Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Precipitating and relieving factors of migraine headache in 200 iraqi kurdish patients.

OBJECTIVES To study the precipitating and relieving factors of migraine headache in a group of Iraqi Kurdish patients including the effect of fasting in Ramadan, and to estimate the percentage of family history of migraine. METHODS A series of 200 migraine cases from different parts of the Kurdistan region in the North of Iraq attending the out-patient Neurology clinic at Rizgary Teaching Hospital and a private Neurology clinic at Erbil City was carried out between October 2007 and May 2008 were reviewed. The precipitating factors and relieving factors for migraine headache were registered and tabulated to be compared with others. Case definition of migraine was based on the International Headache Society (IHS) criteria. RESULTS 33% of the patients were aged between 30-39 years, while 40.5% of patients experienced their first attack aged between 20-29 years. Stress or psychological upset was the commonest triggering factor (80%), followed by increasing physical activity (68%), change in weather (65.5%), and in relation to fasting (65%). Fasting in Ramadan was a triggering factor for headaches in 65% of patients. However, there was no significant association between the triggering factors with regards to sex difference. Relief of migraine in the studied sample was achieved using NSAIDs in 50% of patients, and sleep (45.5%). Hence, 61% of the study population had positive family history of migraine, 32.5% of them reported maternal history of migraine. CONCLUSION Psychological upset, stress and excessive physical activity were the commonest triggering factors of migraine headache, while NSAID was the commonest relieving factor of migraine in this population. Family history was present in 61% of migraine patients based mainly from maternal root.
Observability and Subjective Performance Measurement

type="main"> Accounting research provides theory and evidence on the choice and use of subjective performance measures for evaluating managerial performance. However, accounting research does not focus on the subjective performance measurement of managerial behaviour once measures have been chosen. We extend accounting research by investigating the factors that influence the subjective performance measurement decision. We predict that the level of subjective performance measurement is influenced by the informativeness of financial performance measures and by the verifiability of the nonfinancial measures in a formula-based incentive plan. We expect that the measures' informativeness and verifiability depends on the observability of both the managerial behaviour being subjectively measured and the reliability of the financial and nonfinancial performance measures. More specifically, we hypothesize that the influence of the levels of the financial performance measures on the level of subjective performance measurement is moderated by the observability of either the managerial behaviour being measured (for the financial measures) or the performance measures' reliability (for the nonfinancial measures). Data from a firm provide support for our hypotheses.
The Relationship between Implied and Realized Volatility in the Danish Option and Equity Markets

In this paper we examine the information content of options on the Danish KFX share index. These options are traded very infrequently and with a low volume. We consider the relationship between the volatility implied in an option's price and the subsequently realized volatility. Recently, Christensen and Prabhala (1998) find that implied volatility in at-the-money one month OEX call options on the S&P100 index is an unbiased and efficient forecast of ex-post realized index volatility after the 1987 stock market crash. Gwilym and Buckle (1999) study the UK FTSE100 index and find that although historical volatility estimates have greater accuracy, implied volatility contains more information, based on regression tests, in particular when very short maturities are avoided. In this paper we investigate whether the UK and US markets are special, and whether the infrequent trading and low volume in the KFX case lead to bias and inefficiency in the implied volatility forecast. We examine one month at-the-money KFX calls and similar puts, and we introduce an implied volatility measure that combines information from both call and put prices. We find that implied volatility indeed contains information about realized index return volatility. In fact, implied volatility remains significant even in the multiple regression where historical volatility is included, it subsumes the information content of this, and the bias in the implied volatility forecast is insignificant. The results suggest that the finding in the OEX market may be extended to the much smaller KFX market.
Molecular diagnostics and personalized medicine in oncology: Challenges and opportunities

Increasing evidence demonstrates that target‐based agents are active only in molecularly selected populations of patients. Therefore, the identification of predictive biomarkers has become mandatory to improve the clinical development of these novel drugs. Mutations of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) or rearrangements of the ALK gene in non‐small‐cell lung cancer, and BRAF mutations in melanoma are clear examples of driver mutations and predictive biomarkers of response to treatment with specific inhibitors. Predictive biomarkers might also identify subgroups of patients that are not likely to respond to specific drugs, as shown for KRAS mutations and anti‐EGFR monoclonal antibodies in colorectal carcinoma. The discovery of novel driver molecular alterations and the availability of drugs capable to selectively block such oncogenic mechanisms are leading to a rapid increase in the number of putative biomarkers that need to be assessed in each single patient. In this respect, two different approaches are being developed to introduce a comprehensive molecular characterization in clinical practice: high throughput genotyping platforms, which allow the detection of recognized genetic aberrations in clinical samples, and next generation sequencing that can provide information on all the different types of cancer‐causing alterations. The introduction of these techniques in clinical practice will increase the possibility to identify molecular targets in each individual patient, and will also allow to follow the molecular evolution of the disease during the treatment. By using these approaches, the development of personalized medicine for patients with cancer will finally become possible. J. Cell. Biochem. 114: 514–524, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Re‐defining corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Nigeria's post‐amnesty oil industry

