Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An epidemiological survey on neonatal jaundice in China.

OBJECTIVE To provide epidemiological data for revising the diagnostic criteria of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia in China. METHODS A survey was performed among full-term infants in multiple centers throughout the country. From less than 24 hours after birth, the infants' bilirubin levels were measured every day until the peak level fell to less than 68.4 mumol/L. Auditory brainstem responses were assessed in 56 infants randomly chosen from those with serum bilirubin levels of higher than 220.5 mumol/L. RESULTS Jaundice in most infants was detected at 2-3 days after birth. The bilirubin level usually reached a peak level of 204 +/- 54.69 mumol/L at 5 days after birth and then fell. Among the 875 infants, the serum bilirubin levels in 34.4% of neonates were higher than 220.5 mumol/L. The mean serum bilirubin level of the infants during the first week after birth varied with geography (P < 0.001) and season (P < 0.001). The serum bilirubin level was significantly associated with gestation age (P < 0.01), delivery method (P < 0.01), weight loss (P < 0.001), and PCV elevation (P < 0.001) during the first three days after birth. CONCLUSIONS The start time of neonatal jaundice was similar to that reported elsewhere, but the mean peak level in our study was higher than the reported. It is suggested that the diagnostic criteria for neonatal hyperbilirubinemia in China should be strict.
The Rising Tension between Shareholder and Director Power in the Common Law World

This article explores the rising tension between shareholder and director power in the common law world. First the article analyzes key arguments in the shareholder empowerment debate, and current US reform proposals to grant shareholders stronger rights, from a comparative corporate law perspective, examining how traditional US legal rules diverge from other common law jurisdictions. Secondly, the article discusses power shifts in the opposite direction – namely toward the board – in some parts of the common law world. The article shows that US shareholders have traditionally had unusually restricted rights compared to their counterparts in common law jurisdictions, such as the United Kingdom and Australia. It challenges a number of arguments supporting the traditional US approach, by showing that the arguments are often US-specific, and are less persuasive from a comparative corporate governance perspective. The article also identifies an important tension between legal rules designed to enhance shareholder power, and commercial practices designed to subvert it. It shows how strategic commercial responses to regulation can affect the operation of legal rules. The existence of commercial pushback of this kind suggests that, even if US shareholder powers are significantly strengthened, that will by no means be the end of the story.
Internal marketing of attitudes in Caribbean tourism

Tourism is the mainstay of the Caribbean and the attitude of the people in the region may have a significant impact on the success of the industry. This paper analyzes the way in which tourism authorities of three Caribbean destinations have internally marketed tourism to their host populations in order to encourage the desired attitudinal expressions. A matrix of five possible responses to tourism was developed and each of the three countries was found to occupy different positions in the matrix. An analysis of the internal marketing strategies determined that the countries adopted different approaches based on their particular challenges but none of the approaches had achieved lasting success. The study concludes with recommendations for future research.
The Intra‐Industry Transfer of Information Inferred from Announcements of Corporate Security Offerings

This study investigates the extent to which information inferred by investors from initial announcements of corporate security offerings affects share prices in the capital markets. The empirical tests measure the response in the common stock prices of both firms announcing a security offering and nonannouncing firms operating in the same industry. Small but significantly negative abnormal returns are shown by industry shares upon initial announcements of common stock, convertible debt, and straight public offerings. Such an industry response indicates that share prices incorporate an inside assessment of factors relevant to the valuation of an industry subset of firms. Copyright 1992 by American Finance Association.
Social networks among small agribusinesses in Nigeria

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the diffusion of information and communication technology (ICT) among small indigenous agribusinesses operating in southeast Nigeria. The study emphasises the role played by social networks in the process of innovation and technology diffusion.Design/methodology/approach – The research was conducted utilising a qualitative approach. The authors conducted semi‐structured interviews with agribusiness proprietors and data were subsequently analysed using template analysis.Findings – Based on interviews of 27 small indigenous agribusinesses proprietors, the major findings from the interviews appear to point to four major social imperatives that impact on ICT diffusion in developing countries.Research limitations/implications – The main objective of the authors is to show how interaction between different actors and their engagement in the social process plays a major role in ICT diffusion. In particular, the authors highlight the role played by cultural imper.
Concatenative synthesis based on a harmonic model

One of the most successful approaches to synthesizing speech, concatenative synthesis, combines recorded speech units to build full utterances. However, the prosody of the stored units is often not consistent with that of the target utterance and must be altered. Furthermore, several types of mismatch can occur at unit boundaries and must be smoothed. Thus, both pitch and time-scale modification techniques as well as smoothing algorithms play a crucial role in such concatenation based systems. In this paper, we describe novel approaches to each of these issues. First, we present a conceptually simple technique for pitch and time-scale modification of speech. Our method is based upon a harmonic coding of each speech frame, and operates entirely within the original sinusoidal model. Crucially, it makes no use of "pitch pulse onset times. " Instead, phase coherence, and thus shape invariance, is ensured by exploiting the harmonic relation existing between the sine waves used to code each analysis frame so that their phases at each synthesis frame boundary are consistent with those derived during analysis. Secondly, a smoothing algorithm, aimed specifically at correcting phase mismatches at unit boundaries, is described. Results are presented showing our prosodic modification techniques to be highly suitable for use within a concatenative speech synthesizer.
Differential expression of BCL-2 oncoprotein and Fas antigen on normal peripheral blood and leukemic bone marrow cells. A flow cytometric analysis.

