Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Option-based Compensation on Director Independence

This study examines how the use of option-based compensation for outside directors affects their independence when monitoring the CEOs’ option granting process. Since CEOs typically receive at-the-money options, i.e., with the strike price set equal to the grant-day stock price, they benefit from receiving options on days with low stock prices. Prior studies confirm this conjecture and find that CEOs’ option grants occur on days when stock price is low, and attribute this phenomenon to managerial opportunism. In this paper, we term this opportunism “timing opportunism”, where CEOs receive options before (after) good news (bad news). Since outside directors typically receive options at the same time with the CEOs, these directors also benefit from any timing opportunism. We argue that when outside directors receive a lower proportion of their compensation from stock options, they are more likely to limit CEOs’ timing opportunism. Using a large sample of option grants to CEOs between 1992 and 2002, we first confirm the existence of timing opportunism by the pattern of negative (positive) Cumulative Abnormal Returns (CARs) before (after) option grant dates. We show that this opportunism is larger when CEOs receive a larger proportion of their total compensation from stock options. More importantly, we find that, holding CEOs’ option grants constant, there is a less timing opportunism where outside directors receive a lower proportion of their compensation from stock options. Our results, thus, indicate that, when used as a common component of CEOs’ and directors’ compensation, stock options can compromise director independence. This suggests that when determining director independence in some settings, it may be incomplete to focus only on directors' family ties with the management or business relationships with the company.
Reducing MRSA bacteraemias associated with wounds

Heather Newton is a Tissue Viability Nurse Consultant at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust and won the Innovations in a Reduction in Wound Infection award sponsored by Smith & Nephew at the 2009 Wounds UK Awards ceremony for the work presented in this paper Tackling healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) such as meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) continues to be a key safety issue. As a result of surveillance, it was reported that the author’s trust, a secondary care provider, had a poor rating for MRSA bacteraemias. From April 2008 to March 2009, 12 patients developed a bacteraemia that through root cause analysis was found to be associated with their wound. This article describes the strategic and educational plan developed to address this trust-wide issue and its impact in reducing wound-associated MRSA bacteraemias. It also acknowledges the resulting changes in clinical practice.
Solutions and application areas of flip-flop metastability

The state space of every continuous multi-stable system is bound to contain one or more metastable regions where the net attraction to the stable states can be infinitely-small. Flip-flops are among these systems and can take an unbounded amount of time to decide which logic state to settle to once they become metastable. This problematic behavior is often prevented by placing the setup and hold time conditions on the flip-flop’s input. However, in applications such as clock domain crossing where these constraints cannot be placed flip-flops can become metastable and induce catastrophic failures. These events are fundamentally impossible to prevent but their probability can be significantly reduced by employing synchronizer circuits. The latter grant flip-flops longer decision time at the expense of introducing latency in processing the synchronized input. This thesis presents a collection of research work involving the phenomenon of flip-flop metastability in digital systems. The main contributions include three novel solutions for the problem of synchronization. Two of these solutions are speculative methods that rely on duplicate state machines to pre-compute data-dependent states ahead of the completion of synchronization. Speculation is a core theme of this thesis and is investigated in terms of its functional correctness, cost efficacy and fitness for being automated by electronic design automation tools. It is shown that speculation can outperform conventional synchronization solutions in practical terms and is a viable option for future technologies. The third solution attempts to address the problem of synchronization in the more-specific context of variable supply voltages. Finally, the thesis also identifies a novel application of metastability as a means of quantifying intra-chip physical parameters. A digital sensor is proposed based on the sensitivity of metastable flip-flops to changes in their environmental parameters and is shown to have better precision while being more compact than conventional digital sensors.
Accuracy of Vaginal Symptom Self-Diagnosis Algorithms for Deployed Military Women

