Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Joint Dynamic Model of Fertility and Work of Married Women

This article estimates a dynamic model of fertility and labor supply of married women drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Young Women, 1968–91. It distinguishes part‐time and full‐time employment sectors, which differ by pecuniary and nonpecuniary returns and transferability of human capital. The model with unobserved heterogeneity in earning ability and preferences for children fits the data and produces reasonable forecasts of labor force participation in decisions. The estimates unpack important features of the persistence in labor market decisions, intertemporal substitution of leisure over the life cycle, and the effect of work interruptions, due to childbirth, on lifetime utility.
Does Private Management of Water Supply Services Really Increase Prices? An Empirical Analysis in Spain

This paper attempts to explain differences in the average price of domestic water supply services in Spain, paying special attention to the effects of privatisation of the service on price levels. The empirical analysis is based on the application of a `treatment effects' model on a sample of 53 major urban municipalities. This model accounts for the fact that municipalities do not randomly distribute themselves between a group using strictly public ownership and management and a group where all or part of the service has been delegated to a private firm. It is found that, once this endogeneity is taken into account, there seems to be a positive and significant effect of privatisation on water price levels.
The homogeneity restriction and forecasting performance of VAR‐type demand systems: an empirical examination of US meat consumption

This paper compares the forecast performance of vector-autoregression-type (VAR) demand systems with and without imposing the homogeneity restriction in the cointegration space. US meat consumption (beef, poultry and pork) data are studied. One up to four-steps-ahead forecasts are generated from both the theoretically restricted and unrestricted models. A modified Diebold-Mariano test of the equality of mean squared forecast errors (MSFE) and a forecast encompassing test are applied in forecast evaluation. Our findings suggest that the imposition of the homogeneity restriction tends to improve the forecast accuracy when the restriction is not rejected. The evidence is mixed when the restriction is rejected. Copyright © 2002 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
In Vivo Assessment of Bone Quality in Postmenopausal Women With Type 2 Diabetes

Although patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) are at significant risk for well‐recognized diabetic complications, including macrovascular disease, retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy, it is also clear that T2D patients are at increased risk for fragility fractures. Furthermore, fragility fractures in patients with T2D occur at higher bone mineral density (BMD) values compared to nondiabetic controls, suggesting abnormalities in bone material strength (BMS) and/or bone microarchitecture (bone “quality”). Thus, we performed in vivo microindentation testing of the tibia to directly measure BMS in 60 postmenopausal women (age range, 50–80 years) including 30 patients diagnosed with T2D for >10 years and 30 age‐matched, nondiabetic controls. Regional BMD was measured by dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry (DXA); cortical and trabecular bone microarchitecture was assessed from high‐resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HRpQCT) images of the distal radius and tibia. Compared to controls, T2D patients had significantly lower BMS: unadjusted (−11.7%; p < 0.001); following adjustment for body mass index (BMI) (−10.5%; p < 0.001); and following additional adjustment for age, hypertension, nephropathy, neuropathy, retinopathy, and vascular disease (−9.2%; p = 0.022). By contrast, after adjustment for confounding by BMI, T2D patients had bone microarchitecture and BMD that were not significantly different than controls; however, radial cortical porosity tended to be higher in the T2D patients. In addition, patients with T2D had significantly reduced serum markers of bone turnover (all p < 0.001) compared to controls. Of note, in patients with T2D, the average glycated hemoglobin level over the previous 10 years was negatively correlated with BMS (r = −0.41; p = 0.026). In conclusion, these findings represent the first demonstration of compromised BMS in patients with T2D. Furthermore, our results confirm previous studies demonstrating low bone turnover in patients with T2D and highlight the potential detrimental effects of prolonged hyperglycemia on bone quality. Thus, the skeleton needs to be recognized as another important target tissue subject to diabetic complications. © 2014 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
Perinatal mortality in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the most frequent causes of perinatal mortality in Bosnia and Herzegovina Methods: We analyzed in a retrospective study over a one year period (1999) the folloving cantons: Sarajevo, Mostar, Tuzla, Bihać, Goražde, Travnik, Zenica, which represent about one half of the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Results: Perinatal mortality in the analyzed regions within Bosnia and Herzegovina was 19.55 ‰, which is unacceptable in comparison with developed countries. Early neonatal mortality (9‰) was lower than late fetal mortality 10.55 ‰. The most frequent causes of death were: premature birth, 6.32% of all deliveries; EPH gestosis with a rate of 9% of all deliveries and fetal anomalies with 0.68% of all deliveries. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, prematurity is the cause of early neonatal mortality in 78.5% of cases, while fetal anomalies are the cause in the early new-born period in 10.70% of cases. Conclusion: The results of perinatal mortality analyses in Bosnia and Herzegovina confirm that perinatal mortality directly depends on the development of the health care system, economic sustainability, and living conditions. Our results show that Bosnia and Herzegovina fall into the category of developing country with a perinatal mortality rate of 19.55 ‰.
The Familiarity with and Perceived Quality of Accounting Journals: Views of Senior Accounting Faculty in Leading U. S. MBA Programs

