Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modelling nature-based tourism impacts on rural development and conservation in Sikunga Conservancy, Namibia

ABSTRACT Community-based natural resource management and nature-based tourism often go hand in hand to drive conservation and economic development in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the complementarity of the two strategies is controversially discussed in the literature. Built on survey data from 200 households conducted in 2012 we analysed the trade-off between conservation and development objectives by means of a mathematical programming model representing the economy of a rural conservancy in Namibia. We found that in the scenario describing unrestricted resource extraction, local communities mainly benefit from fishing and utilising forest products. In comparison, the scenario representing the social optimum, implying sustainably managed fish stocks and appropriate diets for community inhabitants, shows that community households increase agricultural diversification and shift livelihoods towards tourism employment.
Observational study of trastuzumab-related cardiotoxicity in early and metastatic breast cancer

Introduction Trastuzumab-related cardiotoxicity has been a major concern in clinical practice, since observational studies have shown higher incidences than that reported in clinical trials. We aim to measure the incidence of trastuzumab-related cardiotoxicity in patients with early and metastatic breast cancer in the south of Brazil. Methods Multicenter prospective observational study, which included 109 patients with early or metastatic HER-2+ breast cancer undergoing any trastuzumab-based regimen. Cardiac events were measured by transthoracic echocardiography assessments and by signs and symptoms of heart failure. Results Trastuzumab-related cardiotoxicity was observed in 58 patients (53.2%). Emergency and hospitalization admissions were necessary in seven and three patients, respectively, due to symptoms of heart failure. One patient died in consequence of trastuzumab-related cardiotoxicity. In total, trastuzumab was discontinued in 31.2% of patients, of which almost a third could not return to treatment. In this study, no risk factors were significantly associated with the development of cardiotoxicity. Discussion The incidence of TRC and trastuzumab's early discontinuation observed was significantly higher in comparison with other studies. These findings endorse the fact that trastuzumab-related cardiotoxicity is a relevant adverse reaction, and therefore, cardiac dysfunction's monitoring must be highlighted in order to allow a safe use of trastuzumab in this population.
Contests at the workplace with and without prize selection: Testing theory in a field experiment

We conduct a field experiment with 302 workers of the microcredit company in Russia to study the effects of the different designs of a contest for monetary prizes at the workplace. We consider a standard all-pay auction design with two and four prizes of different size and compare it to "parallel" contests with the same prizes, but where participants have to choose the prize prior to the start of the competition and then the winner is selected only among the players who chose the same prize. Despite the theoretical predictions, the parallel contests lead to higher efforts for all players, but mainly by lower-ability players. Division of prizes leads to the predicted effects. In parallel contests, too many players choose the higher prize than equilibrium suggests. Overall, the parallel version of contests appeared to be more profitable for the firm.
Short Selling Around Restatement Announcements

This article draws on two distinct literatures—one that investigates the impact of accounting restatements and another that investigates the trading behavior of short sellers—to further our understanding of how sophisticated investors process and respond to news about accounting corrections. We examine short-seller behavior in the days surrounding restatement announcements to determine when short sellers identify restatements and how they trade on restatement news. Our findings suggest that short sellers do not appear to anticipate restatement announcement dates, but we find that abnormal short selling is significantly higher than is typical when restatements are announced, especially for restatements announced transparently (i.e., in press releases or 8-Ks). Short sellers target small companies, whose information environments may be weaker, and companies making restatements that reduce previously reported income. In addition, we find that restating companies targeted most heavily by short sellers experience the most negative subsequent abnormal returns over horizons of up to 40 trading days following the restatement disclosure. Overall, our results suggest that short sellers respond to, but do not anticipate, restatement announcements and trade as if they understand the post-announcement stock price implications of restatement disclosures.
The measurement of quality-adjusted life years : investigations into trade-offs between longevity and quality of life

In health care, decision makers are faced with increasing innovation and demand for services accompanied by escalating costs. As a result, governments and institutions have sought to promote health care value (i.e. better outcomes per moneys spent). A summary measure of health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) to help decide how to allocate available resources is thus highly desirable. In no other area of public policy has a measure similar to the widely-used quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) been developed. The QALY is therefore unique in both its ambitions and in the political, philosophical and measurement challenges it faces. This thesis set out to examine health state valuation using the time-trade off (TTO), a tool used to measure HRQoL, in the context of a behavioural economic framework. Observed violations of procedural and descriptive invariance, cornerstones of decision theory (on which the TTO is based), have been witnessed in health state valuation and elsewhere. Behavioural economics offers a framework by which such inconsistencies can potentially be better understood. Although behavioural economics has gained traction in other areas of decision research, its application to health state valuation has been limited. Drawing on the decision-making literature and health-specific considerations, the empirical studies in this thesis: provide insight into why previous studies of the TTO have yielded inconsistent findings, showcase violations of internal consistency due to behavioural economic phenomena, and identify issues relevant to the choice of TTO ‘version’ (i.e. how values should be elicited). Implications of the research in terms of stated preference methods and their role in policy are discussed. A strict focus on the TTO was intended, as it is the tool most widely implemented in health state preference elicitation, both in research contexts and clinical studies that seek to demonstrate cost-effectiveness. However, importantly, the empirical findings and discussion in this thesis are relevant not only to researchers of health state valuation but to policy makers in health and other areas of social policy which seek input for their decisions through stated preference exercises.
Bicycle exercise stress in PET for assessment of coronary flow reserve: repeatability and comparison with adenosine stress.