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to highlight the opportunity that exists within the ambience of peace in the Niger Delta precipitated by the amnesty deal; particularly for the oil‐multinationals that operate there, to re‐invent the delivery of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to maintain peaceful relations with their hosts and therefore optimize their business potentials.Design/methodology/approach – The method is purely a review of extant literatures and deductive arguments that will give insights to how conflict situations arising from denial of rights can be resolved through the CSR and stakeholder's perspective.Findings – The paper concludes that the oil‐multinationals operating in the Niger Delta region ought to take advantage of the ambience of relative peace which has been created by the amnesty initiative to re‐invent their relationship with their host‐communities.Practical implications – The oil‐multinationals must seize the opportunity of a peaceful operating environment precipitated .
Production Functions with Constant Elasticities of Substitution

Abstract : The class of production functions for which elasticities of substitution are all constant regardless of factor prices is discussed. Let f(x1,x2) be a production function where x1 and x2 respectively represent the amounts of factors 1 and 2 employed. Production is assumed to be subject to constant returns to scale and to diminishing marginal rates of substitution. (Author)
When Necessity Becomes a Virtue: The Effect of Product Market Competition on Corporate Social Responsibility

We test whether Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is driven by strategic considerations by empirically studying the link between competition and firms' social performance. We find that firms in more competitive industries have better social ratings. In particular, we show that (i) different market concentration proxies are negatively related to widely used CSR measures; (ii) that an increase in competition due to higher import penetration leads to superior CSR performance; (iii) that firms in more competitive environments have a superior environmental performance, measured by firm pollution levels; and (iv) that more product competition is associated to a larger within-industry CSR variance. We interpret these results as evidence that CSR is strategically chosen.
Who Manages Risk? An Empirical Examination of Risk Management Practices in the Gold Mining Industry

This article examines a new database that details corporate risk management activity in the North American gold mining industry. I find little empirical support for the predictive power of theories that view risk management as a means to maximize shareholder value. However, firms whose managers hold more options manage less gold price risk, and firms whose managers hold more stock manage more gold price risk, suggesting that managerial risk aversion may affect corporate risk management policy. Further, risk management is negatively associated with the tenure of firms' CFOs, perhaps reflecting managerial interests, skills, or preferences.
How to Cut the Seigniorage Cake into Fair Shares in an Enlarged EMU

The European Central Bank redistributes each year seigniorage from issuing euro notes to the National Central Banks of the euro countries. The key for this redistribution is, from 2008, based on the respective GDP and population proportions of the euro countries. Applying the distribution formula to the new EU countries from central and eastern Europe seems to give these countries a large net benefit compared with the seigniorage they bring in, i.e. their share of currency in circulation. However, as argued in this article, currency demand in the new EU member countries is expected to increase relative to the present group of euro countries - especially after gaining membership in the EMU because of integration of the financial markets and, in the longer term, catching-up growth. Hence, it is doubtful whether a large unintended redistribution of seigniorage to the benefit of acceding EMU countries will materialize in the future. Copyright (c) 2007 The Author(s); Journal compilation (c) 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Tradable Planning Permits to Control Land Development in Germany: A Laboratory Testbed Experiment

This article reports on the results of a market experiment with a trading system, where several municipalities in Germany were obliged to submit ‘planning permits’ for land development outside existing planning boundaries. This study was motivated by current literature proposals for the design of a nationwide permit scheme and tests this market-based policy with 11 communities in the Hanover Region. Subjects were equipped with specific field data about future building areas and their fiscal impact on community budgets for the period 2010–2024. The experiment consisted of two sessions, the first with urban planners and the second with students. The researchers set a proposed regulatory target and varied the initial allocation method for permits across two treatments. Prior to trading, permits were periodically allocated via grandfathering or increasingly substituted by auctions. Results show that a permit scheme could realize substantial cost savings compared with alternative command and control standards, even under market power (MP) conditions. Market efficiency and gains from trade were lower in the planner session. The substitution of permit auctioning for grandfathering did not lead to significant differences in price development, MP and efficiency.
Role of aminopeptidase activity in the regulation of the pressor activity of circulating angiotensins.

