Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Foreign Investors on the Risk-Taking of Japanese Firms

Consistent with a bank-centered governance system, Japanese firms exhibit an exceptionally low level of performance variability. The increased involvement of foreign investors motivated by shareholder value is thus likely to have triggered a major shift in their risk-taking behavior. My results confirm this assumption as all standard measures of performance volatility appear to have significantly increased with the level of foreign ownership. Controlling for endogeneity provides higher point estimates supporting anecdotal evidence that foreign investors have targeted firms taking unusually low risk. Overall, the evidence highlights the considerable impact that this category of investors can have on a firm’s decisions and, by consequence, on its performance.
English Spelling Among the Top Priorities in Pronunciation Teaching: Polglish Local Versus Global(ised) Errors in the Production and Perception of Words Commonly Mispronounced

Abstract This paper presents the results of a questionnaire and recording-based study on production and recognition of a sample of 60 items from Sobkowiak’s (1996:294) ‘words commonly mispronounced’ by 143 first-year BA students majoring in English. 30 lexical items in each task represent 27 categories defined by Porzuczek (2015), each referring to one aspect of English phonotactics and/or spelling-phonology relations. Our aim is to provide evidence for the occurrence of local and globalised errors in Polglish speech. This experiment is intended to examine what types of errors, that is, seriously deformed words, whether avoidable, ‘either-or’ or unavoidable ones, as classified in Porzuczek (2015), are the most frequent in production and recognition of words. Our goal is to check what patterns concerning letter-to-sound relations, are not respected in the subjects’ production and recognition of an individual word and what rules should be explicitly discussed and practised in a phonetics course. The results of the study confirm the necessity for explicit instruction on the regularity rather than irregularity of English spelling in order to eradicate globalised and ‘either-or’ pronunciation errors in the speech of students. The avoidable globalised errors which have turned out to be the most numerous in a production task include such areas of English phonotactics as: the letters <-old> and , ‘mute consonant letters’, ‘isolated errors’ and two categories related to the reduction of unstressed syllables: ‘reduce the vowel in stress-adjacent syllables and in syllables following the stressed one to /ə/ or /ɪ/’ and ‘reduce <-ous>, <-age>, and <-ate> in nouns and adjectives. ’ The hope is also expressed that once introducing spelling-to-sound relations becomes a routine procedure in pronunciation training, the strain on part of the students of memorizing a list of true local errors, phonetically challenging pronunciation exceptions, will be reduced to the absolute minimum.
22 THE EFFECT OF DIFFERENT FIBRE AND STARCH DIETARY LEVELS ON HAEMATOLOGY OF POST-WEANING RABBITS

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of different fibre and starch dietary levels on the blood parameters of post-weaning rabbits. A control group was fed a post-weaning, growing rabbit diet containing 138 g/kg dry matter (DM) crude fibre and 168 g/kg DM starch. Three rabbit groups were fed diets with 147, 156, or 164 g/kg of DM crude fibre, and three groups were fed diets having 190, 223, or 247 g/kg DM starch. The experiment started with six weekold rabbits and lasted 28 days. Blood glucose levels were, on average, 7% lower in the groups fed fibre-enriched diets (P = 0.048) and 10% higher in the rabbit groups fed starch-enriched diets than in the control. The higher the dietary level for fibre and starch diets, the greater the deviation from normal in glucose levels. Total protein levels were not significantly modified, excepting a 13% increase in the globulin fraction of fibre and starch-diet fed groups and a subsequent decrease (8.3% and, respectively 13.8%) in the albumin/globulin ratio, but no differences according to the level of fibre or starch. Compared to the control, blood urea was 17% lower and 10% higher in rabbits fed the high crude fibre high starch diets respectively. Alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and alkaline phosphatase showed relatively steady activity regardless of diet. The fibre diet levels were positively correlated with protein (r = 0.87) and HDL cholesterol (r = 0.78), but negatively correlated with glucose (r = −0.72), urea (r = −0.91) and triglycerides (r = −0.78). Contrastingly, dietary starch levels correlated positively with triglycerides (r = 0.92) and LDL cholesterol (r = 0.86). A negligible relationship was found between cholesterol and fibre (r = 0.15) or starch (r = 0.01) enriched diets.
Small Islands DEMs and Topographic Attributes Analysis: A Comparative Study among SRTM-V4.1, ASTER-V2.1, High Topographic Contours Map and DGPS