UNLABELLED PET allows absolute measurements of myocardial blood flow (MBF). The aim of the present study was to evaluate the feasibility and repeatability of supine bicycle exercise stress, compared with standard adenosine stress, in PET. METHODS In 11 healthy volunteers, MBF was assessed at rest, during adenosine-induced (140 microg/kg/min over 7 min) hyperemia, and immediately after supine bicycle exercise (mean workload, 130 W, which is 70% of the predicted value) using PET and (15)O-H(2)O. The assessment was then repeated after 20 min. Coronary flow reserve (CFR) was calculated as hyperemic/resting MBF for adenosine stress and exercise stress. Repeatability was evaluated according to the method of Bland and Altman. RESULTS No significant differences were found between the paired resting MBF (1.22 +/- 0.16 vs. 1.26 +/- 0.21 mL/min/g; mean difference, 3% +/- 11%) and the hyperemic MBF with adenosine stress (5.13 +/- 0.74 vs. 4.97 +/- 1.05; mean difference, -4% +/- 14%) or exercise stress (2.35 +/- 0.66 vs. 2.25 +/- 0.61; mean difference, -4% +/- 19%). CFR was reproducible with adenosine stress (4.23 +/- 0.62 vs. 4.05 +/- 1.06, P = not statistically significant; mean difference, -5% +/- 19%) and exercise stress (1.91 +/- 0.46 vs. 1.80 +/- 0.44, P = not statistically significant; mean difference, -5% +/- 15%). Repeatability coefficients for MBF were 0.26 (rest), 1.34 (adenosine stress), and 0.82 (exercise stress) mL/min/g. CONCLUSION Assessment of CFR with (15)O-H(2)O and PET using bicycle exercise in the PET scanner is feasible and at least as repeatable as using adenosine stress.
The political economy of twin deficits and wage setting centralization

This paper contributes to the literature on current account imbalances. Econometric analysis of the paper finds evidence that wage centralization, in a cross-section of industrialized economies, significantly improve current accounts through reducing budget deficits. To explain this empirical finding, the paper provides a political economy framework in which the government follows preferences of N-sector workers (majority rule). An increase in public and so, current account deficits by issuing external public debt leads to real appreciation of the currency. As between-sector mobility is constrained by friction in the labor market, wages in N-sector rises. The opposite happens if the government improves the two balances by rising its saving. Thus, N-sector workers relatively support (oppose) more a rise (reform) in the two deficits. Centralization of wage bargaining moderates the benefit and costs from such twin-deficit policies by reducing the responsiveness of sectoral wage with respect to sectoral prices. Thus, the more centralized is the wage determination, the less N-sector workers support (oppose) a rise (reform) in the two deficits. Correspondingly, more centralized wage bargaining reduces the government's political incentive (cost) to deteriorate (reform) the external balance through the fiscal balance.
Killer Incentives: Status Competition and Pilot Performance during World War II

A growing theoretical and empirical literature shows that public recognition can lead employees to exert greater effort. However, status competition is also associated with excessive expenditure on status goods, greater likelihood of bankruptcy, and more risk taking by money managers. This paper examines the effects of recognition and status competition jointly. In particular, we focus on the spillover effects of public recognition on the performance and risk taking of peers. Using newly collected data on monthly “victory” scores of more than 5,000 German pilots during World War II, we find that status competition had important effects: After the German armed forces bulletin mentioned the accomplishments of a particular fighter pilot, his former peers performed considerably better. This outperformance varied across skill groups. When a former squadron peer was mentioned, the best pilots tried harder, scored more, and died no more frequently; in contrast, average pilots won only a few additional victories but died at a significantly higher rate. Hence our results show that the overall efficiency effect of nonfinancial rewards can be ambiguous in settings where both risk and output affect aggregate performance.
Effects of Temperature on the Life Table Parameters of Trichogramma zahiri (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae), an Egg Parasitoid of Dicladispa armigera (Chrysomelidae: Coleoptera)

