Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ethnicity, Goal Striving and Schizophrenia: A Case-Control Study of Three Ethnic Groups in the United Kingdom

Background: The need to achieve is common to all societies, and failure to do so may have a highly detrimental psychological impact. For those on the margins of mainstream society, especially migrants or descendants of migrants, the impact of failed or poor achievements may increase their vulnerability to mental illness. Aims: In a prospective study of schizophrenia in three ethnic groups (White, Indian and African-Caribbean) we studied the impact of goal striving and investigated whether the gap between the poor achievement and the high aspirations of members of some minority ethnic groups was potentially a factor contributing to the development of the illness. Methods: The patients and age- and sex-matched controls from their respective communities were asked to rate their perceived current levels of achievement and their past and future expectations in five domains - social standing, housing, education, employment and financial status on a 10-point scale. Results: The control subjects from the three ethnic groups scored similarly in most areas, supporting the validity of inter-ethnic comparisons. The gap between achievement and expectations did not appear to cause high disappointment levels in any group, and in fact only in the domain of housing did the African-Caribbean patients assess their current achievement as being significantly lower than that of their matched controls. Conclusions: Poor housing conditions may be one of the risk factors contributing to the high incidence of schizophrenia in African-Caribbeans.
Use of a raw meat-based diet or a dry kibble diet for sand cats (Felis margarita).

Limited information is available on the utilization of different types of diets by captive exotic felid species. Utilization of diets by small exotic felids may differ depending on the diet fed. Eight sand cats (Felis margarita), which are small, 2- to 4-kg cats, were used to examine the digestibility of two types of diets: a raw meat-based diet and a dry kibble diet. Dry matter, crude protein and energy intakes and digestibilities were evaluated. Digestibilities for dry matter, energy, and crude protein were 83.5 +/- 4.8, 89.6 +/- 5.2, 92.4 +/- 5.3% for the raw meat-based diet and 72.7 +/- 12.3, 76.8 +/- 14.5, and 77.9 +/- 13.5% for the kibble diet. Physiological variables also were examined and included plasma taurine, vitamin A, retinyl palmitate, beta-carotene, calcium, and phosphorus. Plasma taurine means were 91.4 +/- 8.4 mumol/L in cats consuming the raw meat-based diet and 248.0 +/- 23.2 mumol/L in cats consuming the kibble diet. Plasma phosphorus was 5.2 +/- . 1 and 4.5 +/- . 1 mg/dL, respectively, in cats consuming raw meat-based and kibble diets. beta-Carotene was 25.2 +/- 2.9 and 2.9 +/- . 3 micrograms/dL, respectively, for cats consuming the raw meat-based and kibble diets. These results indicate that diets formulated for small captive exotic felid species should be evaluated with respect to diet type and nutrient utilization.
An evolutionary CAPM under heterogeneous beliefs

Heterogeneity and evolutionary behaviour of investors are two of the most important characteristics of financial markets. This paper incorporates the adaptive behaviour of agents with heterogeneous beliefs and establishes an evolutionary capital asset pricing model (ECAPM) within the mean-variance framework. We show that the rational behaviour of agents switching to better-performing trading strategies can cause large deviations of the market price from the fundamental value of one asset to spill over to other assets. Also, this spill-over effect is associated with high trading volumes and persistent volatility characterized by significantly decaying autocorrelations of, and positive correlation between, price volatility and trading volume.
Determinants of Exchange-Rate Volatility: The Case of the New EU Members

Exchange-rate stability is not only a criterion for joining the Economic Monetary Union (EMU) but also a fundamental property of stable economic development. At present, new members of the European Union are trying to achieve this stability. However, there are several factors that could slow or interrupt these countries’ EMU-integration process. For this reason, this paper analyzes key factors contributing to euro exchange-rate volatility in the new EU members: economic openness, the “news” factor, and the exchange-rate regime. A TARCH (threshold autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity) model is employed to model the volatility of exchange rates. Although this paper focuses on each country separately, in general the results suggest that economic openness has a calming effect on exchange-rate volatility, news significantly affects volatility, and flexible regimes experience higher degrees of volatility. The extent of all these effects varies substantially across country, however.
Central retinal area is not the site where ganglion cells are generated first