Determining familiarity with and evaluating quality of accounting journals are of interest to various parties in accounting academia. In recent years, the number of accounting journals has grown, and many special-interest subgroups have arisen. A study surveys senior faculty at Business Week's best 40 MBA programs to determine their familiarity with and quality perceptions of 44 accounting journals. As to familiarity, 5 journals were nearly universally known, and a total of 15 had wide recognition. Financial, managerial, and auditing faculty exhibited similar familiarity patterns, while tax faculty had a somewhat different pattern. As to quality perceptions, relatively few journals achieved high quality evaluations. There was, however, general consensus across the different subject area faculty as to the top journals. Special consideration was given to the new (post-1980) journals. Six of the 19 newer journals in the study achieved high familiarity scores, and 3 achieved high quality evaluations.
Inequity Aversion and Fair Selling

This research investigates optimal selling strategies and equilibrium welfare implications in markets with buyer inequity aversion. When buyers care about their surplus relative to seller profits but are uncertain about seller costs, buyers’ fairness perceptions and, thus, their willingness to pay may be malleable and susceptible to seller influence. If a seller's optimal behavior (e.g., pricing) is not completely unvarying in variable costs, buyers can rationally make inferences about seller costs from observed seller behavior. Consequently, buyers’ fairness perceptions and their willingness to pay can influence, and be influenced by, optimal selling strategies. The study characterizes a fair selling equilibrium in which optimal seller behavior and buyer perceived fairness are interactively derived. The author shows that seller ex ante profit may increase as more buyers become inequity averse. In addition, buyer ex ante surplus can be nonmonotonically influenced by an increase in the number of fair-minded buyers or in the degree of inequity aversion. These counterintuitive results pinpoint the importance of investigating the strategic interaction between buyer fairness perceptions and selling strategies. Finally, the basic model is extended to examine how the fair selling equilibrium may be influenced by cost disclosure, buyer dynamic learning, and seller competition.
Potential Problems of Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) in Off-ShoreCampuses in Southeast and East Asia and Suggestions

This paper consists of 3 parts. In the first part, 5 problems of SET are discussed (biases due to SET (which refer to problems due to online surveys, equivalency of SET questionnaires, cognitive biases, and formative vs. summative uses of SETs); biases due to courses; biases due to students; biases due to teachers; and issues with feedback. In Part 2, problems that may be peculiar to off-shore campuses in (South)East Asia are discussed (surface vs. deep learners/teachers; the validity of the questionnaires; curriculum and assessment tasks; and closing the feedback loop). In Part 3, suggestions are listed.
The Causes of Globalization

The most important causes of globalization differ among the three major components of international market integration: trade, multinational production, and international finance. The information technology revolution has made it very difficult for governments to control cross-border capital movements, even if they have political incentives to do so. Governments can still restrict the multinationalization of production, but they have increasingly chosen to liberalize because of the macroeconomic benefits. Although the one-time Ricardian gains from freer trade are clear, whether trade is good for growth in the medium term is less certain. In the case of trade, the increasing interest of exporters in opening up domestic markets has had a powerful impact on the trend to liberalization. Cross-national variations in market integration still endure, but these are more the product of basic economic characteristics (such as country size and level of development) than political factors (such as regime type or the left-right balance of power).
Climate change. Climate in Medieval time.

