Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Strategic Disclosure of Valuable Information within Competitive Environments

Can valuable information be disclosed intentionally by the informed agent even within a competitive environment? In this article, we bring our interest into the asymmetry in reward and penalty in the payoff structure and explore its effects on the strategic disclosure of valuable information. According to our results, the asymmetry in reward and penalty is a necessary condition for the disclosure of valuable information. This asymmetry also decides which quality of information is revealed for which incentive; if the penalty is larger than the reward or the reward is weakly larger than the penalty, there exists an equilibrium in which only a low quality type of information is revealed, in order to induce imitation. On the other hand, if the reward is sufficiently larger than the penalty, there exist equilibria in which either all types or only high quality type of information is revealed, in order to induce deviation. The evaluation of the equilibrium in terms of expected payoff yields that the equilibrium where valuable information is disclosed strategically dominates the equilibrium where it is concealed.
Celery allergens in patients with positive double-blind placebo-controlled food challenge.

BACKGROUND Recently, for the first time, allergy to celery was confirmed by double-blind placebo-controlled food challenge (DBPCFC). Api g 1, Api g 4, cross-reactive carbohydrate determinants (CCD), and a 60 kDa allergen have been described as celery allergens. OBJECTIVE To get insights in IgE responses of patients with a positive DBPCFC to celery tuber (celeriac) compared with patients with a negative challenge test. METHODS Specific IgE to native and heated celery tuber and to recombinant Api g 1, the major celery allergen, were determined by enzyme allergosorbent test and immunoblotting. IgE binding to Api g 1, Api g 4, and CCD was confirmed by inhibition experiments that used recombinant Api g 1, recombinant Api g 4, pure N-glycans, and extracts of celeriac, lychee fruit, and pollens of birch, mugwort, and timothy grass as inhibitors. RESULTS Immunoblotting with sera from 22 patients with a positive DBPCFC to celeriac confirmed the presence of known allergenic structures: The major allergen Api g 1 (16 kDa) was recognized by IgE from 13 of 22 patients (59%). Another major allergen was CCD, determined by IgE reactivity in 12 of 22 patients (55%). Celery profilin, Api g 4, was recognized by IgE from 5 of 22 patients (23%). CONCLUSION Our DBPCFC-positive patients exclusively presented IgE to known celery allergens, although the prevalences were slightly different than were previously reported. No obvious differences were found in patients with positive IgE antibody but negative challenge test. IgE binding to all 3 structures in celeriac extract was inhibited by birch pollen extract, whereas mugwort pollen extract could only inhibit IgE reactivity to Api g 4 and CCD. Inhibition experiments with a purified carbohydrate moiety clearly showed that the IgE epitope mannose-xylose-fucose-glycan (Manalpha1-6[Xylbeta1-2]Manbeta1-4GlcNAcbeta1-4[ Fucalpha1-3]GlcNAc) or a closely related structure is present in celeriac extract and is important in patients with clinical allergy to celery.
Project Heterogeneity and Growth: The Impact of Selection

In the classical literature of innovation-based endogenous growth, the main engine of long run economic growth is firm entry. Nevertheless, when projects are heterogeneous, and good ideas are scarce, a mass-composition trade off is introduced into this link: larger cohorts are characterized by a lower average quality. As one of the roles of the financial system is to screen the quality of projects, the ability of financial intermediaries to detect promising projects shapes the strength of this trade-off. In order to study this relationship, we build a general equilibrium endogenous growth model with project heterogeneity and financial screening. To illustrate the relevance of the mass and composition margins we apply this framework to two important debates in the growth literature. First, we show that corporate taxation has only a weak effect in growth, but a strong effect on firm entry, both well known empirical regularities. A second illustration studies the effects of financial development in growth. A word of caution arises: for economies that are characterized by high rates of firm creation, domestic credit should not be used as a proxy of financial development, in contrast to most of the empirical literature.
The Eect of Trading Commissions on Analysts' Forecast Bias

The paper models the interaction between a sell-side analyst and a risk-averse investor. It studies an analyst's optimal earnings forecast and an investor's optimal trading decision in a setting where the analyst's payodepends on the trade his forecast generates as well as on his forecast error. The paper shows that in the unique fully separating equilibrium the analyst biases his forecast upward (downward) if his private signal is greater (less) than the …rm's stock price. The model provides several empirical predictions, including: (i) the analyst biases his forecast upward more often than downward and his forecast is on average optimistic; (ii) the analyst acts as if he overweights his private information if it is favorable. If his private information is su¢ ciently unfavorable, he also acts as if he overweights it, but to a lesser extent. If his private information is slightly unfavorable he acts as if he underweights it; (iii) the analyst's expected squared forecast error may either increase or decrease in the precision of his private information. If the precision of his private information is su¢ ciently high, a further increase in this precision always increases his expected squared forecast error rather than decreases it (as one might expect).
Tooth size and morphology in hemifacial microsomia.

