Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Productivity and Convergence in a Panel of OECD Industries: Do Regulations and Institutions Matter?

We analyse the impact of innovation activity and product and labour market institutions on multi-factor productivity in a panel of 23 industries in 18 OECD countries using a novel harmonised database. First, we provide evidence of convergence in productivity levels within most industries across OECD countries. Convergence is however stronger in services than in manufacturing and, in the latter sector, it is weaker for high-tech industries. We also find evidence that the impact of innovation activity (proxied by R&D expenditure) on productivity depends on market structure and technological characteristics, with a stronger impact for technological leaders in high-tech industries. In addition, anti-competitive product market regulations are negatively associated with productivity performance. The negative effect is larger the further a country is from the technological frontier, because such regulations hinder the process of technology adoption. Finally, there is also evidence in the data of a negative impact of tight employment protection legislation on productivity when wages or internal training do not offset the higher adjustment costs associated with high firing costs.
Changes in subfoveal choroidal thickness and choroidal extravascular density by spectral domain optical coherence tomography after haemodialysis: a pilot study

Aims To examine the changes in the subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT) and choroidal density using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) before and after haemodialysis (HD). Methods 28 eyes of 19 patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) undergoing HD were included. Ophthalmologic examinations including SD-OCT were performed 1 h before and after HD. The SFCT was measured manually using Image J software, and the relationships between the change in SFCT and in the systemic parameters after HD were evaluated. The changes in choroidal extravascular density of the OCT image after HD were evaluated by comparing brightness value obtained with Adobe Photoshop software. Results The mean SFCT of all eyes increased significantly from 276.94±58.73 µm to 288.29±65.57 µm (p=0.003). In the univariate generalised estimating equation (GEE), the SFCT increased significantly after HD (p=0.006). After adjusting for age, gender and other significant factors in univariate analysis, the SFCT increased significantly after HD (p=0.032). The decrease in systolic blood pressure (SBP) was associated with the increase in SFCT (p=0.013). The choroidal extravascular density of OCT image increased after HD (p<0.001) and the mean change was 12.35±9.72. Conclusions In the SD-OCT image, the SFCT became thicker and the choroidal extravascular density increased after HD in patients with CRF. The decrease in SBP after HD was associated with an increase in SFCT. The choroidal autoregulatory control of ocular hemodynamic change and shifting of fluid and molecules between the blood and choroidal interstitium might be involved in the mechanism of these choroidal changes.
The Impact of Supply Chain Logistics Performance Index on the Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

The Impact of Supply Chain Logistics Performance Index on the Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases in Lowand Middle-Income Countries by Farouk Adams Umaru MBA, Management College of Southern Africa, 2010 M.Sc., Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, 2000 B. Sc. , Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, 1994 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Public Health
Hepatitis C--a risk factor for gallstone disease.

BACKGROUND There is increasing evidence that chronic liver disease is one of the risk factors for gallstone disease. A few published studies have documented the link between Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) related chronic liver disease and increased incidence of gallstones but these studies did not exclude subjects with other risk factors like cirrhosis. This study aimed to establish an association between HCV infection and gallstones by excluding subjects with all other risk factors for gallstones. METHODS This cross sectional study was carried out at four hospitals of Rawalpindi, Pakistan, over a period of 18 months. It included all cases referred for ultrasound scan of abdomen. A total of 2000 cases, were included in the study by consecutive, non-probability sampling. Anti-HCV antibody test was carried out in all subjects by ELISA and sonography was done to determine presence or absence of gallstones. RESULTS Patients suffering from HCV had a significantly high percentage of gallstones as compared to seronegative subjects (p = 0.001). In seropositive group, more males had gallstones (p = < 0.001) and prevalence of gallstones was significantly high in younger population with age at or below 40 years (p = < 0.001). CONCLUSION Risk of gallstone disease is increased in patients suffering from HCV infection. This association is more pronounced in males.
DETERMINANTS OF WOMEN'S MICROENTERPRISE SUCCESS IN AHMEDABAD, INDIA: EMPOWERMENT AND ECONOMICS

Abstract Microenterprise success is often evaluated solely in terms of economic outcomes. These evaluations do not recognize how opportunities for success may differ across groups and contexts, and disregard the importance of power and control as factors in success. This article investigates the determinants of a two-dimensional concept of microenterprise success for women in Ahmedabad, India, by analyzing data from a 1998 study of home-based garment producers. Growing economic success for these garment producers decreased empowerment outcomes, which suggests that evaluating both economic and empowerment outcomes and their interactions is important to understanding the process of achieving success. Improving the economic outcomes of women's enterprises via better training and access to markets, credit, and capital equipment does not necessarily facilitate women's empowerment. Microenterprise scholars and practitioners must focus on improving women's status within their homes, so they may contribute to and benefit from the decisions made about how to use their resources.
Are There Limits to Gentrification? The Contexts of Impeded Gentrification in Vancouver