ABSTRACT The influence of different temperatures on biological parameters of native strains of Trichogramma zahiri Polaszek (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae), an egg parasitoid of rice hispa, Dicladispa armigera (Olivier) (Chrysomelidae: Coleoptera), was evaluated in the laboratory on its host. The key biological parameters of the parasitoid T. zahiri in relation to temperature were investigated to find out its candidature as a potential biological control agent of rice hispa. The highest number of eggs parasitized by T. zahiri was 15.7 eggs per female at 26°C, which differed significantly from those at 18, 22, 30, and 34°C (P<0.05). Development duration and longevity of T. zahiri decreased as temperature increased. Fecundity differed significantly at all constant temperatures. Emergence rates decreased at both high (34°C) and low (<26°C) temperatures. Female-biased sex ratio ranged from 54 to 70% at all constant temperatures. The lower temperature threshold for T. zahiri was 6.2°C for males and 6.95°C for females. The upper threshold temperatures were 35.82 and 35.87°C for males and females, respectively. Net reproductive rate (R0) was highest at 26°C compared with other temperatures. Mean cohort generation time (tG) and population doubling time (tD) decreased as temperature increased from 18 to 30°C. The daily intrinsic rate of increase (rm) and finite rate of increase (&lgr;) were positively correlated with temperatures ranging from 18 to 30°C and then decreased at 34°C. The relevance of our results is discussed in the context of climatic adaptation and biological control.
Emotion recognition deficits in pediatric anxiety disorders: implications for amygdala research.

INTRODUCTION Anxiety disorders in adults involve aberrant processing of emotional information that is hypothesized to reflect perturbations in the amygdala. This study examines the relationship between face-emotion recognition and anxiety in a sample of children and adolescents participating in a brain-imaging study of amygdala structure and function. METHODS This study recruited 15 children and adolescents with ongoing anxiety disorders and 11 psychiatrically healthy comparisons group-matched on age, gender, and IQ. Face-emotion recognition was assessed using the Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy Scale (DANVA). RESULTS Children and adolescents with anxiety disorders exhibited significantly poorer performance on the face-emotion recognition task compared to healthy controls (z = 2.2; p < 0.05). This difference was found only for expressions posed by adults but not children. DISCUSSION Reduced accuracy on a face-emotion recognition test is consistent with perturbed amygdala function in pediatric anxiety disorders. CONCLUSION As this study was conducted in a sample undergoing a neuroimaging investigation of amygdala integrity, future analyses will examine associations among amygdala function, clinical anxiety, and face-recognition abilities.
Trade Openness and Democracy: The Case of Gabon

This article analyzes the relation between trade openness and democracy in Gabon. Unlike traditional approaches based on the estimation of linear gravity models, we first estimate a nonlinear model characterizing the relation between democracy and trade openness. We then determine an optimal threshold beyond which democracy has a positive effect on trade openness in Gabon.
Fruit and vegetable intake in Canadian ethnic populations.

PURPOSE We explored whether Canada's diverse ethnic population consumes an adequate daily amount of fruit and vegetables. We also examined the association between fruit and vegetable consumption and long-term diseases. METHODS The Canadian Community Health Survey, Cycle 2.2 (CCHS 2.2), was used to determine the fruit and vegetable intake (FVI) of 13 racial groups, as well as of the entire population. Specifically, we determined median intake and proportions of the group consuming five or more daily servings. Multiple pairwise comparisons among the proportions were performed to detect ethnic groups with significantly low FVI. Logistic regression was also used to describe the risk of long-term diseases associated with FVI and ethnicity. RESULTS The percentages of Southeast Asian, Aboriginal (off-reserve), and Chinese people who consumed five or more daily servings of fruit and vegetables were significantly lower than percentages in all other ethnic groups surveyed. Aboriginal people with the lowest FVI demonstrated the highest propensity for developing most of the long-term diseases. CONCLUSIONS The majority of Canada's ethnic groups identified in the CCHS 2.2 fell short of the recommended FVI target. This low-intake status might be a risk factor for common long-term diseases.
How many patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis excluded for cardiac surgery are eligible for transcatheter heart valve implantation?