AIMS To determine whether tooth size and morphology are affected in HFM. DESIGN The mesiodistal diameter of each tooth of 40 patients with varying severity of HFM was measured with a vernier gauge calibrated to 0.1 mm. Data obtained from teeth on the affected side were compared with data from corresponding teeth on the contralateral side. SETTING Center for Craniofacial Anomalies, School of Dentistry, University of California, San Francisco, USA. RESULTS Subjects with HFM have smaller teeth on the affected side than on the contralateral side. The more severely affected subjects have the highest degree of tooth size asymmetry. Tooth morphology is also affected in individuals with HFM.
E-services and their Role in B2C E-commerce

It is only now that Governments have recognized the fact that markets should perform a crucial economic function of linking supply and demand and at the same time, provide safe guards to the producer in terms of rational market practices and safety measures facilities. Owing to globalization and de-regulation, developing countries have realized that the objectives in the 21st Century should be towards making efforts to bring the benefit of the power of the modern technology and marketing techniques to the aid of the customer with the help E-Services.
Statin Function as an Anti-inflammation Therapy for Depression in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease by Downregulating Interleukin-1&bgr;

Abstract: It is well known that inflammation contributes to the development of coronary artery disease (CAD) and depressive symptoms. Previous studies have shown that long-term application of statin reduces the occurrence of depression in patients with CAD. However, the mechanism remains unclear. We hypothesized that inflammation contributes to depression in patients with CAD and statin function as an anti-inflammation therapy for those depressive patients. Patients with confirmed CAD hospitalized in the Department of Cardiology of Tongji Hospital in Shanghai, China, were enrolled. Depression was identified as none (ND), mild (MiD), moderate (MoD), or severe (SD) on the basis of scores of the patient health questionnaire with 9 items. Inflammatory factors in peripheral blood were measured using a chemiluminescence immunoassay and Bio-plex. Luciferase expression level was detected using the Dual-Luciferase Reporter Assay System for IL-1&bgr; or NF-&kgr;B expression by transfection in human umbilical vein endothelial cells, and patient serum was added. Data obtained from 217 patients with CAD were analyzed. The IL-1&bgr; level of CAD with SD was 14.70, which was significantly higher than that of CAD with ND 7.52, MiD 7.73, or MoD 8.63. Luciferase reporter gene analysis showed that IL-1&bgr; or NF-&kgr;B expression level was upregulated by the serum of CAD and depression patients. After the addition of atorvastatin, IL-1&bgr; or NF-&kgr;B luciferase reporter expression level decreased. It suggested that depression in patients with CAD is associated with inflammation. Statin may function as an anti-inflammation therapy for depression in patients with CAD by downregulation of IL-1&bgr;.
The extent of traumatic damage determines a graded depression of the endotoxin responsiveness of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with blunt injuries.

OBJECTIVE To study whether the endotoxin responsiveness of peripheral blood mononuclear cells correlates with the severity of injury in trauma patients. DESIGN Prospective, observational study. SETTING University trauma center. PATIENTS Fifty-nine patients with blunt trauma (Injury Severity Score [ISS] 4 to 57 points). INTERVENTIONS Standard emergency department care, surgical care, and postoperative intensive care unit treatment. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Whole blood and serum were obtained 94+/-89 (SD) mins post trauma (day 0) and during a 14-day period postinjury. Endotoxin-induced tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) synthesis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells ex vivo was tested using a whole blood assay. Serum samples were assayed for TNF-alpha concentrations. A reduced capacity of whole blood to produce TNF-alpha ex vivo with endotoxin treatment was found to be closely correlated with the ISS. The capacity to produce TNF-alpha on endotoxin stimulation of whole blood from patients with an ISS > or =16 points was depressed immediately after trauma and did not reach normal values during the observation period. In patients with an ISS >22 points, maximum depression of the capacity of whole blood to produce TNF-alpha occurs within 100 mins post injury. In contrast, in patients with an ISS <22 points, maximal depression of whole blood TNF-alpha production occurs with a delay of 24 to 48 hrs after trauma. Based on pre- and postoperative values, primary surgical intervention caused a decrease of the endotoxin-stimulated TNF-alpha production of whole blood in the latter patient subgroup, as well as in the entire patient population (ISS 4 to 57) when secondary surgical treatment was necessary 5 to 13 days after trauma. CONCLUSIONS The extent of traumatic tissue damage leads to a graded depression of immunocyte function and appears to be amplified by surgical treatment. The endotoxin responsiveness of peripheral blood mononuclear cells displays a functional marker of the anatomically defined severity of injury and gives insights into the regulation of immunocyte function after severe blunt trauma.
Chronic pelvic pain in women: still a challenge

