Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Consumer choice in the market for health insurance

A key feature of the market for health insurance is selection: a consumer’s decision to purchase coverage can affect the costs for producers and the prices faced by other consumers. In three essays, I explore factors that influence consumers to take up insurance coverage, selection in market where a new insurance product was introduced, and the effects of a recent policy to expand coverage among young adults. The first essay examines whether language barriers and network effects can explain disparities in Medicaid participation among low-income immigrants. Using the American Community Survey, I show that linguistic networks facilitate Medicaid enrollment among non-English speaking adults. The identification method follows Bertrand et al. (2000) and employs local variation in the density of immigrant populations and nationwide variation in Medicaid participation among ethnic groups. I also find that the availability of foreignlanguage Medicaid information online is associated with significantly higher participation. The second essay examines consumer choice in the context of a health insurance exchange. Using data from the Federal Employees Health Benefits program, I examine the extent to which the sudden introduction of high-deductible plans into the system in 2004 may have generated adverse selection. While entry by the newer plan type does not appear to affect premiums of more traditional plan types for federal workers, enrollees in high-deductible plans are more likely to be younger and male. The final essay analyzes one of the earliest coverage-related provisions of the Affordable
Risk factors for injuries in alpine skiing, telemark skiing and snowboarding – case-control study

Background Alpine skiing and snowboarding have a substantial risk of injuries, but precise risk factor estimates are limited. Objective To determine the risk factors among skiers and snowboarders. Study design Case-control study. Methods Ski patrols reported cases (N=3277) in eight major Norwegian alpine resorts. Injury type and risk factors (age, gender, nationality, skill level, equipment, helmet use, ski school attendance, rented or own equipment) were recorded. An uninjured control group (N=2992) was obtained at the same resorts. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between individual risk factors and risk of injury. Results The overall injury risk was increased among beginners (OR 2.72; 2.12 to 3.47), children (OR 1.72; 1.41 to 2.13), adolescents (OR 2.16; 1.72 to 2.66) and non-Nordic skiers (OR 1.80; 1.37 to 2.36). Snowboarders had a higher overall injury risk than skiers (OR 2.11; 1.81 to 2.46). Alpine skiers (OR 2.65; 1.47 to 4.80), beginners (OR 2.50; 1.61 to 3.85), children (OR 11.1; 6.7 to 20.0) and adolescents (OR 4.17; 2.44 to 7.14) were prone to lower leg fractures. Knee injuries occurred more frequently among alpine skiers (OR 1.82; 1.39 to 2.38), females (OR 1.67; 1.38 to 2.03) and beginners (OR 3.13; 2.50 to 3.85). Males (OR 1.85; 1.45 to 2.38), telemark skiers (OR 1.70; 1.30 to 2.23), children (OR 2.22; 1.37 to 3.57) and adults (OR 1.64; 1.11 to 2.37) had an increased risk for shoulder injuries. Conclusions Snowboarders, beginners, children and adolescents had an increased injury risk.
AI Challenger : A Large-scale Dataset for Going Deeper in Image Understanding

Significant progress has been achieved in Computer Vision by leveraging large-scale image datasets. However, large-scale datasets for complex Computer Vision tasks beyond classification are still limited. This paper proposed a large-scale dataset named AIC (AI Challenger) with three sub-datasets, human keypoint detection (HKD), large-scale attribute dataset (LAD) and image Chinese captioning (ICC). In this dataset, we annotate class labels (LAD), keypoint coordinate (HKD), bounding box (HKD and LAD), attribute (LAD) and caption (ICC). These rich annotations bridge the semantic gap between low-level images and high-level concepts. The proposed dataset is an effective benchmark to evaluate and improve different computational methods. In addition, for related tasks, others can also use our dataset as a new resource to pre-train their models.
The Effects of B2B Service Innovations on Firm Value and Firm Risk: How Do They Differ from Those of B2C Service Innovations?

Both developed and developing economies worldwide are becoming increasingly services-driven. By some estimates, the value of business-to-business (B2B) commerce dwarfs that of business-to-consumer (B2C). In particular, firms competing in business markets are constantly seeking to introduce service innovations to improve firm value. Yet, there is a paucity of research on B2B service innovations (B2B-SIs) and not much is known about their effects on firm value or firm risk. Furthermore, it is important to better understand how these effects differ from those of business-to-consumer service innovations (B2C-SIs). We empirically address these issues by developing a modeling system that relates B2B and B2C service innovations to firm value and firm risk, while controlling for both firm- and market-specific factors. We estimate our model using a unique panel data of 1668 service innovations across 14 industries over five years assembled from multiple data sources. The results show that B2B-SIs have a positive effect on firm value and an insignificant influence on firm risk. In contrast, B2C-SIs are associated with higher firm risk. B2B-SIs (B2C-SIs) have a higher effect on firm value in B2B (B2C)-dominant industries. In industries with a mix of business customers and consumers, B2B-SIs have slightly higher impact on firm value than B2C-SIs. Our findings offer executives important insights about the relative value of B2B service innovations.
Banking Governance, Performance and Risk-Taking: Conventional Banks vs Islamic Banks