BACKGROUND Fas antigen (Ag) has recently been identified as the putative surface molecule capable of transducing apoptotic signals into cells. Alterations in the expression of proto-oncogene bcl-2 have been implicated in the regulation of apoptosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS By employing a monoclonal antibody to bcl-2 protein (124 clone) and to Fas Ag (UB2 clone) the expression of these molecules was analyzed at flow cytometry on bone marrow (BM) and peripheral blood (PB) samples from patients suffering from different lymphoid and myeloid leukemic diseases (27 acute non-lymphocytic leukemia [ANLL]; 14 acute lymphocytic leukemia [ALL]; 19 B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia [CLL]; 2 Ph1+ chronic myeloid leukemia [CML]; one CD8+ T-cell chronic lymphoproliferative disorders). Results were compared with those observed on normal PB leukocytes and BM B-cell precursors from patients with non-neoplastic hematological disorders. RESULTS Fas Ag was constitutively expressed by both monocytes and neutrophils, while lymphocytes expressed bcl-2 with no difference between B and T cell subsets. Interestingly, bcl-2 expression was always absent on neutrophils. When dealing with ANLL patients, a relatively low bcl-2 and high Fas Ag phenotype characterized subtypes with granulocytic (M2) or promyelocytic (M3) differentiation. This observation was confirmed in a small number of patients for whom bcl-2 levels were quantified as antibody binding capacity (ABC) in molecules/cell. Leukemic cells from patients with ALL constitutively expressed bcl-2, the pattern of this expression being quantitatively lower than that of immature B-cell precursors. Finally, high bcl-2 and low Fas Ag expression represented a crucial part of the B-cell CLL immunophenotype. CONCLUSIONS Although based on a small number of patient and control samples, our results suggest that bcl-2 and Fas Ag are coordinately expressed on normal PB leukocytes. Fas Ag is expressed at low levels on B-CLL cells, generally considered long-surviving cells. The relatively lower bcl-2-expression detected in both M2 and M3 subtypes may explain, at least in part, the higher remission rates obtained in these forms of ANLL than in other less differentiated morphological variants.
Fundamentals-Based Risk Measurement in Valuation

ABSTRACT: We propose a methodology to incorporate risk measures based on economic fundamentals directly into the valuation model. Fundamentals‐based risk adjustment in the residual income valuation model is captured by the covariance of ROE with market‐wide factors. We demonstrate a method of estimating covariance risk out of sample based on the accounting beta and betas of size and book‐to‐market factors in earnings. We show how the covariance risk estimate can be transformed to obtain the fundamentals‐based cost of equity. Our empirical analysis shows that value estimates based on fundamental risk adjustment produce significantly smaller deviations from price relative to the CAPM or the Fama‐French three‐factor model. We further find that our single‐factor risk measure, based on the accounting beta alone, captures aspects of risk that are indicated by the book‐to‐market factor, largely accounting for the “mispricing” of value and growth stocks. Our study highlights the usefulness of accounting numbers i.
Suing for Europe

This article develops a conceptual framework linking processes of regional integration with transformations in litigation. The analysis fuses the work of American public law scholars and European integration experts to examine if, how, and why an American “adversarial legalism”-style is developing in the European Union (EU), why this is causally linked to processes of integration, and what this means for democracy in the EU. The article provides a systematic and comparative cross-sector analysis of EU policy to reveal both the change in rights available to citizens and how these affect legal claims and democracy.
Excluded Women: How can this Happen in the Hotel World?