Aminopeptidase A (AmA; EC 3.4.11.7) can convert angiotensin II (AII) to angiotensin III (AIII), and aminopeptidase M (AmM; EC 3.4.11.2) has been shown to degrade AIII. The present study investigated angiotensin metabolism by AmA and AmM activities in rat plasma. Plasma AmA and AmM activities hydrolyzed glutamyl-2-naphthylamide and alanyl-2-naphthylamide at rates of 10.6 and 30.0 nmol/min/ml, respectively. Plasma hydrolysis of AII (4.1 +/- 0.5 nmol/min/ml) was only one-third as rapid as AIII (13.3 +/- 1.7 nmol/min/ml). The Km of AII and AIII for AmA and AmM were 90.3 +/- 14.3 and 29.5 +/- 8.2 microM, respectively. The aminopeptidase inhibitor amastatin was 40-fold more potent as an inhibitor of AmM activity (IC50 = 0.2 microM) than of AmA activity (IC50 = 8 microM). In order to examine metabolism in vivo, blood pressure responses to angiotensins were obtained in anesthesized rats before and during infusion of amastatin (16 nmol/min i.v.). Amastatin specifically inhibited plasma AmM and AmA activities 81 and 10%, respectively. Consistent with the lower inhibition of AmA, the potency of angiotensin I and AII were only slightly increased after amastatin. However, the potency of AIII and des(Asp1)angiotensin I were significantly increased regarding both maximal change in blood pressure and duration of action. These data support an important role for both AmA and AmM activities in the metabolism of circulating angiotensins and establish both the value and limitations of amastatin as an inhibitor of peripheral angiotensin metabolism.
On Systematic and Unsystematic Components of Financial Risk

THE RELATION between the characteristics of uncertain cash flows and their equilibrium prices in perfect capital markets is one of the main topics of analysis in the theory of finance. Within this context, the issue of the existence of "unsystematic" risks has aroused considerable interest and controversy. One way of defining the problem can be the following: is it possible to consider all financial prospects as sums of two components, so that one-the systematic component-is perfectly correlated among all securities, and the other-the residual or unsystematic component-is uncorrelated with the first and does not affect the price of the prospect? The origin of the controversy is the apparent disagreement between the results of Sharpe [10] and Lintner [7]. Sharpe was first to consider the idea and he also coined the term "systematic. " Given certain assumptions about the market, Sharpe's answer to the question as posed above is in the affirmative. Furthermore, the systematic component is shown in Sharpe's analysis to be perfectly correlated with the market portfolio, which is composed of all outstanding securities. Lintner's conclusions on this issue are exactly the opposite, namely: "Other things being equal, stock values. will always vary inversely with the residual variance (or "standard error of estimate") of their regression on either external index of business conditions or the composite market preformance of the entire group of stocks composing the market" [7, p. 588]. In a comparative analysis of the two studies, Fama [4] distinguishes two different models in Sharpe's article. He shows the first-the capital asset pricing model-to be in complete agreement with Lintner's model. Fama calls the second model the market model, and shows that the assumptions implicit in it are inconsistent. As for the issue of systematic and unsystematic risk, Fama seems to adopt Lintner's position that unsystematic risks (as defined above) cannot exist. The present note is an additional (and probably not the last) chapter in this altogether intriguing discussion. We shall show that the so called "market model" can best be interpreted as an alternative presentation rather than a set of assumptions comprising a "model. " Under the suggested interpretation, Sharpe's original result holds. The issue of systematic risk is then analyzed in the light of results derived by this author elsewhere [2]. It is shown that systematic and unsystematic components can be identified whenever equilbrium prices exist, regardless of
The Pricing of Corporate Debt: A Further Note

IN A MAJOR ARTICLE in 1974, Merton [3] described a model giving a formula for the risk premium H on risky zero-coupon debt. Recently Lee [2] re-examined Merton's model and gave somewhat different graphs for H as a function of time. While Lee eliminated a source of confusion which arose from one of Merton's graphs, Lee's graph is not entirely correct. The purpose of this note is to prove mathematically two properties of H which will settle the disparities. We now set forth the issue in detail. Merton described inter alia how H varied with d, T and a 2 where
A QUEST FOR LITERATURE IN ELT COURSEBOOKS