Many papers have referred to a "Medieval Warm Period. " But how well defined is climate in this period, and was it as warm as or warmer than it is today? In their Perspective, Bradley et al. review the evidence and conclude that although the High Medieval (1100 to 1200 A.D.) was warmer than subsequent centuries, it was not warmer than the late 20th century. Moreover, the warmest Medieval temperatures were not synchronous around the globe. Large changes in precipitation patterns are a particular characteristic of "High Medieval" time. The underlying mechanisms for such changes must be elucidated further to inform the ongoing debate on natural climate variability and anthropogenic climate change.
Ocular Surface Reconstruction using Amniotic Membrane following Excision of Conjunctival and Limbal Tumors

Purpose To report the clinical results of patients treated by preserved human amniotic membrane transplantation (AMT) following the removal of conjunctival and limbal tumors. Methods Retrospective noncomparative interventional case series of 9 patients (9 eyes) who underwent AMT after removal of conjunctival and limbal tumors with lesion-free margins and perilesional cryotherapy. Results The excised tumors were histopathologically examined and included 2 squamous cell carcinomas, 2 papillomas, and 5 nevi. Bulbar conjunctiva was involved in all of the eyes, limbus and cornea in 7 and 3 eyes, respectively. The mean extent of the limbal involvement was 4 clock hours (range 2–9, SD 2.4); the average diameter of the base of the tumor was 12.8 mm (range 10–20, SD 4.4). The mean follow-up time was 38 months (range 13–60, SD 15). No surgical or early postoperative complications were observed. In all eyes, complete healing of the tissue defect occurred, resulting in a stable, wet, and noninflamed epithelium. All eyes demonstrated a smooth ocular surface except one with a clinically insignificant Symblepharon after the excision of a squamous cell carcinoma. Superficial peripheral corneal vascularization and opacification as a sign of partial limbal stem cell deficiency developed in 2 eyes. In one case, a recurrence of conjunctival papilloma was diagnosed after a 3-year follow-up. Conclusions Amniotic membrane transplantation is an effective method of reconstruction following a conjunctival and limbal tumor excision and cryotherapy of surgical wound margins. In most cases, complete healing of an ocular surface can be achieved without any clinically significant complications.
Inhibition of motility of hamster spermatozoa by protein tyrosine kinase inhibitors

Genistein, tyrphostin and piceatannol, which are specific inhibitors of protein tyrosine kinase, were screened for their effects on the motility of intact and demembranated hamster spermatozoa. Of the three inhibitors only piceatannol inhibited the motility of intact spermatozoa. None of the inhibitors had any inhibitory effect on the reactivation of motility of demembranated hamster spermatozoa. Taken together these results indicated that a protein tyrosine kinase associated with the membrane of hamster spermatozoa was probably involved in sustenance of hamster sperm motility. Therefore in the present study a membrane‐associated protein tyrosine kinase was purified from a detergent‐soluble extract of plasma membranes of mature hamster spermatozoa. The purification involved cation exchange chromatography on fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC) followed by affinity chromatography either on an antiphosphotyrosine antibody agarose or poly glu‐tyr agarose column. The pure protein tyrosine kinase had an apparent molecular mass of 45 kDa. The enzyme was not inhibited by genistein or herbimycin but was inhibited by piceatannol. This is the first report on the purification of a sperm plasma membrane‐associated protein tyrosine kinase, an enzyme which has also been implicated in hamster sperm motility.
The Technological Structure and Performance of Developing Country Manufactured Exports, 1985‐98

