Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cardiac resynchronisation therapy response predicts occurrence of atrial fibrillation in non‐ischaemic dilated cardiomyopathy

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine whether or not cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) has a favourable effect on the incidence of new‐onset atrial fibrillation (AF) in a homogeneous population of patients with non‐ischaemic idiopathic‐dilated cardiomyopathy and severe heart failure.
Treatment of macular holes with the argon laser.

A MACULAR HOLE IS SEEN FOLLOWING OCULAR TRAUMA AND IN A VARIETY OF ocular diseases, including myopic degeneration, chronic cystoid macular edema, vitreous contraction, and contraction of epiretinal membranes.1 Although the central visual loss is frequently profound, peripheral vision is retained since retinal detachment rarely extends beyond the posterior pole.2'3 Prophylactic laser coagulation of macular holes has been infrequently performed because of the low incidence of a total retinal detachment and poor visual results.4'5 The poor visual results may well have been due to the large treatment spots produced by the xenon coagulator. Further, for macular holes that were eccentrically located, a substantial part of the visual loss could be attributed to the surrounding halo of retinal detachment. We (SS and VL) were initially encouraged by results of laser treatment in 1973 when we noted collapse of the halo of detachment surrounding the macular hole and visual improvement from 20/400 to 20/100 following laser treatment to 3600 of the rim of the hole. We later realized that the halo of detachment could be resolved by treating only part of the rim, allowing the patient to fixate with the untreated rim. L'Esperance6 has suggested that if the macular hole is surrounded by progressively increasing retinal detachment, one should seal off the detachment by applying a delimiting ring of argon laser coagulation at the junction between the detached and flat retina, using 100-,u laser coagulations. Recently, Gass' reported resolution of a macular hole and associated detachment following photocoagulation of the hole. In this paper, we report results of the sealing retinal holes in 15 patients by laser coagulation. Part of the rim of the hole was sealed in order to allow the localized retinal detachment to be absorbed by the focal coagulation, such that the
Risk Premiums, Liquidities, and Bubbles under Heterogeneous Beliefs

We develop a model in which investors have heterogeneous beliefs about both the mean and the risk of future signals and the final stock payoff. As investors who perceive the lowest risk vary across different periods, the overall perception of the market risk is reduced in an economy with dynamic trading, always reducing risk premium and increasing market liquidity. Bubbles can arise without the short-sales constraint. We show that the more frequently investors trade in the future, the more liquid the market today, which provides potential explanations for a number of empirical findings.
Brighter Prospects? Assessing the Franchise Advantage Using Census Data

This paper uses Census micro data to examine how starting a business as a franchise rather than an independent business affects its survival and growth prospects. We first consider the factors that influence the business owner's decision about being franchised, and then use different empirical approaches to correct for selection bias in our performance analyses. We find that franchised businesses on average benefit from higher survival rates and faster initial growth relative to independent businesses. However, the effects are not large and, conditional on first-year survival, the differences basically disappear. We briefly discuss potential mechanisms to explain these results. U.S. Census Bureau. All results have been reviewed to ensure that no confidential information is disclosed. Support for this research at the Michigan Census Research Data Center is gratefully acknowledged.
The Effect of Tensile Price Claim and Price Discount Disconfirmation on Online Customers’ Perceptions and Purchase Intentions