The mission of literature in ELT has undergone a change for the last century. Once both a vehicle and an aim for teaching foreign language, literature now seems to remain out of center. Although it has various benefits for language learners, it reaches language classes only when the teacher is willing to make use of it, which is suggested by the studies conducted on teaching literature (Ross, 1991; Timucin, 2001; Wang, 2009). Following the language teacher, coursebooks are the second primary input source in a classroom. In other words, if a teacher is reluctant to use literary texts in the lesson, the coursebook is the only provider for literature to be benefited. Therefore, this study aims at exploring to what extent literary texts and literary elements are used in ELT coursebooks. ELT coursebooks used in the preparatory schools of state universities in Ankara were analyzed for literary texts and elements. In addition, two ELT coursebook series which were published in the last 20 years and are not used anymore were analyzed in order to see whether ELT coursebooks differ with regard to the quantity of literary texts and elements in the last 20 years. In total, 22 coursebooks from different levels were analyzed. The finding reveals that ELT coursebooks contain bits and pieces of literature and there has been decrease in the number of literary texts in the currently used coursebooks.
African-American Trailblazers: The Sociopolitical Factors of Success

African-American Trailblazers: The Sociopolitical Factors of Success ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people knowingly and unknowingly contributed to this project. First, I must thank my family. While anybody would be fortunate to have just one of them, I have four incredibly supportive parents and may not be completing this without my mother, father, and their respective spouses, Bill and Martha. My little brothers, Colin and Carter may not know they had anything to do with this project, but they did, and I am proud of each of you. Also, to only mention the editing that Ryan Brennan offered to this paper would grossly understate his impact. As far as I am concerned, you are my third brother. Although I probably don't say it enough, I love you all and am grateful to have you in my life. In more of an academic sense, there are many teachers and professors deserving of thanks. Each of you has had some impact on my intellectual development throughout the years. However, I must single out the following faculty members for their contributions: a colleague on the larger project that this thesis was derived from, and I have spent many hours and late nights exchanging emails, editing sections, and creating presentations. I am appreciative of each of those hours and nights. Perhaps most importantly, I must offer my gratitude to Dr. Susan MacManus. Words cannot adequately express the importance she has had not just in my studies, but my life. Not often does a foremost expert on a subject take the time to mentor and develop an eighteen year-old freshman. She has supervised this project, but her African-American Trailblazers: The Sociopolitical Factors of Success iii four years of guidance has been the most notable reason I am completing this thesis today. Thank you for everything. Throughout the history of the United States various terms have been used to describe people of African heritage. Merely decades ago, the offensive use of " Negro " and " colored " was widely accepted, even in academic circles. There is still debate concerning the use of " African-American " compared to " black. " While " African-American " remains politically correct, opposition has come from Caribbean-born blacks who feel the term excludes them. Different disciplines varying preferences further complicate the issue. Despite, or perhaps because of, the interdisciplinary nature of this project, the two terms (African-American and black) will be used …
Job Mobility and the Careers of Young Men

We study the joint processes of job mobility and wage growth among young men drawn from the Longitudinal Employee-Employer Data. Following individuals at three month intervals from their entry into the labor market, we track career patterns of job changing and the evolution of wages for up to 15 years. Following an initial period of weak attachment to both the labor force and particular employers, careers tend to stabilize in the sense of strong labor force attachment and increasing durability of jobs. During the first 10 years in the labor market, a typical young worker will work for seven employers, which accounts for about two-thirds of the total number of jobs he will hold in his career. The evolution of wages plays a key role in this transition to stable employment: we estimate that wage gains at job changes account for at least a third of early-career wage growth, and that the wage is the key determinant of job changing decisions among young workers. We conclude that the process of job changing for young workers, while apparently haphazard, is a critical component of workers' move toward the stable employment relations that characterize mature careers.
Automatic Sleep Monitoring Using Ear-EEG

The monitoring of sleep patterns without patient’s inconvenience or involvement of a medical specialist is a clinical question of significant importance. To this end, we propose an automatic sleep stage monitoring system based on an affordable, unobtrusive, discreet, and long-term wearable in-ear sensor for recording the electroencephalogram (ear-EEG). The selected features for sleep pattern classification from a single ear-EEG channel include the spectral edge frequency and multi-scale fuzzy entropy, a structural complexity feature. In this preliminary study, the manually scored hypnograms from simultaneous scalp-EEG and ear-EEG recordings of four subjects are used as labels for two analysis scenarios: 1) classification of ear-EEG hypnogram labels from ear-EEG recordings; and 2) prediction of scalp-EEG hypnogram labels from ear-EEG recordings. We consider both 2-class and 4-class sleep scoring, with the achieved accuracies ranging from 78.5% to 95.2% for ear-EEG labels predicted from ear-EEG, and 76.8% to 91.8% for scalp-EEG labels predicted from ear-EEG. The corresponding Kappa coefficients range from 0.64 to 0.83 for Scenario 1, and indicate substantial to almost perfect agreement, while for Scenario 2 the range of 0.65–0.80 indicates substantial agreement, thus further supporting the feasibility of in-ear sensing for sleep monitoring in the community.