The development of retinal ganglion cells (RGC) was studied in the chick from stage 18 to adulthood. Our main objectives were to identify the retinal site where the first RGCs differentiate, to locate this site relative to the optically defined central retinal area, and to map the spatial arrangement of the RGC field at different stages in development. The eyes of the experimental animals were fixed and serially sectioned. The borders of RGC fields were determined from the presence of either ganglion cell perikarya or ganglion cell axons. In seven cases between stages 21 and 26, the borders of the RGC fields were confirmed electron microscopically. The serial sections together with the RGC fields were then reconstructed in three dimensions. The reconstructed retinae were projected onto a plane by using the radially equidistant polar azimuthal projection.
Asymmetric Volatility in the Foreign Exchange Markets

We examine the presence or absence of asymmetric volatility in the exchange rates of Australian dollar (AUD), Euro (EUR), British pound (GBP) and Japanese yen (JPY), all against US dollar. Our investigation is based on a variant of the heterogeneous autoregressive realized volatility model, using daily realized variance and return series from 1996 to 2004. We find that a depreciation against USD leads to significantly greater volatility than an appreciation for AUD and GBP, whereas the opposite is true for JPY. Relative to volatility on days following a positive one-standard-deviation return, volatility on days following a negative one-standard-deviation return is higher by 6.6% for AUD, 6.1% for GBP, and 21.2% for JPY. The realized volatility of EUR appears to be symmetric. These results are robust to the removal of jump component from realized volatility and the sub-samplings defined by structural-changes. The asymmetry in AUD, GBP and JPY appears to be embedded in the continuous component of realized volatility rather than the jump component.
Acute Hepatic (or Hyperammonemic) Encephalopathy: Diffuse Cortical Injury and the Significance of Ammonia

We read with great interest the description by U-King-Im et al[1][1] in the February issue of the American Journal of Neuroradiology ( AJNR ) of 4 patients with “acute hyperammonemic encephalopathy” on diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). In the September 2010 issue of AJNR , we used a similar term
Origin-Destination Estimation for Non-Commuting Trips Using Location-Based Social Networking Data

The development of sustainable mobility solutions calls for significant advances in travel demand data collection beyond the long-term static planning data usually available at planning agencies. This paper proposes a combined clustering, regression, and gravity model to estimate an origin-destination (OD) matrix for non-commuting trips based on Foursquare user check-in data in the Chicago urban area. The estimated OD matrix is found to be similar to the ground-truth OD matrix obtained from CMAP (Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning). The potential applications for generating day-of-the-week and dynamic bihourly OD patterns from Foursquare data are also illustrated.
Intraventricular Thrombolysis Speeds Blood Clot Resolution: Results of a Pilot, Prospective, Randomized, Double-blind, Controlled Trial