Rising sea levels due to global warming and climate change impact may prove a disaster for small islands. Accurate DEM can help to understand SLR (sea level rise) impact, coastal zones flooding risks assessment and hydrological attributes modeling and extraction. Currently, DEMs are available from several different sources using active and passive remote sensing systems. This research compares absolute surface heights accuracies retrieved from three independent DEMs datasets. The Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM-V4.1) and the Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER-V2.1) with 30-m pixel size, and a DEM-5 of 5-m spatial resolution generated from high topographic contour lines map at scale of 1:5,000 using simple Kriging interpolation method. Moreover, topographic attributes (slope and aspect) have been retrieved and compared. For the elevations validation purposes, a dataset of 400 GCPs uniformly distributed over the study site were used. These were measured using a DGPS assuring ± 1 and ± 2 cm accuracies, respectively, for planimetry and altimetry. The obtained results show that globally the landscape scale plays an important role in the selection of the DEM pixel size, which must reflect the real topographic attributes. Indeed, the derived DEM-5 from high topographic contours map (1:5,000) using simple Kriging exhibit the best accuracy of ± 0.65 m which is less than the tolerance or the total error (± 0.78 m) calculated based on errors sources propagation. Then, the results show an accuracy of ± 3.00 m for SRTM-V4.1 with which is less than the absolute vertical height accuracy (± 5.6 m) advocated by NASA for African continent and Middle-East regions. As well, the achieved ASTER accuracy was ± 8.40 m compared to the estimated error (± 17.01 m) by USGS and JAXA. Obviously, high spatial resolution and accurate DEM-5 is a crucial requirement to simulate and evaluate costal zones inundation under different SLR and storm flow scenarios for small islands. Decidedly, the elevation of small islands with topographic features not higher than 134 m can be estimated using SRTM-V4.1 with relatively acceptable accuracy. Whereas, this DEM is not significantly consistent for accurate SLR scenarios simulations. Without doubt, ASTER-V2.1 DEM was an excellent alternative compared to SRTM with 90-m pixel size, but actually with SRTM-V4.1 full resolution (30-m) ASTER-V2.1 will likely see its limited uses in geosciences applications. Indeed, ASTER is not providing accurate information to simulate the impact of SLR scenarios on small islands.
In Vitro Microcorm Formation in Saffron (Crocus sativus L.)

Astract In-vitro microcorm production has been obtained by culturing leaf segments of saffron on MS medium containing BA (4.0 mg l) + NAA (0.50 mg l) + 9 % sucrose. Maximum explant survival was observed when leaf was used as explants source (48.90 %) and incubated in MS medium supplemented with BA (1.0 mg l) and 2,4-D (1.0 mg l). Similar results were obtained for establishment as well as for callusing of initiating cultures of leaf explants. Maximum proliferation of established cultures (56.30) was got with BAP + NAA (2.0 mg l + 0.50 mg l). Plant regeneration through somatic embryogenesis using regenerable embryogenic calli was also obtained from leaf explants cultured in MS medium containing 1.0 mgl and 1.0 mg l 2,4-d. Somatic embryo formation was attained to the tune of 8.66 embryos per culture by using BA+2,4D (2.25 mg l + 0.10 mg l) in MS medium. Matured embryos germinated after incubation on MS medium containing 20.0 mg l of GA3 plus 2.0 mg l of ABA for five days. An average of 10.82 shoots per explant of proliferated culture was obtained when MS medium was supplemented with BAP (2.0 mg l) + NAA (0.50 mg l).
Elements of the Perpetuation of Dependency in a Psychiatric Halfway House