This paper examines conditions that impede inner-city gentrification. Several factors emerge from review of a scattered literature, including the role of public policy, neighbourhood political mobilisation and various combinations of population and land use characteristics that are normally unattractive to gentrifiers. In a first phase of analysis, some of these expectations are tested with census tract attributes against the map of gentrification in the City of Vancouver from 1971 to 2001. More detailed qualitative field work in the Downtown Eastside and Grandview-Woodland, two inner-city neighbourhoods with unexpectedly low indicators of gentrification, provides a fuller interpretation and reveals the intersection of local poverty cultures, industrial land use, neighbourhood political mobilisation and public policy, especially the policy of social housing provision, in blocking or stalling gentrification.
E-commerce and consumer's purchasing behaviour

After its first exposure to the public in 1993, there has been a rapid increase in the use of the Internet for different purposes, particularly for electronic trade. In such a new trade area, there are a lot of issues to be addressed with regard to the consumer's purchasing behaviour. This study analyses the roles of sexual preference, primary place of online access, and online experience as well as demographic and economic factors on the consumer's purchasing decision. Moreover, this study investigates the impact of the potential and/or prevalent critical issues facing the Internet (e.g. taxation of services, privacy, censorship, etc.) on online orders. Surprisingly, sexual preferences have a large significant effect on online purchases. Gay and bisexual people are more likely to shop from the Internet than the other ones. The results, also, suggest that people with more online experiences in a more private and secure environment like home are disposed to order more from the Internet. In addition to that, only the issues of taxation of services and privacy have some statistically significant effects on online purchasing decisions. The former and latter have positive and negative impacts on online orders respectively.
Corporate Boards and the Leverage and Debt Maturity Choices

Debt, and in particular, short-term debt have the potential to discipline managers. We examine the role of the board in making financing decisions that provide this discipline. Specifically, given a firm's characteristics, we predict that stronger boards will force the firm to hold more debt and more short-term debt. Employing a rich dataset of board characteristics and controlling for other aspects of a firm's corporate governance, we find support for these hypotheses. Our simple measure of director power is a robust and promising measure of internal governance.
EVOLUTIONARY ADAPTATION TO TEMPERATURE. IV. ADAPTATION OF ESCHERICHIA COLI AT A NICHE BOUNDARY

Following an environmental change, the course of a population's adaptive evolution may be influenced by environmental factors, such as the degree of marginality of the new environment relative to the organism's potential range, and by genetic factors, including constraints that may have arisen during its past history. Experimental populations of bacteria were used to address these issues in the context of evolutionary adaptation to the thermal environment. Six replicate lines of Escherichia coli (20°C group), founded from a common ancestor, were propagated for 2000 generations at 20°C, a novel temperature that is very near the lower thermal limit at which it can maintain a stable population size in a daily serial transfer (100‐fold dilution) regime. Four additional groups (32/20, 37/20, 42/20, and 32–42/20°C groups) of six lines, each with 2000 generation selection histories at different temperatures (32, 37, 42, and daily alternation of 32 and 42°C), were moved to the same 20°C environment and propagated in parallel to ascertain whether selection histories influence the adaptive response in this novel environment. Adaptation was measured by improvement in fitness relative to the common ancestor in direct competition experiments conducted at 20°C. All five groups showed improvement in relative fitness in this environment; the mean fitness of the 20°C group after 2000 generations increased by about 8%. Selection history had no discernible effect on the rate or final magnitude of the fitness responses of the four groups with different histories after 2000 generations. The correlated fitness responses of the 20°C group were measured across the entire thermal niche. There were significant tradeoffs in fitness at higher temperatures; for example, at 40°C the average fitness of the 20°C group was reduced by almost 20% relative to the common ancestor. We also observed a downward shift of 1–2°C in both the upper and lower thermal niche limits for the 20°C selected group. These observations are contrasted with previous observations of a markedly greater rate of adaptation to growth near the upper thermal limit (42°C) and a lack of trade‐off in fitness at lower temperatures for lines adapted to that high temperature. The evolutionary implications of this asymmetry are discussed.
The Impact of External Governance Quality on the Economic and Social Success of Microfinance Institutions