OBJECTIVEAnimal models and clinical studies suggest that intraventricular thrombolysis improves clot resolution and clinical outcomes among patients with intraventricular hemorrhage. However, this intervention may increase the rates of rebleeding and infection. To assess the safety and efficacy of intraventricular thrombolysis, we conducted a pilot, randomized, double-blind, controlled, multicenter study. METHODSPatients with intraventricular hemorrhage requiring ventriculostomy were randomized to receive intraventricular injections of normal saline solution or urokinase (25,000 international units) at 12-hour intervals. Injections continued until ventricular drainage was discontinued according to prespecified clinical criteria. Head computed tomographic scans were obtained daily, for quantitative determinations of intraventricular hemorrhage volumes. The rate of clot resolution was estimated for each group. RESULTSTwelve subjects were enrolled (urokinase, seven patients; placebo, five patients). Commercial withdrawal of urokinase precluded additional enrollment. The urokinase and placebo groups were similar with respect to age (49.6 versus 55.2 yr, P = 0.43) and presenting Glasgow Coma Scale scores (7.14 versus 8.00, P = 0.72). Randomization to the urokinase treatment arm (P = 0.02) and female sex (P = 0.008) favorably affected the clot resolution rate. The sex-adjusted clot half-life for the urokinase-treated group was reduced 44.6%, compared with the value for the placebo group (4.69 versus 8.48 d). CONCLUSIONIntraventricular thrombolysis with urokinase speeds the resolution of intraventricular blood clots, compared with treatment with ventricular drainage alone.
MR imaging of the ipsilateral breast in women with percutaneously proven breast cancer.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to review MR imaging findings in the ipsilateral breast in women with percutaneously proven breast cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS Retrospective review was performed of records of 70 consecutive women with percutaneously proven unilateral breast cancer who were considered candidates for breast conservation surgery and who had preoperative MR imaging of the ipsilateral breast. MR images and medical records were reviewed. RESULTS MR imaging identified mammographically and clinically occult cancer other than the index lesion in the ipsilateral breast in 19 women (27%), including infiltrating cancer in 11 women (16%) and ductal carcinoma in situ in eight women (11%). These additional sites of cancer were in the same quadrant as the index cancer in 14 women (20%), in a different quadrant in three women (4%), and in both the same and different quadrants in two women (3%). Additional sites of cancer were more likely in women with, rather than in those without, a family history of breast cancer (42% vs 14%, p < 0.02) and in women whose index cancer was infiltrating lobular rather than other histologies (55% vs 22%, p < 0.06). In 17 women (24%), MR imaging detected ipsilateral lesions that were benign. Changes due to prior percutaneous biopsy were infrequently observed on MR images and included a clip in 12 women (17%) and a small hematoma in two women (3%). CONCLUSION MR imaging identified additional sites of ipsilateral cancer in 27% of women with percutaneously proven breast cancer. The yield was highest in women with a family history of breast cancer or infiltrating lobular histology in the index cancer. Change after biopsy was infrequent and did not interfere with the MR imaging interpretation.
Multiscale bilateral filtering for improving image quality in digital breast tomosynthesis.

PURPOSE Detection of subtle microcalcifications in digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) is a challenging task because of the large, noisy DBT volume. It is important to enhance the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of microcalcifications in DBT reconstruction. Most regularization methods depend on local gradient and may treat the ill-defined margins or subtle spiculations of masses and subtle microcalcifications as noise because of their small gradient. The authors developed a new multiscale bilateral filtering (MSBF) regularization method for the simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique (SART) to improve the CNR of microcalcifications without compromising the quality of masses. METHODS The MSBF exploits a multiscale structure of DBT images to suppress noise and selectively enhance high frequency structures. At the end of each SART iteration, every DBT slice is decomposed into several frequency bands via Laplacian pyramid decomposition. No regularization is applied to the low frequency bands so that subtle edges of masses and structured background are preserved. Bilateral filtering is applied to the high frequency bands to enhance microcalcifications while suppressing noise. The regularized DBT images are used for updating in the next SART iteration. The new MSBF method was compared with the nonconvex total p-variation (TpV) method for noise regularization with SART. A GE GEN2 prototype DBT system was used for acquisition of projections at 21 angles in 3° increments over a ± 30° range. The reconstruction image quality with no regularization (NR) and that with the two regularization methods were compared using the DBT scans of a heterogeneous breast phantom and several human subjects with masses and microcalcifications. The CNR and the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the line profiles of microcalcifications and across the spiculations within their in-focus DBT slices were used as image quality measures. RESULTS The MSBF method reduced contouring artifacts and enhanced the CNR of microcalcifications compared to the TpV method, thus preserving the image quality of the structured background. The MSBF method achieved the highest CNR of microcalcifications among the three methods. The FWHM of the microcalcifications and mass spiculations resulting from the MSBF method was comparable to that without regularization, and superior to that of the TpV method. CONCLUSIONS The SART regularized by the multiscale bilateral filtering method enhanced the CNR of microcalcifications and preserved the sharpness of microcalcifications and spiculated masses. The MSBF method provided better image quality of the structured background and was superior to TpV and NR for enhancing microcalcifications while preserving the appearance of mass margins.
Are Federal Energy Tax Credits Effective? A Western United States Survey

