and Urban Practice

In recent discussions and popular accounts of social practices such as urban gardening, car sharing, coworking, food cooperatives, ticket sharing, and waste recycling, there seems to be an underlying assumption that such trends tend to organise the city differently. Often descriptions of these accounts are discursively linked to the economic reality of austerity politics, an impending threat of resource scarcity and demographic change in large cities of contemporary welfare societies, which seem to prompt many people to develop innovative, alternative or entrepreneurial ways of coping with the challenges of the ‘the order of the day’. These practices of urban dwellers show a re-evaluation of the notion of scarcity, waste and consumption, a collective way of organising on a low budget and an appreciation of slower, simpler, self-organised and local ways of producing and consuming. They contrast starkly to those more top-down, centralised, marketor state-based, resource-intensive and costly infrastructures, production patterns and consumption practices that have characterised urban life in these cities for a long time (Harvey, 2013; Graham and Marvin, 2001; Venkatesh, 2006).
Estimating the Effect of Training Programs with Non-Random Selection

This study reports on efforts to use the Continuous Longitudinal Manpower Survey to estimate the effect that manpower training programs have had on participants' earnings. Estimation techniques are developed to control for nonrandom selection into the program based on individual unobservables which are either constant and/or changing over time, as well as non-random selection because of "creaming" by program administrators. The study finds that, in general, fixed effects estimators are sufficient to eliminate the bias created by non-random selection. While women appear to benefit substantially from manpower training programs, no significant earnings effects were found for men participants. G OVERNMENTAL involvement in postschooling employment and training programs for disadvantaged and hard to employ workers began with the passage of the Manpower Development and Training Act of 1962. Although funding levels and objectives have changed frequently, training programs of one type or another have been an increasingly significant factor in the operation of the U.S. economy since that time. For almost a decade the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act of 1973 (CETA) had major responsibility for provision of training, serving over four million participants during 1979.1 The purpose of training programs, as defined by CETA, was "to provide training and employment opportunities for economically disadvantaged, unemployed, or underemployed persons which will result in an increase in their earned income. "2 Despite nearly a decade of massive expenditures on training under CETA, surprisingly little is known about the program's effectiveness in achieving its goal of human resources development. This study reports on efforts to use the recently available Continuous Longitudinal Manpower Survey (CLMS) to estimate the effect that CETA has had on participants' post-training earnings.3 The plan of the paper is as follows. Section I develops a range of estimation techniques, given alternative assumptions about the structure of the error term. A series of nested hypotheses tests is suggested as a method for choosing which estimation technique(s) fulfills the necessary assumptions for unbiased estimation of training effects. Section II describes the data that are available from the CLMS. The framework developed in section I is then used to test which of four available comparison groups are appropriate for unbiased estimation and presents the empirical results and their limitations. Section III summarizes the findings of
Five years of teleconsultation: experience of the Cardiology Department of Coimbra Pediatric Hospital.

BACKGROUND Telemedicine is an excellent tool to expand specialized medical care, providing better access for patients and lowering costs for their families. The objective of this work was to evaluate the reliability of teleconsultation in pediatric cardiology, with similar results to traditional consultation. It can be a useful tool to upgrade technical skills among the staff involved and to improve the quality of life of patients and families. METHODS The authors present their 5 years' experience of pediatric cardiology teleconsultation involving Coimbra Central Pediatric Hospital and district hospitals in the central region of Portugal. During this period 1761 consultations, involving 1056 patients, were given with a pre-established weekly schedule for each hospital and joint online reports were produced, with data confidentiality assured. RESULTS Cardiac murmur was the most common reason for consultation (73%). No heart disease was diagnosed in 49% of the patients. Among septal defects, accounting for 43%, ventricular septal defect was the most frequent (20%). Only 10% of all patients had to be seen in the Pediatric Hospital Cardiology Department. Six emergency consultations were requested. CONCLUSIONS Pediatric cardiology teleconsultation is a reliable procedure using the Medigraf platform, with a similar error rate to consultations by traditional methods. The costs are lower, especially for the families, who do not have to travel far from home or take time off work. The waiting time for a consultation is shorter and therapeutic decisions are faster. A pediatric cardiologist can cover a larger geographic area and the cooperative work during sessions is useful for exchanging knowledge and experiences.
Rigid body simulation