Chronic pelvic pain (CPP), a common condition particularly in reproductive‐aged women, causes disability and distress, and significantly compromises quality of life and affects healthcare costs. The pathogenesis of CPP is still poorly understood and consequently poorly managed. Furthermore, the lack of a consensus on the definition of CPP greatly hinders epidemiological studies. Patients present with various associated problems, including bladder or bowel dysfunction, gynaecological pathologies or sexual dysfunction, and other systemic or constitutional symptoms. Other conditions, e.g. depression, anxiety and drug addiction, can also coexist. Effective management presupposes an integrated knowledge of all pelvic organs and other systems, including musculoskeletal, neurological and psychiatric systems. The key to treating CPP is to treat it as the complex disease it is. Treatment options range from conservative medical therapy to surgical intervention, and are primarily directed towards symptom relief. Unsatisfactory results of treatment render this condition a frustrating problem for both patients and physicians.
Corporate Diversification and Internal Capital Markets: Evidence from the Turkish Business Groups

We compare the performance of firms affiliated with diversified business groups with the performance of unaffiliated firms in an emerging market, Turkey. Our findings indicate that group affiliation improves firm's accounting performance, but not stock market performance. Furthermore, we find that firm's accounting (but not stock market) performance increases with the level of group diversification. Our results also indicate that having a group affiliated bank affects the accounting performance measures of the group firms positively, but the market value of the group affiliated firms negatively, supporting the misallocation of capital hypothesis. In addition, having a group affiliated media institution is found to affect the performance of the group firms positively. More importantly, we examine the frequency of seasoned equity issue offerings with the forms of cash (right and restricted right) issues and bonus issues to address the question of whether group affiliated firms create an internal capital market. We show that unaffiliated firms are more bound to external markets to raise capital while the affiliated firms use internal capital markets. The views expressed in these papers are those of the author(s), they do not reflect the opinions of LECG, LLC and should not be construed as representing the positions of other experts at LECG, LLC.
A two-phase multipathing scheme based on genetic algorithm for data center networking

Data centers for cloud computing should allocate services with different traffic patterns, provide high data transfer capacity and link fault tolerance. Data center network topologies provide physical connection redundancy, which forwarding mechanisms avail to generate multiple paths. In this paper, we divide multipathing into two phases: (i) Configuration phase based on genetic algorithms to minimize path lengths and maximize link usage diversity; (ii) Path selection phase based on heuristics to minimize path reuse. The proposed multipathing scheme implements minimal modification in infrastructure. Our proposal only requires common network devices features and it avoids any tenant modification. We develop a flow simulator to evaluate multipathing techniques. The simulations model flow behaviors in different data center scenarios and compares the proposed scheme with multipathing techniques in literature. The results show the proposed scheme enhances transmission rates, even in the highest network utilization scenarios.
The Importance of Associated Extra-Renal Vascular Disease on the Outcome of Patients with Atherosclerotic Renovascular Disease

Atherosclerotic renovascular disease (ARVD) is a disease of ageing. It is usually a manifestation of widespread vascular disease and although it may be symptomless, many patients with ARVD present with the effects of extra-renal vascular disease, such as peripheral vascular (PVD), coronary heart (CHD) and cerebrovascular disease. ARVD is a common cause of hypertension and chronic renal failure (CRF), and it is one of the most common renal diagnoses in elderly patients accepted on to dialysis programmes with end-stage renal failure (ESRF). The cause of renal impairment in these patients is still a matter of debate. Patients with ARVD have a high mortality, especially those with renal failure. In this review we examine the relationships between ARVD and co-morbid extra-renal vascular disease, and the impact of these associated vascular pathologies upon renal functional and mortality outcomes is considered. The latest evidence concerning the likely pathogenesis of renal dysfunction in patients with ARVD is also reviewed.
Processing Order in Visual Perception

Initial increases in the availability of items for report following tachistoscopic presentation of centrally-fixated rows of seven random letters were directly evaluated by measuring report accuracy following exposure durations of 10, 20, 40, 80 and 160 ms. A partial-report technique was used, and each presentation of a letter row was immediately followed by the presentation of a masking stimulus. Each of 10 subjects received 840 trials which reflected 24 trials for each exposure-duration by position-probed combination. The letters at both ends of a row became available for report prior to the centre letters. In addition, report of the left-most letter was consistently better than report of the right-most letter, and report of the centre item at fixation improved at a more rapid rate with increased exposure duration than report of the other centre letters. This pattern of results provides support for certain components of several different previous proposals concerning the order in which individual items from multi-element displays become available for report.
Investigating the drivers of consumer intention to buy manufacturer brands