Development of emerging countries is often done through non-conventional finance. The prohibition of interest and some other impediments require understanding of conventional finance and Islamic finance. Both are looking for ethical finance which is socially responsible. This book explains the features of both conventional and Islamic banking including the current international context; it also provides a comparative view of banking governance, performance and risk-taking by both.
Diverse Phytochemicals and Bioactivities in the Ancient Fruit and Modern Functional Food Pomegranate (Punica granatum)

Having served as a symbolic fruit since ancient times, pomegranate (Punica granatum) has also gained considerable recognition as a functional food in the modern era. A large body of literature has linked pomegranate polyphenols, particularly anthocyanins (ATs) and hydrolyzable tannins (HTs), to the health-promoting activities of pomegranate juice and fruit extracts. However, it remains unclear as to how, and to what extent, the numerous phytochemicals in pomegranate may interact and exert cooperative activities in humans. In this review, we examine the structural and analytical information of the diverse phytochemicals that have been identified in different pomegranate tissues, to establish a knowledge base for characterization of metabolite profiles, discovery of novel phytochemicals, and investigation of phytochemical interactions in pomegranate. We also assess recent findings on the function and molecular mechanism of ATs as well as urolithins, the intestinal microbial derivatives of pomegranate HTs, on human nutrition and health. A better understanding of the structural diversity of pomegranate phytochemicals as well as their bioconversions and bioactivities in humans will facilitate the interrogation of their synergistic/antagonistic interactions and accelerate their applications in dietary-based cancer chemoprevention and treatment in the future.
Class Size in an Introductory Marketing Course: Student Attitudes, Evaluations, and Performance

Students from small classes (30 to 40 students) and large classes (93 to 142 students) of introductory marketing were compared on their attitudes and performance. Students from the large classes were more likely to have a negative attitude towards the size of their class, but their evaluations of the course and instructor were similar to those of students from the small classes. With minor exceptions, students from the large classes performed just as well as students from the small classes on the graded components of the course. The results of this study, for the most part, support the use of large classrooms for teaching introductory marketing. The author concludes by offering recommendations to instructors of large classes.
Family Background to and Personal Characteristics Underlying Teenage Smoking

Smoking habits at the age of 14 were studied in a series of about 11000 children in Northern Finland. This cohort study was started before the birth of the child as a family inquiry. 6.4% of the children smoked every day and 59.5% were non-smokers. Of the family background variables, parents' smoking, a one-parent family, and number of children in the family had the strongest association with juvenile smoking. Family background variables explained only 6.5% of the total variance in smoking among the girls and 3.5% among the boys, but when characteristics of the children themselves were also introduced into the analyses, 55.7% and 42.7% of the variance respectively could be explained. Juvenile smoking had the strongest association with drinking and excessive drinking of alcohol, poor school performance, less frequent participation in sports and greater body height.
Cognitive deficits in preclinical Alzheimer's disease

We review the literature on cognitive functioning during the transition from normal aging to clinical Alzheimer's disease (AD). There is ample empirical evidence that deficits across multiple cognitive domains are apparent years to decades before the AD diagnosis, with impairments in episodic memory representing a common cognitive manifestation of the preclinical phase of the disease. Interestingly, the magnitude of the preclinical cognitive deficits appears to be relatively stable until a few years before clinical diagnosis. The behavioural deficits associated with preclinical AD are consistent with the neural changes that appear many years before eventual diagnosis. In addition to increasing our theoretical understanding of AD development, research on cognition in preclinical AD contributes to the identification of persons at risk of developing AD for purposes of intervention.
Monoclonal Antibodies against Aβ42 Fibrils Distinguish Multiple Aggregation State Polymorphisms in Vitro and in Alzheimer Disease Brain*