Employing a Hausman-Taylor instrument variable (HT-IV) estimator to data from 558 microfinance institutions (MFIs) in 80 developing countries for the period from 2002 to 2007, this paper provides empirical evidence for a positive impact of a country's external governance quality and outcome on local microbanks' economic success in terms of profitability and sustainability. Evidence as well suggests a negative relationship between external governance and the microbanks' social success measured by the depth of outreach. In this context, our analysis reveals that a country's political stability, governance effectiveness, regulatory quality and rule of law are significant key elements of external governance affecting the MFIs' functional performance. Moreover, results from sensitivity analyses indicate that the relationship between external governance quality and microfinance functional performance significantly depends on the microbanks' business concepts, their lending methodologies and sources of funding.
Firefighters volunteering beyond their duty: an essential asset in rural communities

Fire departments are essential assets in American rural communities. The current study aims to understand the motivations and the personal, organizational, and communal aspects that drive firefighters (both paid and volunteers) to engage in additional voluntary community work. Their volunteer activity challenges existing theories on motivation to volunteer, since these firefighters already have what most volunteers seek (e.g., recognition and satisfaction). Two focus groups of firefighters were assembled in which volunteer and career firefighters shared their perceptions about their communities and the work they do for them. Qualitative data analysis showed that leadership, attitudinal commitment, a strong sense of affiliation, altruism, and a sense of community all influenced firefighters’ perceptions and motivations. Key words: firefighters, community, volunteer, focus groups, asset-based community development
Disease activity early in the course of treatment predicts response to therapy after one year in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

OBJECTIVE To assess whether disease activity levels at treatment initiation or during the first 3 months of therapy predict disease activity at 1 year after treatment initiation. METHODS Pooled patient data from early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) clinical trials (n = 1,342) of methotrexate (MTX), tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitor monotherapy (adalimumab and etanercept), and the combination of the two (adalimumab or infliximab plus MTX) were used for the primary analyses. Pooled data from clinical trials of MTX and of TNF inhibitor plus MTX in late RA (n = 712) were used for validation of the results. Disease activity was primarily assessed using the Simplified Disease Activity Index (SDAI); in addition, we calculated the Disease Activity Score 28-joint assessment (DAS28) and the Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI). Associations of disease activity measures at baseline and at 1, 2, 3, and 6 months with disease activity values or disease activity states at 1 year were performed using Spearman's rank correlation, analysis of variance, and diagnostic testing procedures, including receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses, and probit analysis. RESULTS Correlations with SDAI values at end point were significant (P < 0.0001) at baseline, and increased to r = approximately 0.6 at 3 months. The area under the ROC curve indicated a high diagnostic test yield with respect to the 1-year outcome (area under the ROC curve approximately 0.8). At all time points, including baseline, the group of patients who achieved remission at 1 year had lower average SDAI values than did those whose disease activity was high at 1 year. The groups achieving low or moderate disease activities at 1 year had SDAI values lying between. Baseline disease activity was less associated with disease activity at the end point for treatment with TNF inhibitor plus MTX, indicating its effectiveness over a broader range of baseline disease activity, but the association with end point disease activity was similar to that in the MTX treatment group at 1 month after treatment initiation. The data were similar when scores on the DAS28 and CDAI were used and were fully validated in the independent cohort of patients with late RA. CONCLUSION The level of disease activity at baseline and especially during the first 3 months of treatment is significantly related to the level of disease activity at 1 year. Patients who reach a moderate or low disease activity status after 3-6 months of therapy may require switching to alternative therapies. Our findings indicate that intensive and dynamic treatment strategies that include a closer look at disease activity at 3 months in patients with early and late RA is warranted.
Corporate Social Responsibility and Consumer Behavior: A Study from Pakistan

Pakistani consumers must be well informed that, in achieving their corporate goals, organizations now bear greater responsibility to develop healthy environment and aware society. This study aims towards assessment of the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Consumer Behavior in Pakistan and to analyze whether consumers reckon Organization's CSR initiative before buying decisions of goods and services. Carroll definition of CSR was adopted here that addresses whole range of economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities. A Survey Questionnaire in this regard was carried out and 313 responses were collected across the different corners of Pakistan that further lead to culmination of this analysis report. The analysis showed that there is significant positive correlation between all CSR components and consumer behavior. However, Pakistani consumer's priority appeared to be different than offered by Carroll's Classical Pyramid, where economic responsibility was considered to be the greatest priority, followed by philanthropic, legal & ethical responsibilities.
Dorsal hand vein recognition based on convolutional neural networks