The residential energy credit provided by the federal Energy Tax Act (1977) cannot be carried beyond December 31, 1987, and the Reagan administration has indicated a disinclination to support an extension of its provisions, in either its current or an altered form. Its likely demise indicates nothing about the Act's effectiveness in getting homeowners to invest in energy conservation or solar devices. Rather, it is a reflection of the Reagan philosophy of letting market conditions determine energy conservation decisions. Since the administration is not explicitly passing judgment on the success or failure of residential tax credits, important questions regarding their efficacy remain to be answered. This paper will attempt to shed light on this question. It will examine data derived from a random sample of Western United States homeowners to determine awareness and use of the federal energy tax credit; the role of climate and dwelling type; and the influence of selected socioeconomic factors on the use of energy tax credits. Most important, it will seek to determine the extent to which conservation decisions were contingent on the availability of the tax credits, i, e. , what proportion of investments were made wholly or predominantly because of their special tax inducements and what proportion would have been made in any case.
Evaluation ex-post de l'efficacité de solutions de rénovation énergétique en résidentiel Doctorat P arisTech

En France, les renovations energetiques en residentiel, et ceci tout particulierement pour les maisons individuelles, font peu l'objet apres realisation d'une evaluation ex-post permettant de quantifier la performance atteinte.Cette these se propose donc d'effectuer une evaluation ex-post de l'efficacite de solutions de renovation energetique en residentiel, a partir de donnees (environ 100 cas par echantillon etudie) provenant d'enquetes menees aupres de menages, proprietaires occupants de maison individuelle, ayant participe a des operations de maitrise de la demande en energie conduites a l'echelle regionale dans le nord-est et le sud-est de la France. Une approche statistique tant descriptive que de modelisation est principalement employee pour aborder ce travail.Le premier volet de l'evaluation ex-post consiste en une quantification des economies unitaires obtenues associee a un calcul d'incertitude. Pour chacune des operations, la modelisation statistique de la consommation energetique apres travaux permet l'etude de l'influence des actions elles-memes mais aussi de certains facteurs tels que le changement de la gestion du chauffage ou l'utilisation apres travaux de la climatisation.Le second volet de cette evaluation ex-post a pour but d'identifier les causes des ecarts entre les consommations observees et celles simulees par un modele de calcul ex-ante (dit d'ingenieur). Ainsi, nous etudions l'evolution des ecarts des etats avant a apres travaux. Tout d'abord, une quantification et une modelisation statistique des ecarts en situation avant travaux est realisee. Puis, les ecarts en situation apres travaux sont a leur tour quantifies et modelises statistiquement en integrant notamment l'erreur commise initialement (avant travaux). Les differences entre economies d'energie observees et simulees sont egalement etudiees.Enfin, dans la derniere partie de la these, sur la base des sources d'ecart identifiees, nous proposons des pistes de perfectionnement du modele de calcul d'ingenieur utilise. Plus largement, a partir d'un retour critique quant aux limites des modeles statistiques etablis pour etudier les causes des ecarts, des pistes sont avancees pour permettre de les ameliorer.
Expecting reciprocity: Towards a model of the participants’ perspective on participatory journalism

This study examines ‘participatory journalism’ from the perspective of participants. Through a series of in-depth interviews with 32 participants from two different participatory journalistic environments set up by professional news organizations, we investigated how participants view and evaluate their participation in journalism. We propose that participants views progress through a series of four stages: anticipation, participation, evaluation and reconsideration. A clear breach is observed between the stage of anticipation and evaluation. We propose that this breach could be couched in terms of both a need and a wish for reciprocity, but also a lack of it. The term ‘reciprocity’ is inspired by Lewis et al.’s notion of ‘reciprocal journalism’ and Loosen and Schmidt’s conceptualization of journalism as a ‘social system’. Implications for the study of participatory journalism and journalism practitioners are discussed.
Conservation Auctions: Should Information About Environmental Benefits Be Made Public?