This paper maps out the recent manufactured export patterns of developing countries, using a new and detailed classification by technological levels. It argues that export structures, being path-dependent and difficult to change, have important implications for growth and development. Low-technology products (which have the least beneficial learning and spillover effects) tend to grow the slowest, and technology-intensive products (which have the most beneficial effects) the fastest in world trade. East Asia dominates the developing country scene, with 70% of total manufactured exports, and its role rises over time. There is also high and rising concentration at the national level. The technological specialization of different regions and the leading exporters differ greatly, as do the strategies used to achieve competitiveness. Received trade theory cannot explain these patterns without considering learning processes and the policies used to promote them.
Audit Committee Financial Expertise, Litigation Risk and Corporate Governance

SUMMARY: Recent debates on audit committee financial expertise have focused on “accounting” and “nonaccounting” financial experts. A significant proportion of firms do not appoint accounting financial experts (i.e., persons with specialized accounting/auditing experience) to their audit committees. We examine the determinants of firms' choice of the “audit committee financial experts” for a sample of Fortune 1000 firms. We test the relation between the demand for accounting financial experts (AFEs), potential litigation risk, and corporate governance. We find that firms with higher litigation risk are more likely to have AFEs on their audit committee. However, the association between litigation risk and the likelihood of appointing accounting financial experts occurs for firms with relatively strong governance but not for those with weak governance. Thus, our findings indicate that (1) companies with demand for accounting financial experts—measured by potential litigation risk—seem to be able to secure ac.
Do Firms Manage Earnings to Meet Dividend Thresholds?

Dividend-paying firms tend to manage earnings upward when their earnings would otherwise fall short of expected dividend levels. This behavior is evident only in firms with positive debt and is more aggressive prior to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, subsequent to the 2003 dividend tax cut, in high-payout firms, in firms whose CEOs receive higher dollar dividends and have higher pay-performance sensitivities, and in firms that raise less outside equity. Moreover, this earnings management behavior appears to significantly impact the likelihood of a dividend cut. Our findings imply that managers treat expected dividend levels as an important earnings threshold.
Segmenting and Profiling the Portuguese Festival-Goers Through the Most Ancient Form of Music Retailing: The Music Festivals

This article intends to segment and profile the festival-goers in Portugal, and through a mixed mode survey of 657 Portuguese citizens using latent segments models, a three-segment solution was achieved: music lovers, 53%; networkers, 33%; and tourists, 14%. The majority of the festival-goers, the music lovers, consider Optimus Alive the most memorable festival because of the music and these results should be conveniently used for music retailing purposes. The model identified the demographic factors that contributed the most to the solution, and according to each segment, several recommendations to festivals organizations are presented.
Sarcopenia and the analysis of body composition.

Reduction of lean mass is a primary body composition change associated with aging. Because many factors contribute to lean mass reduction, the problem has been given various names depending on the proposed cause, such as "age-related sarcopenia," "dynapenia," "myopenia," "sarcopenic obesity," or simply "sarcopenia. " There is currently no consensus on how to best diagnose the reduction of lean mass and its consequences on health. We propose that simple body composition methods can be used to indirectly evaluate sarcopenia, provided that those techniques are validated against the "quality of lean" criterion that associates muscle mass and metabolic function with the components of fat-free mass. Promising field methods include the use of stable isotopes for the evaluation of water compartments and new approaches to bioelectrical impedance analysis, which is also associated with the monitoring of water homeostasis.
Bone marrow biopsy in the diagnosis of fever of unknown origin in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