In this paper, we proposed a dorsal hand vein recognition method based on Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), compared the recognition rate of different depth CNN models and analyzed the influence of dataset size on dorsal hand vein recognition rate. Firstly, the region of interest (ROI) of dorsal hand vein images was extracted, and contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE) and Gaussian smoothing filter algorithm were used to preprocess the images. Then Reference-CaffeNet AlexNet and VGG depth CNN were trained to extract image feature. Finally, logistic regression was applied for identification. The experimental results on two different size of dataset shown that the depth of network and size of data set size have different degree effect on recognition rate, the dorsal hand vein recognition rate based on VGG-19 reaches 99.7%. In this paper, we also explored the feasibility of ensemble learning on SqueezeNet. The recognition rate declined slightly with 99.52%, but the model size has been decreased sharply.
Community as stakeholder of the corporate social responsibility programme in Malaysia: outcomes in community development

Purpose - – This study aims to explore the outcome of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme in community development from the perspective of its participants in Malaysia. It is argued that information regarding community development CSR, the providers of CSR and the outcomes of CSR on community development in Malaysia has been scant. Hence, this study examines specifically the profiles of participants of CSR programmes in community development, the profiles of selected CSR-participating corporations, the orientation of CSR responsibilities undertaken by corporations as perceived by the participants and the types of community development contribution from CSR-participating corporations. Outcomes were determined through the results of the last two objectives. Design/methodology/approach - – Building on the stakeholder theory and the work of Visser’s CSR pyramid, this article explores the outcomes of CSR resulting from the participation of individuals in the community. Data were gathered from 336 respondents who were participants of CSR programmes sampled from 58 local and multinational corporations in Malaysia. Findings - – The results showed that about half of the respondents were in the younger age group with a mean age of 24.40 years. The majority of the CSR-participating corporations had implemented CSR programmes from the first decade of the millennium and had their core businesses in diverse sectors. Legal responsibility was ranked the most important orientation and ethical responsibility the least important orientation. Education-related activities formed the dominant type of CSR contribution. Research limitations/implications - – The study addresses a gap in the literature on Malaysian community CSR, particularly from the perspective of the community, which is one of the important stakeholders. Originality/value - – This research contributes to the scarce literature on CSR in Malaysia by analysing the way business organisations in the country contribute to community development through CSR. The findings of this study should be useful to community development practitioners, CSR providers and researchers.
Blunt vascular trauma in the extremity: diagnosis, management, and outcome.

BACKGROUND Blunt vascular trauma in an extremity is an uncommon diagnosis. Considering the complexity of these injuries, it is worthwhile to determine how select factors affect the outcome of the limb and the patient. The objectives of this study were to review the diagnosis, management, and outcomes of patients who sustained blunt vascular injuries in the extremities and relate factors in their treatment to the outcome of the injured extremity. METHODS A retrospective review of data on adult and pediatric patients who had a diagnosis of blunt vascular injury in an extremity and underwent some attempt at restoration of vascular flow was conducted. RESULTS From January 1995 to December 2002, 62 patients (80.3% male; mean age, 33.2 +/- 15.8 years) sustained blunt trauma (mean Injury Severity Score, 14.6 +/- 8.4), with 93 vascular injuries in 65 extremities (16 upper and 49 lower). Hard signs of vascular injury occurred in 41 (66%) patients. An associated fracture and/or dislocation was present in 59 patients (95%). Preoperative arteriograms were obtained in 20 patients (17 occlusions, 2 embolizations, and 1 untreated). Vessel injuries were as follows: 16 upper (brachial artery, 50%) and 63 lower (tibial/peroneal/popliteal, 84%), with ligation being the most common treatment in the latter. Intravascular shunts were used to restore blood flow in 18 vessels (13 arteries and 5 veins) in 13 patients. Delays in diagnosis or treatment occurred in six patients, mostly because of errors in management/judgment. Delayed or late fasciotomies were performed in six patients, and five developed rhabdomyolysis. Six patients died. The age (p = 0.0006), Injury Severity Score (p = 0.0007), and Mangled Extremity Severity Score (p = 0.0009) were significantly different for the survivors compared with the nonsurvivors. CONCLUSION Blunt vascular injuries in the lower extremities occur most commonly in the anteroposterior tibial arteries; injured arteries in the proximal upper and lower extremity require resection with interposition grafting, whereas those in the forearm or calf are usually ligated; the amputation rate in 65 injured extremities with blunt vascular trauma was 18. %, which is at least three times that for those who sustain penetrating injury; and delays in diagnosis and treatment are uncommon in these patients with multiple injuries.