Background: Deployed military women have an increased risk for development of vaginitis due to extreme temperatures, primitive sanitation, hygiene and laundry facilities, and unavailable or unacceptable healthcare resources. The Women in the Military Self-Diagnosis (WMSD) and treatment kit was developed as a field-expedient solution to this problem. Objectives: The primary study aims were to evaluate the accuracy of women's self-diagnosis of vaginal symptoms and eight diagnostic algorithms and to predict potential self-medication omission and commission error rates. Method: Participants included 546 active duty, deployable Army (43.3%) and Navy (53.6%) women with vaginal symptoms who sought healthcare at troop medical clinics on base.In the clinic lavatory, women conducted a self-diagnosis using a sterile cotton swab to obtain vaginal fluid, a FemExam® card to measure positive or negative pH and amines, and the investigator-developed WMSD Decision-Making Guide©. Potential self-diagnoses were "bacterial infection" (bacterial vaginosis [BV] and/or trichomonas vaginitis [TV]), "yeast infection" (candida vaginitis [CV]), "no infection/normal," or "unclear. " The Affirm VPIII® laboratory reference standard was used to detect clinically significant amounts of vaginal fluid DNA for organisms associated with BV, TV, and CV. Results: Women's self-diagnostic accuracy was 56% for BV/TV and 69.2% for CV. False-positives would have led to a self-medication commission error rate of 20.3% for BV/TV and 8% for CV. Potential self-medication omission error rates due to false-negatives were 23.7% for BV/TV and 24.8% for CV. The positive predictive value of diagnostic algorithms ranged from 0% to 78.1% for BV/TV and 41.7% for CV. Discussion: The algorithms were based on clinical diagnostic standards. The nonspecific nature of vaginal symptoms, mixed infections, and a faulty device intended to measure vaginal pH and amines explain why none of the algorithms reached the goal of 95% accuracy. The next prototype of the WMSD kit will not include nonspecific vaginal signs and symptoms in favor of recently available point-of-care devices that identify antigens or enzymes of the causative BV, TV, and CV organisms.
Modular organization of intrinsic connections associated with spectral tuning in cat auditory cortex

Many response properties in primary auditory cortex (AI) are segregated spatially and organized topographically as those in primary visual cortex. Intensive study has not revealed an intrinsic, anatomical organizing principle related to an AI functional topography. We used retrograde anatomic tracing and topographic physiologic mapping of acoustic response properties to reveal long-range (≥1.5 mm) convergent intrinsic horizontal connections between AI subregions with similar bandwidth and characteristic frequency selectivity. This suggests a modular organization for processing spectral bandwidth in AI.
Selection Adjusted Confidence Intervals With More Power to Determine the Sign

In many current large-scale problems, confidence intervals (CIs) are constructed only for the parameters that are large, as indicated by their estimators, ignoring the smaller parameters. Such selective inference poses a problem to the usual marginal CIs that no longer offer the right level of coverage, not even on the average over the selected parameters. We address this problem by developing three methods to construct short and valid CIs for the location parameter of a symmetric unimodal distribution, while conditioning on its estimator being larger than some constant threshold. In two of these methods, the CI is further required to offer early sign determination, that is, to avoid including parameters of both signs for relatively small values of the estimator. One of the two, the Conditional Quasi-Conventional CI, offers a good balance between length and sign determination while protecting from the effect of selection. The CI is not symmetric, extending more toward 0 than away from it, nor is it of constant shape. However, when the estimator is far away from the threshold, the proposed CI tends to the usual marginal one. In spite of its complexity, it is specified by closed form expressions, up to a small set of constants that are each the solution of a single variable equation. When multiple testing procedures are used to control the false discovery rate or other error rates, the resulting threshold for selecting may be data dependent. We show that conditioning the above CIs on the data-dependent threshold still offers false coverage-statement rate (FCR) for many widely used testing procedures. For these reasons, the conditional CIs for the parameters selected this way are an attractive alternative to the available general FCR adjusted intervals. We demonstrate the use of the method in the analysis of some 14,000 correlations between hormone change and brain activity change in response to the subjects being exposed to stressful movie clips. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.
Transcriptome analysis of Escherichia coli using high-density oligonucleotide probe arrays.

Microarrays traditionally have been used to analyze the expression behavior of large numbers of coding transcripts. Here we present a comprehensive approach for high-throughput transcript discovery in Escherichia coli focused mainly on intergenic regions which, together with analysis of coding transcripts, provides us with a more complete insight into the organism's transcriptome. Using a whole genome array, we detected expression for 4052 coding transcripts and identified 1102 additional transcripts in the intergenic regions of the E.coli genome. Further classification reveals 317 novel transcripts with unknown function. Our results show that, despite sophisticated approaches to genome annotation, many cellular transcripts remain unidentified. Through the experimental identification of all RNAs expressed under a specific condition, we gain a more thorough understanding of all cellular processes.
Analysis of bacterial community profiles of endodontically infected primary teeth using pyrosequencing.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to identify the endodontic microbiome in primary teeth with dental caries using high-throughput pyrosequencing and to establish data on the oral microbiome of primary teeth with endodontic infection. METHODS Ten primary teeth with dental caries and endodontic infection were included. Samples were collected from root canals using sterilized paper points and analyzed by pyrosequencing, based on the V1-V3 hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA gene. The data were analyzed using the CLcommunity software. RESULTS Analysis of the 10 samples yielded a total of 64,291 16S rRNA gene sequences. In total, 1586 OTUs (range, 91-235), six bacterial phyla, including unclassified, and 187 genera were assigned. At the genus level, Neisseria (group A), Acinetobacter (group B), and Fusobacterium (group C) were prominent. These predominant microorganisms were associated with the clinical condition and reflected the progression of endodontic infection in primary teeth. CONCLUSIONS This study revealed a relationship between the oral microbiome and endodontic infection in primary teeth. Additionally, anaerobic bacteria such as Fusobacterium species were dominant in the teeth with apical abscesses.
Genetic association between EPHX1 and Crohn’s disease: population stratification, genotyping error, or random chance?