Background: Several amyloid proteins form conformationally distinct aggregates. Results: 23 antibodies raised against fibrillar Aβ42 display 18 unique reactivity profiles. Conclusion: The immune response to fibrillar amyloid reflects the diversity in amyloid structures. Significance: The use of a single antibody in immunization therapies of Alzheimer disease may not be effective, as it is unable to target all structural variants of Aβ. Amyloidogenic proteins generally form intermolecularly hydrogen-bonded β-sheet aggregates, including parallel, in-register β-sheets (recognized by antiserum OC) or antiparallel β-sheets, β-solenoids, β-barrels, and β-cylindrins (recognized by antiserum A11). Although these groups share many common properties, some amyloid sequences have been reported to form polymorphic structural variants or strains. We investigated the humoral immune response to Aβ42 fibrils and produced 23 OC-type monoclonal antibodies recognizing distinct epitopes differentially associated with polymorphic structural variants. These mOC antibodies define at least 18 different immunological profiles represented in aggregates of amyloid-β (Aβ). All of the antibodies strongly prefer amyloid aggregates over monomer, indicating that they recognize conformational epitopes. Most of the antibodies react with N-terminal linear segments of Aβ, although many recognize a discontinuous epitope consisting of an N-terminal domain and a central domain. Several of the antibodies that recognize linear Aβ segments also react with fibrils formed from unrelated amyloid sequences, indicating that reactivity with linear segments of Aβ does not mean the antibody is sequence-specific. The antibodies display strikingly different patterns of immunoreactivity in Alzheimer disease and transgenic mouse brain and identify spatially and temporally unique amyloid deposits. Our results indicate that the immune response to Aβ42 fibrils is diverse and reflects the structural polymorphisms in fibrillar amyloid structures. These polymorphisms may contribute to differences in toxicity and consequent effects on pathological processes. Thus, a single therapeutic monoclonal antibody may not be able to target all of the pathological aggregates necessary to make an impact on the overall disease process.
Extent of Ictal Origin in Mesial Temporal Sclerosis Patients Monitored with Subdural Intracranial Electrodes Predicts Outcome

Summary In patients with mesiotemporal sclerosis, posterior hippocampal involvement at the ictal onset is not associated with an excellent outcome. A study confirmed that ictal onset in the posterior parahippocampal gyrus is associated with a less favorable outcome compared with ictal onset in the anterior parahippocampal gyrus in patients with mesiobasal temporal lobe epilepsy who are undergoing foramen ovale recording. The authors hypothesized that involvement of the two medial contact points of posterior basal temporal subdural (SD) strip at the ictal onset, representing ictal onset in the posterior parahippocampal gyrus, may also adversely influence the surgical outcome. With this objective, the authors assessed the incidence of posterior basal temporal SD strip (the two medial contact points) involvement at the ictal onset in patients with mesiotemporal sclerosis and determined whether presence of this finding influenced surgical outcome. Thirty-six patients with mesiotemporal sclerosis underwent a single SD grid (lateral frontotemporal) and strips (three basal temporal and one orbitosubfrontal) monitoring. Based on the earliest involvement of basal temporal strips (the two medial contact points) during the seizure, patients were classified into (1) anterior and/or middle basal temporal, or (2) posterior basal temporal (with or without involvement of anterior and/or middle basal temporal) ictal onset groups. A temporal lobectomy with adequate resection of the ictal onset zone was performed in all patients. Surgical outcome was based on Engel’s classification. Six of 36 (17%) patients were classified into the posterior basal temporal ictal onset group. Only two patients from the posterior basal temporal ictal onset group experienced a good outcome compared with 26 of 30 patients from anterior and/or middle basal temporal ictal onset group (P = 0.01). In patients with mesiotemporal sclerosis who were monitored with SD electrodes, involvement of the two medial contact points of posterior basal temporal strip at the ictal onset (representing ictal onset in the posterior parahippocampal gyrus) occurred in 17% of the patients. These patients might not experience an excellent surgical outcome despite including the ictal onset zone in resection. These findings may be useful in presurgical counseling of patients with mesiotemporal sclerosis who undergo intracranial SD monitoring.
A Balanced Approach towards Market Orientation