Objective We sought to assess what proportion of patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis who are excluded from cardiac surgery are eligible for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). Methods Between July 2007 and December 2008, 98 patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis judged inoperable were referred to our institution for percutaneous aortic balloon valvuloplasty (PABV). They entered a screening for TAVI with the CoreValve Revalving System or the Edwards-Sapien valve, comprising general clinical evaluation, echocardiogram, coronary angiography, angiography and angio-CT scan of thoracic aorta and ilio-femoral axes. Results Mean patients' age was 82 ± 7 years; the vast majority presented relevant comorbidities. Mortality risk predicted by the logistic European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation was on average 25.3 ± 14.5%. Overall, 45 (45.9%) patients met the criteria for TAVI: 29.6% for percutaneous transfemoral access, 6.1% for trans-subclavian and 10.2% for transapical approaches. Reason for exclusion was severe noncardiac comorbidity in around half of the cases. PABV allowed re-classification of several patients with very poor left ejection fraction and severe mitral regurgitation. Among the 39 patients undergoing TAVI after the screening, in-hospital mortality was 3.7% for transfemoral and 0 for trans-subclavian and transapical approaches. Conclusions TAVI represents a viable therapeutic option for elderly patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis who are not candidates for surgical aortic valve replacement. However, presently less than half of them actually fulfil the criteria for these procedures.
Interleukin-1 mediates thermal injury-induced lung damage through C-Jun NH2-terminal kinase signaling*

Objective:The molecular mechanisms of lung damage following thermal injury are not clear. The purpose of this study was to determine whether interleukin (IL)-1 mediates burn-induced inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression, peroxynitrite production, and lung damage through c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling. Design:Prospective, experimental study. Setting:Research laboratory at a university hospital. Subjects:Thermal injury models in the mice. Interventions:IL-1 receptor type 1 (IL-1R1)−/− mice, Tnfrsf1a−/− mice, and wild-type (WT) mice were subjected to 30% total body surface area third-degree burn. The JNK inhibitor, SP600125, was given to mice to study the involvement of the JNK pathway in thermal injury-induced lung damage. WT → WT, WT → IL-1R1−/−, and IL-1R1−/− → WT chimeric mice were generated to determine the role of hematopoietic cells in IL-1-mediated lung damage. Neutrophils were harvested and treated in vitro with N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP). Measurements and Main Results:IL-1R1−/− mice rather than Tnfrsf1a−/− mice showed less thermal injury-induced lung damage. IL-1R1−/− mice displayed less lung JNK activity; intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM), vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM), chemokine receptor 2 (CXCR2), and macrophage inflammatory protein-2 (MIP2), messenger RNA expression; myeloperoxidase activity; and neutrophil p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) phosphorylation after thermal injury. SP600125 significantly reduced thermal injury-induced blood dihydrorhodamine (DHR) 123 oxidation, iNOS expression, and lung permeability in WT mice but not in IL-1R1−/− mice. IL-1R1−/− → WT chimeric mice rather than WT → IL-1R1−/− chimeric mice showed less thermal injury-induced lung damage. fMLP increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production of neutrophils in WT mice but not in IL-1R1−/− mice. SP600125 decreased ROS production of neutrophils in WT mice but not in IL-1R1−/− mice. Conclusions:Thermal injury-induced lung JNK activation; lung ICAM, VCAM, CXCR2, and MIP2 expression; and DHR 123 oxidation are IL-1 dependent. JNK inhibition decreases IL-1-mediated thermal injury-induced lung damage. Given that the IL-1 receptor is critical in thermal injury-induced p38 MAPK phosphorylation and ROS production of neutrophils, we conclude that IL-1 mediates thermal injury-induced iNOS expression and lung damage through the JNK signaling pathway.
A 10mW 37.8GHz current-redistribution BiCMOS VCO with an average FOMT of −193.5dBc/Hz

The continued scaling of digital CMOS technology has enabled mm-Wave VCOs with record figures of merit [1-5]. This is mainly driven by the increase in cutoff frequency and decrease in power consumption brought by lower supply voltages. However, at mm-Wave, challenges such as low Q-factor of the tuning varactors and switched capacitors result in a sharp degradation in the resonator Q. For an NMOS LC-VCO (Fig. 8.8.1), a large bias current and high transconductance (gm) are needed to maintain a given oscillation amplitude and to satisfy the startup condition. Since gm has a weak dependency on current in strong inversion, it can primarily be increased by enlarging the device width, W1, as illustrated in Fig. 8.8. 2. Further degradation in the device gm is experienced when the VCO operates near the transistor cutoff frequency, necessitating an even larger W1 (Fig. 8.8.2). This results in a large fixed capacitance Cfix1 and hence a limited VCO tuning range (TR) [1,2]. It can also be shown that for the same bias current (i.e. output swing), increasing W1 comes at the expense of large thermal (1/f2) noise. This can be illustrated by examining the excess noise factor F, defined as the ratio between the transistors' switching noise and the tank resistor noise [6]. As depicted in Fig. 8.8. 2, an extra 5dB of 1/f2 noise is added to the VCO output when the transistor W1 is increased from 20μm to 60μm, which is required to meet a 2× startup margin. Moreover, increasing W1 leads to a higher contribution of 1/f3 noise from up-converted 1/f noise [7].