Rigid Body Simulation deals with trying to model real world physical situations computationally by applying Newton’s laws of motion to perfectly rigid bodies. Work done in this area is used in the animation industry, haptic displays in robotics, and 3D games, so there is a real need for algorithms that work in realtime. The two main areas of research in rigid body simulation are collision detection and collision response. Collision detection involves using computational geometry to come up with algorithms with low complexities, as intersection detection can become computationally expensive when simulating a large number of bodies. In this thesis we will largely be looking at collision response. In the real world when objects collide they deform and it is this deformation that causes the forces between the objects. However simulating how objects deform takes a prohibitively long amount of time so instead the area of collision response looks at other empirical laws to calculate the forces, while keeping the objects rigid. A lot of the physics involved is no harder than what is taught in a high school mechanics course, but there are notable exceptions, and we find that when we deal with objects moving in 3D we have to include terms which allow for more interesting and un-intuitive movement such as gyroscopic stability. In this thesis we will look at the various schemes proposed to deal with collision response and the problems that arise from trying to implement such algorithms robustly.
An evaluation of survival and detection of Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli in broiler caecal contents using culture‐based methods

Aims: To evaluate the culture specifications of the 2008 EU baseline survey for Campylobacter spp. in broiler flocks at slaughter, by assessing the detection of thermophilic Campylobacter in chicken caecal contents by culture on selective agar with or without enrichment culture. Additionally, to assess the impact of sample storage time on Campylobacter detection.
TARGET PAYOUT AND THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN DIVIDENDS AND SHARE PRICES

: The hypothesis that share prices react differently to unexpected dividend changes conditional upon firm target payouts is examined empirically. The cumulative abnormal return metric is used to measure price reactions for firms in various combinations of target payout class and dividend change. Two models are used as surrogates for expected dividends: the Fama-Babiak model and one using analyst dividend forecasts. In general, the information hypothesis is not supported in the case of unexpected dividend decrease, but target payout is found to be a significant explanatory variable of share price behaviour in the case of unexpected dividend increase.
Online Travel Surveys and Response Patterns

This article reviews the benefits and issues with online surveys as it relates to response rates, speed of response, representativeness of the samples, and the differences in results due to different survey media. Analysis of the response data for four travel-related online surveys showed consistent response patterns. This article demonstrates that an exponential growth model is most appropriate when modeling the numbers of returns over time. The model can predict the final number of returns based on 7 or 8 days’ survey return numbers with a relatively small degree of error. The study suggests that surveying a pilot sample and analyzing their responses can allow a researcher to estimate the parameters of the response model for a large-scale survey and thus conduct a study in a more effective way.
Destandardised career entry? An analysis of the transition to professional life by Swiss sports science graduates

Abstract In recent decades, sport has become more and more important as an occupational field, due to the increasing differentiation and commercialisation of sports. This paper will analyse to what extent these developments are associated with destandardisation processes at the time when sports science graduates embark on their professional career. For this purpose, continuous professional trajectories were gathered from a sample of n = 742 sports science graduates from all Swiss universities, to provide retrospective longitudinal data for the complete cohorts (1984/85, 1994/95 and 2004/05). Optimal matching analysis was used to reveal underlying structures, after which the cohorts were compared to check any tendencies towards destandardisation empirically. Only a minority of all Swiss sports scientists is affected by destandardisation tendencies. There is no noteworthy increase in the variety of sequential patterns over time; instead, the normal occupational career remains clearly pronounced across all three cohorts. If anything, a tendency towards destandardised occupational careers may be observed in the field of schools.
Immigrant Occupational Attainment: Assimilation and Mobility over Time

This article compares immigrant and native‐born male occupational distributions in Canada in the 1980s. Three questions are addressed: (1) How do immigrant and native‐born occupational distributions differ? (2) Are immigrants more occupationally mobile? and (3) How do immigrant occupations and mobility relate to characteristics used in immigrant selection? Results indicate that immigrants are more skilled, but this declines across successive cohorts. Immigrants are more occupationally mobile even long after arrival, indicating immigration may contribute to a more flexible labor force. Immigrants who are not assessed on their skills or are not fluent at arrival are less occupationally mobile.
Body Weight, Dieting and Obesity Traps

This paper presents a theoretical investigation into why losing weight is so difficult even in the absence of rational addiction, time-inconsistent preferences or bounded rationality. We add to the existing literature by focusing on the role that individual metabolism has on weight loss. The results from the theoretical model provides multiple steady states and a threshold revealing a situation of ''obesity traps" that the individual must surpass in order to successfully lose weight. Given such a threshold we investigate if a short-run incentive scheme for weight loss is able to promote persistent weight-losses and what features an incentive scheme should have in order to sustain permanent weight loss. We find that a lump-sum incentive scheme is not always able to lead the individual to permanent weight loss. On the contrary, a non-decreasing incentive scheme with rewards for weight loss according to levels of body weight (i.e. progressive), is able to sustain a steady state reduction in body weight and food consumption.