Halfway houses are intended as helping institutions for those who are attempting to make the transition from institutionalized mental health facilities to autonomous living in the community. In spite of the manifest goal to produce independence for its residents, however, the halfway house contributes to patterns of dependency. In addition to the network nature of mental health care, we identify three dependency-perpetuating elements: role commitments, language, and mixed messages. These elements are analyzed as both social organizational and social psychological processes, and their implications are discussed. Our intention in this paper is to identify and examine elements of a psychiatric halfway house which contribute to the perpetuation of patterns of dependency for residents who live there. By dependency, we refer to a passive perspective taken by the person in which decisions concerning his conduct and control of his life organization are taken over by others. 1 This examination is significant because halfway houses, as part of the therapeutic community oriented to helping persons with emotional problems, are designed both in format and philosophy to promote greater autonomy and independence for residents. Moreover, halfway houses themselves are becoming increasingly significant settings (Budson, 1973). The decline in the populations of mental hospitals (Schafer et al., 1975: 68) along with the general therapeutic shift from an emphasis on individual pathology to one based on a systems perspective has led to increases in community based mental health facilities (Gralnick et al., 1975). Our analysis, therefore, pertains to a critical area in the field of mental health, and focuses on those elements and processes in psychiatric organizations which are counterproductive. 2
Shifts in EU Cohesion Policy and Processes of Peripheralization: A View from Central Eastern Europe

Abstract The increasing dominance of neoliberalism as the key steering mechanism of the European Union (EU) since the early 1990s has implied the competitiveness-oriented reshaping of cohesion policy. The aim of this paper is to initiate a debate from a critical political economic perspective on the implications of this shift for Central Eastern European (CEE) member states. To this end, the paper discusses the formation of EU centre-periphery relations from a CEE point of view and formulates some preliminary suggestions as to how cohesion policy would need to be rethought in order to ensure the better integration of lagging CEE regions.
Studies on Vitamin D Levels in Serum of HIV Infected Patients: Their Effect on Progression towards AIDS

Vitamin D deficiency may be more prevalent among HIV-positive patients than in the general population due to HIV disease-related factors. This study examined the effects of HIV infection and use of antiretroviral drugs in serum vitamin D levels in HIV patients visiting Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi Kenya from October 2013 to April 2014. The effect of vitamin D status on CD4 cell count and HIV viral load was evaluated to determine the status of disease progression to AIDS. HIV viral load in blood samples was determined using COBAS Ampliprep/TaqMan HIV-1 test kit while CD4 cell counts were done using the fluorescence-activated cell sorter system. The levels of vitamin D in serum were determined using electrochemiluminescence binding assay in Cobas E601 mass analyzers. In addition, selected plasma enzymes were used to evaluate liver function. Higher percentage (49.12%) of deficient vitamin D cases were observed among HIV patients not on ART. Deficient levels of Vitamin D were associated with abnormal selected liver enzymes. High viral load was observed among patients not on ART with deficient and insufficient vitamin D. The CD4 cell count was higher in patients on ART with sufficient vitamin D levels compared to those with deficient vitamin D. These observations suggest a need to supplement ART with vitamin D in order to ameliorate Vitamin D deficiency as a strategy to improve HIV management.
Improved diagnostic clarity in shrimp allergic non-dust-mite sensitized patients.

BACKGROUND Allergen specific immunoglobulin E (sIgE) levels predictive of shrimp allergy have not been identified, but these may be helpful in identifying patients at risk for shrimp-induced allergic reactions. OBJECTIVE This study sought to identify component resolved diagnostic tests useful for diagnosis of shrimp allergy in patients with or without house-dust mite (HDM) sensitization to the major allergen cysteine protease (Der p 1). METHODS Patients with positive skin-prick test (SPT) results and/or sIgE values were recruited. Shrimp allergy was classified by oral food challenge (OFC) or by a clear history of anaphylaxis after shrimp ingestion. Patients with shrimp allergy and patients who were tolerant were further classified based on HDM sensitivity (Der p 1 > 0.35 kUA/L). Testing for sIgE to total shrimp, and shrimp and HDM components was performed. The Fisher exact test, Wilcoxon sum rank test, and receiver operating characteristics analyses were used to compare sIgE levels in patients with allergy and patients who were tolerant. RESULTS Of 79 patients recruited, 12 patients with shrimp allergy (7 with positive OFC results and 5 with a history of anaphylaxis) and 18 patients who were shrimp tolerant were enrolled. Of the patients not HDM sensitized, sIgE levels to shrimp (10.5 kUA/L, p = 0.012) and Der p 10 (4.09 kUA/L, p = 0.035) were higher in patients with shrimp allergy. Shrimp sIgE of ≥3.55 kUA/L had 100% diagnostic sensitivity and 85.7% specificity (receiver operating characteristic 0.94 [0.81, 1.0] 95% CI) and Der p 10 sIgE levels of ≥3.98 kUA/L had a diagnostic sensitivity of 80% and specificity of 100% (receiver operating characteristic 0.86 [0.57, 1.0] 95% CI) for prediction of clinical reactivity. CONCLUSION HDM sensitization influences shrimp and HDM component sIgE levels and, consequently, their diagnostic accuracy in shrimp allergy. In our series, in the patients who were non-HDM sensitized, a shrimp sIgE level of >3.55 kUA/L showed 100% sensitivity and, Der p 10 sIgE of >3.98 kUA/L showed 100% specificity for the diagnosis of shrimp allergy. These levels may not be applicable to every patient and, therefore, may not obviate the need for OFC.
Effect of Sending Educational Video Clips via Smartphone Mobile Messenger on Bowel Preparation before Colonoscopy