The Department of Health (DH) estimates that approximately 0.4% of the UK population are chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) (that is, 200 000 people). As few as 10% of these individuals, who are at risk of end stage liver disease, are thought to be aware of their infection. Clearly action is required to identify and treat these patients with current drugs (pegylated interferons …
Tools and abilities for continuous improvement: what are the drivers of performance?

This article reports findings of the Italian part of the 2nd International Continuous Improvement (CI) survey, where 440 firms were randomly contacted and 60 responses received (response rate of 13.6%). Three research questions are investigated in this article: the CI tools and enablers adopted in Italy (RQ1); the state of the improvement activities and their evolution (RQ2); and finally, the relations between CI tools, ability development and performance (RQ3).
Harmonics, Interharmonics, and Unbalances of Arc Furnaces: A New Frequency Domain Approach

The complexity of nonlinear models for simulating the dynamic behavior of arc furnaces is well known. For this reason, previous works are based on time domain solutions. In this paper, a new frequency domain approach for obtaining harmonics, interharmonics, and unbalances of arc furnaces is proposed. The model assumes a dynamic and nonlinear u-i characteristic of the electric arc as well as continuous evolution of the arc current. The lowest interharmonic frequency to be represented imposes the duration of the "reference period. " Each reference period consists of "N" elemental cycles. The model is described by general equations where the parameter "N" can take any value. The implementation of these equations in a computer program is straightforward, providing very fast calculations for interharmonic components. Finally, the extension of harmonics power flows to interharmonic frequencies is evaluated.
Diffusion of scientific shrimp farming through various stages of the adoption period.

Commercial shrimp culture has become to the mainstay of the coastal economy of India. The present study was undertaken among 120 shrimp farmers from the two predominant shrimp farming districts of the country. The aim of the study was to find out the various stages of diffusion of scientific shrimp farming through various stages of the adoption from 1997-2003, as well as to study the present adoption behavior of the shrimp farmers. Using a structured interview schedule each of the respondent was interviewed to know his stage of adoption of scientific shrimp farming in each of the year ranging from 1997 to 2003. The number of respondents in each stage of adoption in each of these years was worked out and expressed as percentages. The present adoption behaviour of the shrimp farmers was studied using the adoption quotient formula. The study revealed that the symbolic adoption and use adoption was high in the years 2002 and 2003 when more of the critical technologies of health and water management were developed and transferred to the target population. Practice wise adoption of the technologies revealed that the adoption behaviour was high in harvesting, pond bottom conditioning, pond bottom sterilization, liming of pond and feed management. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.4038/tare.v14i4. 4850 Tropical Agricultural Research & Extension 14(4): 2011 93-98
Defined Contribution Pension Plans: Sticky or Discerning Money?

type="main"> Participants in defined contribution (DC) retirement plans rarely adjust their portfolio allocations, suggesting that their investment choices and consequent money flows are sticky and not discerning. However, participants’ inertia could be offset by DC plan sponsors, who adjust the plan's investment options. We examine these countervailing influences on flows into U.S. mutual funds. We find that flows into funds from DC assets are more volatile and exhibit more performance sensitivity than non-DC flows, primarily due to adjustments to the investment options by the plan sponsors. Thus, DC retirement money is less sticky and more discerning than non-DC money.
Impact of HIV on tuberculosis in sub-Saharan Africa: a regional perspective.

SETTING The relative magnitude of the recent rise in tuberculosis (TB) in sub-Saharan Africa and the proportion of excess TB cases attributable to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have not been evaluated from a regional perspective. METHODS For each of 10 countries in mainland sub-Saharan Africa, we used reported TB case data from 1975-1993 to calculate annual excess TB cases after 1985, by subtracting the number of TB cases that would have been expected had pre-1985 trends continued from the number of reported cases for each year from 1985-1993. Using HIV seroprevalence rates from the literature for TB patients and the general population, we estimated the number of HIV-attributable TB cases in each country from 1985-1994. RESULTS Excess TB cases accounted for a mean of 34% (range, 0-72%) of reported cases post-1985. HIV seropositivity in TB patients was a mean of 3.5 times (range, 1.8-6.1 times) higher than in the general population. The percentage of excess TB cases attributable to HIV increased as the HIV seroprevalence among TB patients increased, with HIV-attributable cases equalling or exceeding the number of excess TB cases in four of the six countries where > or = 50% of TB patients were estimated to be seropositive in 1992. CONCLUSION Approximately one-third of TB cases in sub-Saharan Africa after 1985 would not have occurred had pre-1985 trends continued. The dramatic interaction of HIV and TB in the region was underscored by the high rates of HIV infection among TB patients and the high proportion of excess TB morbidity attributable to HIV.
A population-based cohort study of undervaccination in 8 managed care organizations across the United States.