Most bid evaluation systems in conservation auctions consider both the proposed payment and the environmental attributes. When auctioneers have a more comprehensive understanding of the conservation benefits than bidders do, information becomes a central element of the auction design. Concealing information about conservation benefits may be the optimal strategy when entry decisions are not relevant. However, disclosing information may motivate landholders whose lands are associated with high environmental benefits to participate in an auction. The present study demonstrates that revealing information about conservation benefits can be an optimal strategy if it enhances an auction's participation rate when bid acceptance rates are high. Copyright 2013, Oxford University Press.
Challenges and solutions in Islamic microfinance

Purpose - – This paper aims to highlight the challenges faced by the Islamic microfinance institutions (MFIs) and map out suggestions in overcoming the issues. Design/methodology/approach - – This is a conceptual paper. Findings - – Among the challenges are low market penetration, sustainability of MFIs due to lack of fund mobilisation and high administrative costs, and the effectiveness of Islamic MFIs in alleviating poverty. Suggested solutions include a collective resolution in increasing bank participation in microfinance and diversifying their portfolios, provision of education and training, better coordination and networking, technical assistance through Practical implications - – Regulators and MFIs can practice the suggestions made in the paper for the benefit of the Originality/value - – Governments can use the suggestions made in the study to develop a sustainable Islamic microfinance framework which can bring about benefits to the country such as taxes and consumption from those who have graduated to a non-poor status.
Managing currency risk: An application of copula-based multivariate dynamic models

In order to access foreign markets, global investors often need to post collateral in currencies that are different from their benchmark currency, resulting in undesired foreign exchange risk. Investors might therefore be tempted to strictly post the minimum margins required, however doing so maximizes the probability of margin calls and their associated operational risk and cost. This thesis finds the posted margins that represent the best equilibrium between foreign exchange risk and probability of a margin call. In order to do so, a robust dynamic model of the asset prices and exchange rates dynamics is proposed, and an optimization problem seeking the optimal equilibrium is solved. The proposed model overperformed both a naive and a Gaussian alternative model on a dataset of five futures contracts in four different currencies over a period of nine years for the metrics of interest.
Natural Infection of Lutzomyia neivai and Lutzomyia sallesi (Diptera: Psychodidae) by Leishmania infantum chagasi in Brazil

ABSTRACT Natural infections with Leishmania were found in females of the phlebotomine sand flies Lutzomyia neivai (Pinto) (=Nyssomyia neivai) and Lutzomyia sallesi (Galvão & Coutinho) (=Evandromyia sallesi) (Diptera: Psychodidae) from Lassance, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Promastigotes were found in the pyloric region of the former species and in the abdominal midgut of the latter species. Insects found to be infected by microscopic examination were macerated in saline solution and inoculated into hamsters. Subsequent analysis by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism revealed both isolates to belong to the species Leishmania infantum chagasi Cunha & Chagas.
Valuing Reduced Risks to Children: The Case of Bicycle Safety Helmets

The protection of children's health has recently become a mandated priority for federal policy makers. To assess many of the regulations that affect children's health, policy makers need estimates of the monetary value of reducing mortality risks to children. Although the economics literature has provided many estimates of the value of statistical life (VSL) for adult populations, it has provided none for school age children. This article studies the market for bicycle safety helmets and estimates for the first time a separate but comparable VSL for children and adults. We derive three estimates of VSL for each of three age categories (5 to 9, 10 to 14, and 20 to 59) that range from $1.1 to $4.0 million. In all cases, estimates for adults are highest, followed by estimates for the youngest children. Copyright 2001 Western Economic Association International.