Purpose – Branding literature indicates that consumers buy branded products because they expect higher quality compared with non‐branded products. However, as private‐label brands improve in quality and deliver more value to customers, a reassessment of intention to buy manufacturer brands is pertinent. On the basis of the theory of reasoned action, the authors aim to hypothesize that the perceived quality of manufacturer brands, brand involvement, attitude toward private‐label brands, and perceived product similarity drive purchase intention. In addition, consumers' perceptions of product similarity and age might moderate the relationship between perceived quality and intention to buy manufacturer brands.Design/methodology/approach – The model and relationships are examined with a large sample of more than 600 consumers. The primary data were collected using face‐to‐face interviews.Findings – Regression analysis finds support for a direct effect of perceived product quality, brand involvement and attitud.
Another 'Option' for Determining the Value of Corporate Votes

This paper proposes a new approach of inferring the value of voting rights attached to a stock by using options. This method might help solve the problems present in previous studies on the value of control such as endogeneity and data availability. The paper also has implications for option pricing literature. It provides a rational explanation for some of the widely documented violations of put-call parity. Using a sample of 80 US public companies intervened by activist hedge funds from 2002 to the first half of 2006 and their industry- and size-matched firms, I find that the average percentage and probability of lower-bound put-call parity violations are higher for the companies after they are attacked by hedge funds, which is consistent with the predictions of the model.
Does Your Fund Manager Trade on the News? Media Coverage, Mutual Fund Trading and Performance

We study the relation between mutual fund trades and media coverage of stocks. We find that on average mutual funds tend to trade high-coverage stocks. Meanwhile, funds display substantial cross-sectional heterogeneity in terms of their propensity to trade high-coverage stocks. The more likely is a fund to trade high-coverage stocks, the lower is the fund's various measures of alpha. Moreover, these propensities are relatively persistent over time, and they help predict future fund alphas.
Soluble fiber polysaccharides: effects on plasma cholesterol and colonic fermentation.

Many soluble-fiber polysaccharides, used as stabilizers and thickeners by the food industry, lower plasma cholesterol and slow small intestinal transit and nutrient absorption. Although nondigestible by human enzymes, these polysaccharides are fermented by the large-bowel microflora, yielding short-chain fatty acids that are absorbed and contribute to energy. The caloric yield from fiber polysaccharides needs to be quantified. Short-chain fatty acid production from soluble fibers is modified by the presence of insoluble fibers but, in total, is probably less than from other carbohydrates, e.g., resistant starch. Short-chain fatty acids do not seem to mediate effects of fiber on plasma cholesterol, but in the large bowel they exert the trophic and antineoplastic effects of dietary fiber. The mechanism for cholesterol reduction by soluble fibers relates to enhanced steroid excretion and altered fat absorption and may be a function of the viscosity of these fibers in solution. The relationships between the chemical structure of soluble polysaccharides and their documented physiologic effects are not yet clear. By using polysaccharides of defined structure and properties, it should be possible to identify those characteristics that predict physiologic actions.
Customer Valuation as a Driver of Relationship Dissolution Sabrina Helm Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet, Germany

Abstract As all customers are not created equal (Hallberg & Ogilvy, 1995), the different contributions of customers to a supplier's goals have to be evaluated to grant efficient relationship marketing. Furthermore, a handling system has to be developed for unprofitable customer relationships. This is a hitherto neglected field, as marketing researchers and practitioners are generally rather interested in attaining and keeping customers, not in the ending of relationships. The article aims at integrating the concepts of customer equity and profitability with approaches of relationship dissolution, which have recently emerged in the literature. Different aspects of calculating the value of customer relationships and value-based criteria that focus on monetary and non-monetary components of a customer's value are discussed. In an exploratory study undertaken in the German mechanical engineering industry, the relevance of customer valuation to dissolution decisions is analyzed.
WORKING CAPITAL MANAGEMENT AND CORPORATE PERFORMANCE OF MANUFACTURING SECTOR IN PAKISTAN

Working capital management plays a significant role in better performance of manufacturing firms. This paper analyzes the impact of working capital management on firm’s performance in Pakistan for the period 1998 to 2007. For this purpose, balanced panel data of 204 manufacturing firms is used which are listed on Karachi Stock Exchange. The results indicate that the cash conversion cycle, net trade cycle and inventory turnover in days are significantly affecting the performance of the firms. The manufacturing firms are in general facing problems with their collection and payment policies. Moreover, the financial leverage, sales growth and firm size also have significant effect on the firm’s profitability. The study also concludes that firms in Pakistan are following conservative working capital management policy and the firms are needed to concentrate and improve their collection and payment policy. The effective policies must be formulated for the individual components of working capital. Furthermore, efficient Management and financing of working capital (current assets and current liabilities) can increase the operating profitability of manufacturing firms. For efficient working capital management, specialized persons in the fields of finance should be hired by the firms for expert advice on working capital management in the manufacturing sector.