ii Acknowledgments . iv Vita . v List of Figures . xvi CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1. Overview . 1 1.2. Problem Statement . 6 1.3. Purpose . 8 1.4. Significance of the Study . 12 1.5. Definitions of Terms . 13 CHAPTER 2 : REVIEW OF LITERATURE . 17 2.1. Overview of Background Knowledge . 17 2.1.1. Price-Quality-Value (P-Q-V) Model . 17 2.1.2. Price Promotion . 24 2.1.3. Customers’ Information Processing Strategies . 26 2.1.4. Price Expectation . 28 2.1.5. Price Discount Framing Effect . 33 2.1. 6. Tensile Price Claim (TPC) . 34 viii 2.1. 7. Perceived Risks . 36 2.1. 8. Perceived Savings . 40 2.2. Theoretical Frameworks . 41 2.2.1. Theoretical Overview . 41 2.2.2. Assimilation-Contrast Theory . 45 2.2.3. Anchoring and Adjustment Theory . 48 2.2. 4. Application for the Present study . 50 2.3. A Proposed Model and Hypotheses . 51 2.3. 1. Price Discount Disconfirmation (PDD): Discrepancy between APD and EPD . 51 2.3. 2. Effect of PDD on Perceived Quality . 52 2.3. 3. Effect of PDD on Perceived Quality Risk . 52 2.3. 4. Effect of the PDD on Perceived Savings . 54 2.3. 5. Effect of PDD on Perceived Sacrifice Risk . 55 2.3. 6. Effect of Perceived Quality on Perceived Value . 57 2.3. 7. Effect of Perceived Quality Risk on Perceived Value . 58 2.3. 8. Effect of Perceived Savings on Perceived Value . 58 2.3. 9. Effect of Perceived Sacrifice Risk on Perceived Value . 59 2.3. 10. Effect of Perceived Value on Purchase Intentions . 59
Predicting Forest Evapotranspiration by Coupling Carbon and Water Cycling Based on a Critical Stomatal Conductance Model

Quantifying forest evapotranspiration (ET) is essential for understanding of climatic response of forest carbon and water cycling. However, there are still large uncertainties in forest ET predictions, especially in plant transpiration (PT). The poor estimations of forest ET and PT are largely attributed to the neglect of wet canopy evaporation and uncertainties in the stomatal conductance. Thus, by coupling a revised Ball—Woodrow–Berry (BWB) model, a precipitation intercepted algorithm and the gross primary production (GPP) model to Shuttleworth–Wallace (SW) model, this study introduced a modified SW <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX"> ${\rm{(SW}}_{{\rm{m}}})$</tex-math></inline-formula> model. The performances of this model were subsequently tested in three different forest sites with long-term observed records. Compared with previous models, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\rm{SW}}_{{\rm{m}}}$</tex-math></inline-formula> had a canopy stomatal scheme with stronger ecological significance and simpler GPP estimation scheme. Our analyses reveal the following. 1) <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\rm{SW}}_{{\rm{m}}}$</tex-math></inline-formula> evidently improves the agreements between estimated and measured ET compared to original SW (<italic>R</italic><sup>2</sup> increasing by 0.19–0.68). <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\rm{SW}}_{{\rm{m}}}$</tex-math></inline-formula> could more accurately partition PT and evaporation, when compared with an earlier BWB-based SW (<italic>R</italic><sup>2 </sup> increasing by ∼0.03). This finding also supports the use of Lohammer function in semiempirical model of stomatal conductance. 2) Accurate predictions of GPP are helpful for improving ET estimations in <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\rm{SW}}_{{\rm{m}}}\,(r\,= \,{\text{0.73,\,p}}\, < \,{\text{0.01}})$</tex-math> </inline-formula>, suggesting that carbon and water fluxes are inherently linked. 3) In addition to GPP, leaf area index evidently affects the performances of estimated ET in <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX"> ${\rm{SW}}_{{\rm{m}}}$</tex-math></inline-formula>. These results suggest that critically coupling carbon and water cycling are very important for improving forest ET prediction.
Asystole to cross‐clamp period predicts development of biliary complications in liver transplantation using donation after cardiac death donors

This study sought to determine the procurement factors that lead to development of intrahepatic bile duct strictures (ITBS) and overall biliary complications in recipients of donation after cardiac death (DCD) liver grafts. Detailed information for different time points during procurement (withdrawal of support; SBP < 50 mmHg; oxygen saturation <30%; mandatory wait period; asystole; incision; aortic cross clamp) and their association with the development of ITBS and overall biliary complications were examined using logistic regression. Two hundred and fifteen liver transplants using DCD donors were performed between 1998 and 2010 at Mayo Clinic Florida. Of all the time periods during procurement, only asystole‐cross clamp period was significantly different between patients with ITBS versus no ITBS (P = 0.048) and between the patients who had overall biliary complications versus no biliary complications (P = 0.047). On multivariate analysis, only asystole‐cross clamp period was significant predictor for development of ITBS (P = 0.015) and development of overall biliary complications (P = 0.029). Hemodynamic changes in the agonal period did not emerge as risk factors. The results of the study raise the possibility of utilizing asystole‐cross‐clamp period in place of or in conjunction with donor warm ischemia time in determining viability or quality of liver grafts.
Modeling Twitter Engagement in Real-World Events