There has been a lot of research on implementation of the concept and examination of the link between market orientation and business performance. In these offerings, scales such as MARKOR, introduced by Kohli, Jaworski, and Kumar (1993), and MKTOR, introduced by Narver and Slater (1990) have been frequently employed without further investigation. Analogous to this academic endeavour, few marketing researchers have raised doubts regarding the reliability and validity of the extant scales and have also shown concern towards the definition of the concept. Apropos, the present study has been planned to examine the degree of market orientation from management perspective and also to develop a scale for measuring market orientation in the selected public and private sector banks, viz., State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB), and The Jammu and Kashmir Bank Pvt. Ltd. (JKB). The study finds: Significant difference between the responses of management with respect to Internal Market Orientation (IMO) and External Market Orientation (EMO). The management of all the three major banks, viz., PNB, SBI, and JKB is more optimistic with regard to the three dimensions of EMO than that of IMO. Significant impact of internal market orientation on the overall market orientation as compared to external market orientation. Positive and significant relationship between internal customers' and external customers' satisfaction; internal customers' satisfaction and business performance, and external customers' satisfaction and business performance. For improving market orientation in the banking sector, managers are suggested to take the following initiatives: Initiate crucial steps towards developing a healthy work environment — delineating employee expectations; discussing goal achievement, tracking performance and feedback; and devising an appropriate mechanism for follow-up and employee appraisal. Employees should be made the root cause identifiers and solvers whereas managers must be problem eradicators. Ensure parallel inter- and intra-departmental communication. An open door policy can be encouraged to communicate through various formal and informal channels so that inter-departmental work teams can perform efficiently. Conduct internal market research once a year to generate information pertaining to the job requirements of internal customers. Retain its employees through the successful implementation of internal marketing strategies which in turn demands proper understanding of employees' work-related needs, feelings, emotions and intellect, proper treatment as an individual, open and free communication with the management, and establishing and managing effective long-term employee-management relationships.
Case Study of Central and Local Government Finance in Japan

This paper aims to provide an overview of the basics of Japan’s local public administration and finance system and to analyze how Japan’s municipalities restore their fiscal balance after a fiscal shock. In Japan, local governments play a major role in redistribution. Combined with regional disparities in tax capacities and an inflexible local tax system, there is a large vertical fiscal gap in Japan between the central and local governments—a gap that necessitates the transfer of funds from central to local governments. Under this system, the fiscal adjustments in Japan’s municipalities occur mainly via changes in government investment, and they account for 63%–95% of adjustments in permanent unit innovations in grants and own-source revenue. In contrast to the role of expenditure, the municipalities’ own-source revenue plays a limited role in balancing the local budget. The results of this study also reveal that 40% of the increase in own-source revenue is offset by a reduction in grants. Furthermore, municipalities can induce grants by expanding government current expenditure. Finally, this study offers and discusses some policy implications.
A Standardized Mini Paddle Apparatus as an Alternative to the Standard Paddle

Results from the present series of tests indicate that the mini paddle apparatus is a useful tool in characterizing drug release profiles under “standard test conditions”. Due to the possibility of using smaller sample sizes and smaller volumes of media, it offers various advantages in terms of substance, analytical, and material cost savings when evaluating release properties of drug candidates. The mini paddle setup is also a promising alternative if the analytics are not very sensitive or in the case of highly potent drugs. Because the size and shape of dosage forms can also impact drug release, the mini paddle should preferably be used for powders, multiparticulate dosage forms, and small tablets or capsules (i.e., where the paddle apparatus would be the usual method of choice). Nowadays, there are various types of mini paddle systems available on the market. However, most of these systems reflect everything but a miniaturized reproduction of the USP paddle system. For this reason, the outcome of the present study should not be generalized since changing the dimensions of the setup can quickly result in alterations of the hydrodynamics which, as has been shown in the present study, can have a huge impact on drug release from the dosage form tested. The next steps would be therefore to check, if it is possible to further downsize the setup with maintaining the significance of the compendial setup, to determine the impact of experimental settings on drug release from MR formulations and to measure/simulate flow velocities in the mini vessel.
The maximum principle for stochastic control with partial information

In this paper a Pontryagin-type maximum principle is given for the following stochastic optimal control problem: the state of the system satisfies (i.e. is a weak solution of) an Ito equation with controlled drift and possibly degenerate diffusion coefficients; the controls available are functions of noise-corrupted observations of the state, and the cost to be minimized is the expected value of an integral cost plus a terminal cost. The proof of the Maximum Principle is given elsewhere; here we only state it carefully and then we apply it to the example of the Linear Regulator.
Decay Modes of Anode Surface Temperature After Current Zero in Vacuum Arcs—Part II: Theoretical Study of Dielectric Recovery Strength

Anode surface temperature after current zero has a great impact on the interruption capacity of a vacuum interrupter. The objective of this paper is to theoretically investigate the relation between breakdown voltages and anode surface temperature after current zero. A heat conduction model was adopted to describe the temperature development of the anode, taking account of phase transition and evaporation. The breakdown voltages in certain metal vapor densities were obtained by the Particle-in-Cell/Monte Carlo collision (PIC-MCC) method. Finally, the Paschen curve for copper vapor was obtained using the PIC-MCC method and verified by the theoretical model. Moreover, the minimum breakdown voltage, 30 V, was obtained at a density of 1.3 × 1022/m3 with a gap of 10 mm, which corresponded to a surface temperature of 1983 K. In order to ensure a successful interruption, anode surface temperature should not be higher than 1983 K at current zero, and the melting time should be kept as short as possible.