This study is concerned with the possible processes that occur in organisations which appear to work against women fulfulling their managerial potential. Hotel managers' attitudes and perceptions were the focus of study in an attempt to understand the informal influences and pressures that may be-deliberately or inadvertently communicated to women. Interviews held with the hotel managers revealed a marked consistency in the way that the hotel industry was viewed.
Comparing students by a matching analysis – on early school leaving in Dutch cities

In case of regional discretionary on the implementation of policy measures, central governments often consider differences in outcomes as an indication that one policy was more effective than another policy. If uniform incentives are provided to motivate regional policy makers, these incentives can be discouraging when the underlying populations differ. Empirically, this study compares early school leaving between the four largest Dutch cities. It shows that considering regional differences as performance measures can be dangerous if differences in population characteristics are not properly taken into account. Methodologically, this study contrasts the use of a traditional probit model with a more advanced iterative matching procedure.
The Importance of Asset Allocation

This article discusses the impact on performance of the long-term asset allocation policy relative to the impact of active management. Most of the variation in time-series returns for a typical fund comes from general market movement. The remaining variation comes about equally from asset allocation policy and active management. How important is asset allocation policy in determining performance? In particular, what is the impact of the long-term asset allocation policy mix relative to the impact of the active performance from timing, security selection, and fees? Most of the variation in a typical fund’s return comes from market movement. Funds differ by asset allocation, but almost all of them participate in the general market instead of just holding cash. The total return of a fund can be split into three parts: (1) the return from the overall market movement, (2) the incremental return from the asset allocation policy of the specific fund, and (3) the active return (the alpha) from timing, selection, and fees. In general (after controlling for interaction effects), about three-quarters of a typical fund’s variation in time-series returns comes from general market movement, with the remaining portion split roughly evenly between specific asset allocation and the active management. In a year like 2008, almost all funds are down, whereas in a year like 2009, almost all funds are up, despite their specific asset allocation or active management activities. The time has come for folklore to be replaced with reality. Asset allocation is very important, but nowhere near 90 percent of the variation in returns is caused by the specific asset allocation mix. Instead, most time-series variation comes from general market movement, and active management has about the same impact on performance as a fund’s specific asset allocation policy.
Fms-like tyrosine kinase 3-based immunoprophylaxis against infection is improved by adjuvant treatment with anti-interleukin-10 antibody.

BACKGROUND Fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 ligand (Flt3L) expands dendritic-cell populations in vivo and protects against microbial infection in healthy and immunocompromised hosts. Approaches for optimizing the protective effects of Flt3L in vivo are not well known.METHODS. BALB/c mice were treated for 9 days with 10 microg of recombinant (r) Flt3L with or without the addition of 250 microg of anti--interleukin (IL)-10 antibody on day 9. After Leishmania major infection, disease progression was determined by measuring cutaneous lesions. Production of IL-12 and interferon (IFN)- gamma were determined.RESULTS. Flt3L pretreatment increased the synthesis of CD40-inducible IL-12 p40 but not of bioactive p70. Coculture with anti--IL-10 antibody increased p70 production. Combined Flt3L and single-dose anti--IL-10 antibody pretreatment improved lesion cure rates from 40% to 87% relative to mice pretreated with rFlt3L only (P<.01, chi (2) test) and increased T helper 1 (Th1)--type cytokine production 4 weeks after infection but did not cure Rag-2-- and IFN- gamma -knockout BALB/c mice. Flt3L and anti-IL-10 antibody pretreatments increased frequencies of IL-12- and IFN- gamma -secreting cells 2 and 4 days after infection. Both natural killer and CD4(+) cells contributed to increased early IFN- gamma production.CONCLUSION. A single dose of anti--IL-10 antibody significantly improves Flt3L immunoprophylaxis against infection mediated by Th1-type adaptive responses.
Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 , Vascular Adhesion Molecule-1 , Interlukin 1-β , and C-reactive protein Levels in Iraqi Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is considered an inflammatory process with systemic involvement of the vascular tree. Asymptomic coronary artery disease is common in diabetic patients and is a strong predictor for future adverse coronary vascular events as well as early death. The objective of this study was to determine serum levels Intercellular adhesion molecule-1(ICAM-1), Vascular adhesion molecule-1(VCAM-1), interleukin 1β (IL1β), and CReactive protein (CRP) in relation to some markers indicative of type II diabeticT2DM. Methods: 50 patients in early stage of T2DM with no cardiovascular history and 30 healthy subjects were enrolled in this study. All anthropometrical indexes were measured in two groups. Laboratory investigations including: Fasting blood sugar (FBS) and lipid profile were measured by enzymatic colorimetric methods. Serum insulin, ICAM-1, VCAM-1, IL1β, and CRP were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay ELISA. Results: The levels of FBS (195.94± 12.178mg/dL), Insulin (18.627± 1.224μIU/ml). VCAM-1 (2017.3± 108.908 ng/dl), IL1-β (29.559 ± 1.225 pg/ml), CRP (23.989± 2.526 mg/l), and lipid abnormality, were highest in diabetic patients with significant differences (P<0.05) when compared with those of control group, while ICAM show no significant difference (57.620±0.960 ng/dl). Positive significant correlation was found between VCAM and CRP(r=0.415, P= 0.01). Atherogenic Index of Plasma (AIP) show no significant differences with ICAM,VCAM, CRP, and IL1β. Conclusions: This study reveals that even first-time diagnosis of T2DM, patients with higher insulin resistance and abnormal lipids, have elevated endothelial dysfunction markers and CRP, which may up-regulate cardiovascular disease progression.
The use of travel guidebooks by packaged and non-packaged Japanese travellers: A comparative study