Twitter offers tremendous opportunities for people to engage with real-world events (e.g., political election) through information sharing and communicating about these events. However, little is understood about the factors that affect people’s Twitter engagement (e.g., posting) in such real-world events. This paper examines multiple predictive factors associated with four different perspectives of users’ Twitter engagement, and quantify their potential influence on predicting the (i) presence; and (ii) degree of the user’s engagement with real-world events. We find that the measures of people’s prior Twitter activities, topical interests, geolocation, and social network structures are all variously correlated to their engagement with real-world events.
Endometrial carcinoma: Clinical‐pathologic comparison of cases in postmenopausal women receiving and not receiving exogenous estrogens

Clinical and pathologic findings were compared in 43 postmenopausal endometrial carcinoma patients who had received exogenous estrogens prior to diagnosis and 79 similar patients unexposed to estrogens. Estrogen non‐users were more likely to manifest lower parity, later menopause, obesity, hypertension, and diabetes, all of which have been considered to be constitutional risk factors for the development of endometrial carcinoma. Although estrogen users and non‐users had similar extent of disease as judged by clinical stage, there was a tendency to more myometrial invasion in hysterectomy specimens from non‐users, as well as a greater frequency of unfavorable histologic types and grades of tumor. At short‐term follow‐up, more recurrences occurred in non‐users, and this tendency appeared to be independent of clinical stage, histologic type, histologic grade, or modality of treatment. The significance of these and other observations to the determination of the risk‐benefit ratio for estrogen administration is discussed.
Bycatch and illegal wildlife trade on the dark web

of botanists over centuries. One of the challenges for the creation of the database was a paucity of available information on the floras of certain regions. The database contains country-level records but also incorporates province-level data for Brazil, China, South Africa and the USA. BGCI encourages submissions from regions where data may not be as readily available, to improve the database. In addition, there is scope for increasing the amount of regional data for other countries as new data become available. For example, island-level data for countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines would be useful for conservation planning and forestry. BGCI’s main reason for undertaking the challenge of documenting tree diversity was to provide a tool for people trying to conserve rare and threatened tree species. GlobalTreeSearch will form the backbone of the Global Tree Assessment (Oryx, , , –), an initiative to assess the conservation status of all tree species by . This will allow the prioritization of the tree species that are most in need of conservation action so we can ensure that no tree species is lost forever. Current knowledge suggests that at least one in five tree species are threatened with extinction, although this is likely to be a substantial underestimate. The database will also be used by forestry and restoration practitioners. GlobalTreeSearch contributes to Target  of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (An online flora of all known plants) and will have direct uses in monitoring and managing tree species diversity, forests and carbon stocks. The database is not a static entity, and will be updated as new information becomes available.
Relationship of blood pressure to retinal vessel diameter in type 1 diabetes mellitus.

OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship of blood pressure (BP) and use of angiotensin-receptor blocker or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor to retinal vessel diameter in normotensive, normoalbuminuric persons with type 1 diabetes mellitus. METHODS In a randomized, controlled clinical trial, clinic and 24-hour ambulatory BPs were measured in persons with type 1 diabetes mellitus and gradable fundus photographs both at baseline (n = 147) and at 5-year follow-up (n = 124). Retinal arteriole and venule diameters were measured by a computer-assisted technique. Individual arteriole and venule measurements were combined into summary indexes that reflect the average retinal arteriole (central retinal arteriole equivalent [CRAE]) and venule (central retinal venule equivalent [CRVE]) diameter of an eye, respectively. RESULTS While controlling for age, study site, glycosylated hemoglobin level, and ambulatory pulse rate, the daytime ambulatory systolic (-0.29-microm effect per 1 mm Hg; P = .02), daytime ambulatory diastolic (-0.44-microm effect per 1 mm Hg; P = .04), nighttime ambulatory systolic (-0.27-microm effect per 1 mm Hg; P = .03), and 24-hour ambulatory systolic (-0.31-microm effect per 1 mm Hg; P = .03) BPs were cross-sectionally associated with a smaller CRAE. While controlling for age, study site, glycosylated hemoglobin level, ambulatory pulse rate, and baseline CRAE, no BP measure was associated with a change in CRAE or CRVE during 5 years of follow-up. Treatment with losartan potassium or enalapril maleate was not associated with a statistically significant change in CRAE or CRVE. CONCLUSION Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or angiotensin-receptor blocker therapy does not affect retinal arteriole or venule diameter in normotensive persons with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00143949.
The potential of activation of somatostatinergic neurotransmission with FK960 in Alzheimer’s disease

Somatostatin levels are reduced in post mortem brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). FK960 is a somatostatin-releasing agent. After oral administration to rhesus monkeys, FK960 is distributed to the entire brain. In patients with AD, regional cerebral blood flow and regional cerebral metabolic rate of glucose correlate with cognitive decline and the appearance of pathological changes. Aged rhesus monkeys are a good animal model of AD as they develop age-associated cognitive impairment. FK960 (1 mg/kg) caused modest increases in regional cerebral blood flow and regional cerebral metabolic rate of glucose in aged monkeys, suggesting that FK960 will improve cognition. Thus, the activation of somatostatinergic neurotransmission, with FK960 or a similar drug, has considerable potential in the treatment of cognitive impairment.
A Computer Program for Solving LP Problems by 2-Basic Variables Replacement at Each Simplex Iteration

In this paper, we develop a computer technique to implement the existing 2-basic variable replacement method of Paranjape for solving linear programming (LP) problems. To our knowledge there is no such computer oriented program which implemented Paranjape’s method. Our computer oriented program is a faster method for solving linear programs. A number of numerical examples are illustrated to demonstrate our algorithm. Dhaka Univ. J. Sci. 61(1): 13-18, 2013 (January) DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.3329/dujs.v61i1. 15090
Enhance Online Purchase Intentions: The Role of Perceived Value, Trust, and Commitment

The market for online travel agencies is steadily increasing. Therefore, it is important to explore travelers’ behavior as they choose online travel agencies. This study adopted the commitment-trust theory to examine the relations among trust, commitment, perceived value, and repurchase intentions. Results indicated that perceived value by travelers positively influenced trust and commitment. In addition, travelers’ trust positively influenced commitment and travelers’ commitment positively influenced repurchase intentions. However, travelers’ trust was not found to positively influence repurchase intentions. A major finding is that the commitment-trust theory has been shown to be a good research model for predicting travelers’ repurchases intentions. Thus, repurchase intentions serve as a good outcome variable in this model. Online travel agencies are growing faster than traditional travel agencies because of their numerous strengths, such as timely response and immediate and cost-effective information. Meanwhile, results suggest that managers could focus their marketing efforts on providing and promoting benefits.
Tracing dung-derived carbon in temperate grassland using 13 C natural abundance measurements

To understand the role of dung-derived carbon in the carbon cycle of grazed temperate grasslands, we need a procedure to trace dung-derived C. The natural C tracer technique of applying C4 dung to a C3 grass pasture allowed us to succesfully quantify the fate of cattle dung in the soil environment. Dung was collected from beef steers fed on either maize (C4) or perennial ryegrass (C3). The C4 dung d13Cÿ 15:4- or C3 dung d13C  ÿ25:7- was applied in circular patches to a temperate (C3) grassland, with a bulk soil dC value of ÿ27. 9%. Triplicate samples were taken from 1±5, 5±10 and 10±20 cm depth in the soil, and from zero tension lysimeters (installed at 30 cm depth) at time intervals of 150 days following dung application. The soil and lysimeter solution samples (<0.7 mm-®ltered) were analysed for dC and total C. Dung C was readily detectable in the upper 5 cm of the soil pro®le, but not below that depth. After 150 days, only 16.6% of the applied dung-C was accounted for, with 12.6% of dung C being recovered in the soil (1±5 cm depth) and 4.0% in leachate waters collected in lysimeters (installed at 30 cm depth). Apparently, only a minor proportion of dung C is retained in the grassland ecosystem. 7 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Entrenching Innovation - The 4th UK Alternative Finance Industry Report