OBJECTIVES To examine patterns and trends of undervaccination in children aged 2 to 24 months and to compare health care utilization rates between undervaccinated and age-appropriately vaccinated children. DESIGN Retrospective matched cohort study. SETTING Eight managed care organizations of the Vaccine Safety Datalink. PARTICIPANTS Children born between 2004 and 2008. MAIN EXPOSURE Immunization records were used to calculate the average number of days undervaccinated. Two matched cohorts were created: 1 with children who were undervaccinated for any reason and 1 with children who were undervaccinated because of parental choice. For both cohorts, undervaccinated children were matched to age-appropriately vaccinated children by birth date, managed care organization, and sex. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Rates of undervaccination, specific patterns of undervaccination, and health care utilization rates. RESULTS Of 323 247 children born between 2004 and 2008, 48.7% were undervaccinated for at least 1 day before age 24 months. The prevalence of undervaccination and specific patterns of undervaccination increased over time (P < .001). In a matched cohort analysis, undervaccinated children had lower outpatient visit rates compared with children who were age-appropriately vaccinated (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 0.89; 95% CI, 0.89- 0.90). In contrast, undervaccinated children had increased inpatient admission rates compared with age-appropriately vaccinated children (IRR, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.18-1.23). In a second matched cohort analysis, children who were undervaccinated because of parental choice had lower rates of outpatient visits (IRR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.93-0.95) and emergency department encounters (IRR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.88-0.94) than age-appropriately vaccinated children. CONCLUSIONS Undervaccination appears to be an increasing trend. Undervaccinated children appear to have different health care utilization patterns compared with age-appropriately vaccinated children.
A new species of the Liolaemus elongatus clade (Reptilia: Iguania: Liolaemini) from Cordillera del Viento, northwestern Patagonia, Neuquén, Argentina

A new species of lizard of the genus Liolaemus from Cordillera del Viento, northwestern Neuquen Province, Argentina is described. The new species is a member of the Andean-Patagonian Liolaemus elongatus clade and is known only from a single locality above 3000 m in the eastern slopes of Domuyo Volcano. Liolaemus antumalguen sp. nov. is a stout species, saxicolous, probably viviparous and omnivorous, and seems to have low population density. It is easily differentiated from all other species of the elongatus complex for a highly variable but characteristic dorsal pattern and a completely black ventral coloration.
Fas‐induced programmed cell death is mediated by a Ras‐regulated O2− synthesis

Fas induces apoptosis in lymphocytes via a poorly defined intracellular signalling cascade. Previously, we have demonstrated the involvement and significance of a signalling cascade from the Fas receptor via sphingomyelinases and ceramide to Ras in Fas‐induced apoptosis. Here we demonstrate rapid and transient synthesis of reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI) via activation of Ras after Fas. Genetic inhibition of Ras by transfection of transdominant inhibitory N17Ras blocked Fas‐mediated ROI synthesis and programmed cell death. Likewise, the antioxidants N‐acetyl‐cysteine and N‐t‐butyl‐phenylnitrone abolished Fas‐induced cell death, pointing to an important role for Ras‐triggered ROI synthesis in Fas‐mediated programmed cell death.
Acute Insulin Response and β-Cell Compensation in Normal Subjects Treated With Olanzapine or Risperidone for 2 Weeks

A recent report by Ader et al. (1) suggested that olanzapine, an atypical antipsychotic, impaired β-cell compensation for insulin resistance in dogs. Such a mechanism could contribute to the important, but poorly understood, increase in diabetes risk among antipsychotic users. We previously reported that olanzapine and risperidone did not impair insulin secretory response based on a prospective study (2) of normal subjects using steady-state measurements during a hyperglycemic clamp. Here, we report additional data from this study focusing on the acute insulin response (AIR), allowing a comparison with the results of Ader et al. (1) by calculating a disposition index (DI) as a measure of β-cell compensation (3). Our hypothesis was that olanzapine treatment did not significantly change the DI derived from indexes of AIR and insulin sensitivity. A detailed description of this study has been reported previously (2). Briefly, lean (mean BMI ∼24 kg/m2) healthy volunteers were randomized to treatment with placebo ( n = 18), olanzapine (10 mg/day; n = 17), or risperidone (4 mg/day; n = 13). Subjects were treated with half-maximal doses for 4 days before dose escalation. Subjects underwent hyperglycemic clamps (4) before randomization and after 15–17 days of treatment. Hyperglycemia was initiated with an intravenous priming dose of 20% (wt/vol) glucose estimated to produce a target level of glycemia (11.1 mmol/l). Half of the priming dose was …