This article attempts to ascertain whether tourist type (based on the degree of freedom exercised during travel) influences the use of travel information sources for decision-making, particularly in the case of guidebooks. A model is proposed incorporating the travel decision-making process and the selection of information sources. Four hypotheses are tested and the results indicate that tourist type has a considerable influence over the choice of travel information source. It was found that the greater the degree of freedom exercised by respondents during travel, the more that they used guidebooks both prior to and during travel. Guidebook usage was found to be widespread among all three segments of the Japanese market, though different patterns are evident at the various stages of the trip - before and after departure.
Chinese teachers’ reconstruction of the curriculum reform through lesson study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to reveal how the meanings of the current national curriculum reform in China changed in its transmission from the outside authoritative mandate to the local school practice through a case study of a lesson study on a reform practice called the “thematic teaching” in the Chinese language course. Design/methodology/approach – By a longitudinal study of the case for more than two months in a primary school in Beijing, China, the authors of this paper followed all the steps of the lesson study cycle conducted by all the Chinese language teachers in the school. Observations, interviews and document analysis were employed to capture the teachers’ thoughts, actions and especially group interactions in trying to understand and implement this new reform practice. Findings – The study found that due to the marked differences between the professional reform discourse and the teachers’ native discourse, the meanings of the reform tended to look alien to school teachers. In orde.
Repository ISTITUZIONALE

– This paper investigates the relationship between output-based incentives for service quality and the use of capital and non-capital resources to meet regulatory targets in the electricity industry. To conduct the empirical analysis we use a dataset collected with the support of the Italian energy regulatory authority, comprising micro data on monetary incentives and physical assets for the largest electricity distribution operator in Italy (86% of the market). Our results show that physical assets and operational expenditures do affect service quality. Moreover, when we investigate causality in the relationship between incentives to quality and the use of capital and non-capital resources, we find that incentives Granger-cause capital expenditures (and not vice-versa). Finally, our results reveal an asymmetric effect of rewards and penalties on capital expenditures’ decisions across areas with different quality levels. From these findings, we derive several policy implications
Legitimacy building in weak institutional settings: climate change adaptation at local level in Denmark and Norway

Local strategies for adaptation to climate change in Denmark and Norway are discussed. In both countries, the national impetus for local adaptation is weak; it is largely left to local actors to take the initiative. The dynamics of the different approaches to climate-change adaptation at the local level are illuminated. Using decision-making and learning theory, we present an analytical framework to examine four cases, two in Norway and two in Denmark, which represent two different responses, i.e. anticipatory actions and obligatory actions. We find that, by bringing in knowledge and resources and engaging in persuasive communication across sectors, the presence of institutional entrepreneurs in the adaptation process plays a key role in building legitimacy for anticipatory action in the municipal organisation.
Urinary type IV collagen levels in diabetes mellitus.

UNLABELLED Type IV collagen is the principal component of glomerular basement membrane and messangial matrix. Studies have shown increased levels of urinary type IV collagen (uIV) in diabetic patients compared to healthy controls. The concentration of uIV increases gradually as diabetic nephropathy progresses. AIM AND METHOD This study was carried out to determine whether urinary type IV collagen (uIV) can serve as an indicator of diabetic nephropathy. Using a sandwich enzyme immunoassay technique, uIV excretion was determined in 30 type 2 diabetic patients with normoalbuminuria and 20 patients with microalbuminuria. RESULTS uIV excretion was significantly increased in type 2 diabetics, in both normoalbuminuric and microalbuminuric patients, compared with healthy controls. The increase in urinary type IV collagen was well correlated with the amount of urinary albumin but not with HbA1C. CONCLUSION Our findings that uIV is higher in those with microalbuminuria and correlates with albuminuria, support uIV as an indicator of diabetic nephropathy. Whether the increased uIV excretion would predict the impending renal failure needs further confirmation.
Fortune favors the prepared firm

A critical factor in industrial competitiveness is the ability of firms to exploit new technological developments. We term this ability a firm's absorptive capacity and argue that such a capability not only enables a firm to exploit new extramural knowledge, but to predict more accurately the nature of future technological advances. We develop a stylized model in which we focus exclusively on firms' decisions to invest in their absorptive capacities. We first examine a monopolist's investment decision, analyzing the path dependence of its investment and the effect of uncertainty. We then consider the effect of competition by modeling the impact of entry on an incumbent's investment behavior. Implications for management and public policy are then discussed.