The 4th UK Alternative Finance Report from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF), the University of Cambridge Judge Business School, captures the size and growth of UK crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending markets in 2016. This research is based on surveys of more than 8,300 investors and lenders of online alternative finance as well as 77 crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending platforms in the United Kingdom. Based on these findings, the CCAF has provided input to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which is currently reviewing its regulatory regime for crowdfunding in the UK.
Culture and Accounting Practices in Indonesia

This article discusses the cultural impacts on the accounting values and practices in the context of Indonesia. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions (individualism versus collectivism, large versus small power distance, strong versus weak uncertainty avoidance and masculinity versus femininity) with Gray’s accounting values (professionalism versus statutory control, uniformity versus flexibility, conservatism versus optimism and secrecy versus transparency) are applied to Indonesia’s accounting systems and practices. The presented article showed that there has been small progress in enabling auditors or accountants to exercise their individual professional judgments. As a result of the capitalist system, with its heavy government intervention in the practices of the accounting profession, the professionalism in the accounting sector is still weak. This in turn influences the disclosure of accounting information. Indonesia’s collectivistically-oriented society thus has caused a lower level of professionalism where management, including accountants and auditors of the firms, find it difficult to exercise their professional judgments. This then has a direct impact on the uniformity of accounting practices as well as on the disclosure of accounting information. The strong avoidance of uncertainty in Indonesia results in the conservatism of accounting practices, where the use of the historical cost of asset valuation, recognition of internally-generated assets and amortization of those intangible assets are largely practised. There is a strongly masculine influence in the society, which causes secrecy, thus restricts the disclosure of accounting information with the intent of avoiding competition among the society. Mini-review Article Blesia; AJEBA, 4(4): 1-11, 2017; Article no.AJEBA. 36846 2
Multidimensional Knapsack Problem : The Influence of Representation

Fitness landscape analysis techniques are used to better understand the influence of genetic representations and associated variation operators when solving a combinatorial optimization problem. Five representations are investigated for the Multidimensional Knapsack problem. Common mutation operators (like bit-flip mutation) and classic 1-point and uniform crossover are employed to generate fitness landscapes. Measures such as fitness distance correlation and autocorrelation are applied to examine the landscapes associated with the tested genetic encodings. Furthermore, additional experiments are made to observe the effects of adding heuristics and local optimization to the representations. The goal of this work is to study the influence of representations on the design of efficient evolutionary algorithms. A comprehensive set of experiments is performed to accomplish this task. Results show that the selection of a suitable representation is crucial when solving combinatorial optimization problems. Encodings with a strong heuristic bias are more efficient and the addition of local optimization techniques further enhance its performance. Finally, results show that, for the Multidimensional Knapsack problem, the choice of a representation influences the selection of mutation.
Construals and Prospective Self-Control 1 RUNNING HEAD : CONSTRUALS AND PROSPECTIVE SELF-CONTROL Promoting Prospective Self-Control Through Abstraction

When people anticipate that future temptations may undermine valued goals, they use a number of prospective self-control strategies (or “precommitment devices”) to increase the likelihood of future self-control success. Little is known, however, about the conditions under which people are more or less likely to use them. Drawing from construal level theory (e.g., Trope & Liberman, 2003), we argue that people are more likely to engage in prospective selfcontrol when they construe events more abstractly (at higher-level construals). Results from two experiments demonstrated that higher-level construals promote use of two well-documented prospective strategies: choice bracketing and self-imposing punishment. Higher-level construals thus appear to enhance people’s efforts to protect their valued goals from anticipated temptations.