Background/Aim We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of sending educational video clips via smartphone mobile messenger (SMM) on enhancing bowel preparation before colonoscopy. Methods This was a prospective, endoscopist-blinded, randomized controlled study. Patients in the SMM group received two video clips sent via SMM that explained the diet and regimen for bowel preparation, whereas those in the control group did not receive any video clips. We compared the quality of bowel preparation between the two groups, which was assessed by an endoscopist using the Ottawa scale. Results Between August and November 2014, 140 patients in the SMM group and 141 patients in the control group underwent colonoscopic examination. T﻿he total Ottawa score of the SMM group was significantly lower than that of the control group (5.47±1.74 vs. 5.97±1.78, p=0.018). These results were particularly prominent in the younger age group; the total Ottawa score of patents in the SMM group aged <40 years was significantly lower than that of patients in the control group aged <40 years (5.10±1.55 vs. 6.22±2.33, p=0.034). Conclusions We demonstrated that sending educational video clips via SMM could result in better bowel preparation, especially in the younger age group.
Trichuris muris whey acidic protein induces type 2 protective immunity against whipworm

Human whipworm (Trichuris trichiura) infects approximately 1 in 15 people worldwide, representing the leading infectious cause of colitis and subsequent, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Current control measures focused on mass deworming have had limited success due to low drug efficacies. Vaccination would be an ideal, cost-effective strategy to induce protective immunity, leading to control of infection and transmission. Here we report the identification of whey acidic protein, a whipworm secretory protein, as a strong immunogen for inducing protective efficacy in a surrogate mouse T. muris infection model. The recombinant WAP protein (rTm-WAP49), as well as a single, highly conserved repeat within WAP (fragment 8) expressed as an Na-GST-1 fusion protein (rTm-WAP-F8+Na-GST-1), generate a strong T helper type 2 (Th2) immune response when delivered as subcutaneous vaccines formulated with Montanide ISA 720. Oral challenge with T. muris infective eggs following vaccination led to a significant reduction in worm burden of 48% by rTm-WAP49 and 33% by rTm-WAP-F8+Na-GST-1. The cellular immune correlates of protection included significant antigen-specific production of Th2 cytokines IL-4, IL-9, and IL-13 by cells isolated from the vaccine-draining inguinal lymph nodes, parasite-draining mesenteric lymph nodes, and spleen in mice vaccinated with either rTm-WAP49 or rTm-WAP-F8+Na-GST-1. The humoral immune correlates included a high antigen-specific ratio of IgG1 to IgG2a, without eliciting an IgE-mediated allergic response. Immunofluorescent staining of adult T. muris with WAP antisera identified the worm’s pathogenic stichosome organ as the site of secretion of native Tm-WAP protein into the colonic mucosa. Given the high sequence conservation for the WAP proteins from T. muris and T. trichiura, the results presented here support the WAP protein to be further evaluated as a potential human whipworm vaccine candidate.
A Cycloheximide-Sensitive Step in Transverse Microtubule Array Patterning1