BACKGROUND Fever is commonly observed in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease and frequently eludes diagnosis. The role of bone marrow biopsy in the diagnosis of fever of unknown origin in patients infected with HIV remains controversial. PATIENTS AND METHODS One hundred twenty-three consecutive patients with 137 episodes of fever lasting 10 or more days without diagnosis after 1 week of hospitalization were evaluated by bone marrow biopsy. RESULTS Overall, a specific diagnosis was achieved in 52 episodes by means of culture and histopathological examination (diagnostic yield, 37.9%). Three types of disease were found: mycobacterial infections (n = 36, 69% of documented episodes), including 18 patients with disseminated tuberculosis and 14 with Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex infections; non-Hodgkin lymphomas (n = 12, 23%); and visceral leishmaniasis (n = 4, 8%). Although bone marrow cultures were more sensitive than microscopic examination with special stains for the diagnosis of mycobacterial infections, the pathological examination of bone marrow led to a more rapid diagnosis of disease. In addition, the histopathological examination of bone marrow alone led to the diagnosis of a specific condition in 43 episodes (31.3% of all episodes). CONCLUSIONS Bone marrow biopsy is a useful procedure for the diagnosis of fever in patients with advanced HIV disease, particularly in areas where tuberculosis and leishmaniasis are prevalent. Involvement of the marrow may be the first indication of the existence of extranodal non-Hodgkin lymphoma. For Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex infection, blood cultures were more sensitive than bone marrow biopsy.
Pulmonary , gastrointestinal and urogenital pharmacology Cytokine production by PBMC and serum from allergic and non-allergic subjects following in vitro histamine stimulation to test fexofenadine and osthole anti-allergic properties

FXF is a third-generation antihistamine drug and osthole is assumed a natural antihistamine alternative. This paper compares peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) incubation with FXF and osthole, by studying FXF, osthole and histamine cytokine secretion in PBMC in vitro cultures. Mabtech kits determined the interleukins IL-1β, IL-4, IL-10, IL-13 and TNF-α. The influence of the above active substances on cytokine secretion in PBMC's and serum was assessed: cytokines were IL-1β, IL-4, IL-10, IL-13 and TNF-α; and cytokine levels secreted by untreated PBMCs in pure culture medium formed the absolute control (ctrl). We determined that osthole affects PBMC cytokine secretion to almost precisely the same extent as FXF (IL1β, IL-4, IL-10 and TNF). In addition osthole had greater IL-13 blocking ability than FXF. Moreover, we observed significantly decreased IL-4 level in histamine/osthole theatment compared to histamine alone. Meanwhile, FXF not significantly decrease the level of IL-4 increased by histamine. This data indicates osthole's strong role in allergic inflamation. All results confirm our hypothesis that osthole is a natural histamine antagonist and therefore can be beneficially used in antihistamine treatment of conditions such as allergies.
Choice Under Uncertainty: Evidence from Ethiopia, India and Uganda

We review experimental evidence collected from risky choice experiments using poor subjects in Ethiopia, India and Uganda. Using these data we estimate that just over 50% of our sample behaves in accordance with expected utility theory and that the rest subjectively weight probability according to prospect theory. Our results show that inferences about risk aversion are robust to whichever model we adopt when we estimate each model separately. However, when we allow both models to explain portions of the data simultaneously, we infer risk aversion for subjects behaving according to expected utility theory and risk-seeking behaviour for subjects behaving according to prospect theory.
Characterization of the mutational specificity of DNA cross-linking mutagens by the Lac+ reversion assay with Escherichia coli.

The mutational specificities of DNA cross-linking compounds such as cisplatin, transplatin, carboplatin, mitomycin C, psoralen, and 8-methoxypsoralen were investigated in lacZ reversion assay systems of Escherichia coli. Tester strains were constructed by introducing the six kinds of F' plasmids (lacI-, lacZ461, and proAB+), each of which carries a different base-substitution mutation within the lacZ gene. Each of the six possible base-substitution mutations was assayed by Lac+ reversion. Cisplatin induced G.C-->A.T transitions and G.C-->T.A transversions, with the former predominating. Transplatin induced A.T-->G.C transitions in addition to G.C-->A.T transitions and G.C-->T.A. Carboplatin weakly induced G.C-->A.T transitions. On the other hand, mitomycin C induced only G.C-->T.A transversions, while psoralen and 8-methoxypsoralen reactivated with near-UV irradiation induced A.T-->G.C transitions preferentially. The Lac(+) reversion system was very convenient for rapidly determining mutational spectra.