Formation of transverse cortical microtubule array patterns in Arabidopsis hypocotyl cells requires the active suppression of longitudinal polymers. The growth properties of individual cells within a tissue determine plant morphology, and the organization of the cytoskeleton, particularly the microtubule arrays, determines cellular growth properties. We investigated the mechanisms governing the formation of transverse microtubule array patterns in axially growing Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) epidermal hypocotyl cells. Using quantitative imaging approaches, we mapped the transition of the cortical microtubule arrays into a transverse coaligned pattern after induction with auxin and gibberellic acid. Hormone induction led to an early loss of microtubule plus end density and a rotation toward oblique patterns. Beginning 30 min after induction, transverse microtubules appeared at the cell’s midzone concurrently with the loss of longitudinal polymers, eventually progressing apically and basally to remodel the array pattern. Based on the timing and known hormone-signaling pathways, we tested the hypothesis that the later events require de novo gene expression and, thus, constitute a level of genetic control over transverse patterning. We found that the presence of the translation inhibitor cycloheximide (CHX) resulted in a selective and reversible loss of transverse patterns that were replaced with radial-like pinwheel arrays exhibiting a split bipolar architecture centered at the cell’s midzone. Experiments using hormone induction and CHX revealed that pinwheel arrays occur when transverse microtubules increase at the midzone but longitudinal microtubules in the split bipolar architecture are not suppressed. We propose that a key regulatory mechanism for creating the transverse microtubule coalignment in axially growing hypocotyls involves the expression of a CHX-sensitive factor that acts to suppress the nucleation of the longitudinally oriented polymers.
Age-Optimal Channel Coding Blocklength for an M/G/1 Queue with HARQ

We consider a communication system in which a source transmits information updates to a destination node through a binary erasure channel (BEC). When a packet containing an information update, which consists of a fixed number of information bits, arrives at the transmitter, it gets queued in a buffer, to be encoded and sent over the channel. Before transmitting a packet, the transmitter selects a channel coding blocklength n and then uses an automatic repeat request (ARQ) protocol, whereby packets that are decoded incorrectly are repeated. The choice of the coding blocklength thus affects the end-to-end status age. However, this dependency is nontrivial since, on the one hand, the duration of a single transmission attempt is directly proportional to n, so the smaller n the better. On the other hand, a smaller value of the blocklength n yields a higher probability of decoding error, which increases the end-to-end status age. Employing recent finite-blocklength information-theoretic bounds and approximations on the rate achievable on a BEC for a given blocklength and a given error probability, we study the age-optimal design of this system. We find that for any nontrivial BEC, there exists an optimal blocklength that minimizes the average age and average peak age of information.
WiC: 10, 000 Example Pairs for Evaluating Context-Sensitive Representations

By design, word embeddings are unable to model the dynamic nature of words' semantics, i.e., the property of words to correspond to potentially different meanings depending on the context in which they appear. To address this limitation, dozens of specialized word embedding techniques have been proposed. However, despite the popularity of research on this topic, very few evaluation benchmarks exist that specifically focus on the dynamic semantics of words. In this paper we show that existing models have surpassed the performance ceiling for the standard de facto dataset, i.e., the Stanford Contextual Word Similarity. To address the lack of a suitable benchmark, we put forward a large-scale Word in Context dataset, called WiC, based on annotations curated by experts, for generic evaluation of context-sensitive word embeddings. WiC is released in this https URL.
The extent of antipsychotic use in Australian residential aged care facilities and interventions shown to be effective in reducing antipsychotic use: A literature review

At least half of all residents of Australian residential aged care facilities have dementia. Most residents living with dementia will at some stage experience behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), which can be challenging to manage and distressing for the resident, their family and carers. This literature review examined the prevalence of antipsychotic use in Australian residential aged care facilities, which may be used to manage BPSD only after non-pharmacological treatments have failed. Sixteen studies assessing care between 2000 and 2017 were identified and reviewed. The proportion of residents prescribed an antipsychotic ranged from 13% to 42%. Evidence from six Australian interventions showed that the antipsychotic use can be reduced, especially when non-pharmacological interventions that are individualised to the person and the behaviour are implemented. Research has shown that antipsychotics can be tapered and ceased without re-emergence of behavioural symptoms in many instances. Multidisciplinary, multi-strategic approaches have demonstrated effectiveness in reducing antipsychotic use by up to 3% (absolute reduction) in the aged-care setting.