Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Private Hospitals in Australia

Amongst other things, this report: --provides a statistical overview of the structure of the industry and the activities of the 500 acute care, psychiatric and day hospitals that operate within it; --looks at some indicators of the industry's financial performance, efficiency and quality of service (though it does not attempt to benchmark private hospitals against the public hospital system); --discusses some of the key factors affecting performance, including the relationships between private hospitals, doctors and the health insurance funds; and --draws attention to a number of policy issues germane to the industry's future performance, including licensing arrangements for private hospitals and competitive neutrality, both within the industry and between private and public hospitals.
Was There Really an Earlier Period of International Financial Integration Comparable to Today?

In this paper we reconsider the international market integration, starting at high levels in the late nineteenth century, collapsing between the wars, and recovering gradually after 1945 to reach levels comparable to pre-1914 in the 1990's. The empirical evidence we survey suggests that in some respects the financial integration of the pre-1914 era remains unsurpassed, but in others today's financial markets are even more closely integrated than those in the past. The difference today is that new information-generating and processing technologies have reduced the market-segmenting effects of asymmetric information. In consequence, the range of financial claims that are traded internationally has broadened. While international financial transactions were once determined by claims on governments, railroads, and mining companies, entities with tangible and therefore relatively transparent assets, international investors now transact freely in a much broader range of securities.
Dual/joint auditors and the level of compliance with international financial reporting standards (IFRS‐required disclosure): The case of financial institutions in Kuwait

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of a dual-audit/joint-audit process and the level of compliance with IFRS in listed Kuwaiti financial institutions. Design/methodology/approach - An OLS-regression model was used to test the relationship among dual-audit/joint-audit process and the level of compliance with IFRS-disclosure. The sample was based on 33 firm observations in 2006. Findings - The main results reveal that financial institutions audited by dual-auditors were more compliant with IFRS-required disclosure than financial institutions audited by joint-auditors. Research limitations/implications - The authors have assumed that the work done by both auditors is as per the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) circular which obligates both auditors to do their fieldwork independently and then consolidate their work before issuing the final audit report. In the authors’ opinion, it is less likely that both auditors will not comply with CBK regulation, especially because CBK has the right to ban a non-compliant audit firm from auditing banks. The authors did not ask audit firms whether they are complying with this circular because it was believed that audit firms would not disclose a non-compliance issue with regulators to outsiders. Practical implications - This paper provides empirical evidence about the effectiveness of using dual-auditors in promoting compliance with IFRS-disclosure. Originality/value - To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore the association between the levels of compliance with IFRS-disclosure and the dual/joint audit process in the financial institutions listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange.
Visual information process in Williams syndrome: intact motion detection accompanied by typical visuospatial dysfunctions

It has been suggested that visuospatial cognitive disabilities seen in children with Williams syndrome (WMS) are related to a dysfunction of the dorsal stream in the visual information analysis system. We investigated whether visual motion detection is also impaired in WMS because it is one of the main functions of the dorsal stream. Using various psychophysical examinations and magnetoencephalography, we studied a child with WMS who had the typical features of the syndrome. We found profound impairments in the visuospatial cognitions, as previously reported in WMS. In contrast, he had normal ability for the direction discrimination of coherent motion on a background of randomly moving dots, and he perceived apparent motion as do normal children. Furthermore, the latencies of both responses to the coherent and incoherent motions as measured by magnetoencephalography were within the mean ± 2 SD among normal adults and the estimated origins were near the human homologue of V5/MT (visual area 5/middle temporal area). The results indicate that the visuospatial cognitive deficits in WMS can occur without impairment of the visual motion detection. We consider that the deficits are caused by a restricted dysfunction of the neural groups for position and three‐dimensional form perceptions in the dorsal stream of the visual system, though other possibilities are not excluded.
The Effect of Expected Effective Corporate Tax Rates on Incremental Financing Decisions

This paper uses U.S. panel data to estimate the effect of expected effective corporate tax rates on the amount of debt issued by firms. The paper directly estimates expected corporate tax rates using rational expectations. The estimated measures of expected effective tax rates of firms are related to a continuous measure of incremental debt financing. The paper finds that expected effective tax rates are significantly and positively related to a higher level of debt financing. Simulations suggest that debt issues would double if firms were unable to shield profits and actually faced the statutory tax rate.
Public – Private Partnership and Housing Delivery in Nigeria.

Housing delivery is one of the major problems confronting the underdeveloped world. Several housing policies are put in place but the housing can not be delivered. Not only is the population growth rate outweighs the rate of housing provision, the actual housing delivery processes are more often than not over-ambitious to the extent of not being sustainable. This problem has remained absolutely intractable in Nigeria. Unfortunately, the United Nations Human Settlement Programmes, seem to have created more problems than solving them. The New Housing Policy of the Federal Government of Nigeria in consonance with the United Nations ‘Agenda 21’ advocated the need for private sector partnership with the public sector in housing delivery. The increasing involvement of the multinational companies in the private partnership sector of housing provision and delivery in Nigeria is getting more and more uncomfortable for the national economy. For any success to be recorded, the active involvement of the populace would be most desirable. The government’s involvement should be limited to site and services level. The paper concluded that the on–going public-private partnership would not proffer the desired solution, rather re-empower the multinational construction companies who are essentially billed purely to make profits.
The effect of age of mother and birth order on sex ratio at birth.

Birth data for 1942-1950 for whites and non-whites in the U.S. were examined to determine the influence of maternal age and parity on the sex ratio. The sex ratio at birth was inversely related to maternal age and parity when age and parity were considered independently. When standardized for age and parity however white births varied inversely with parity which was also the case but to a lesser extent with non-white births. Nonetheless this apparent relationship of age with sex ratio is most likely due lower-parity births among younger women. Thus it is concluded that parity has a definite effect on the sex ratio at birth while maternal age has relatively little effect at least when maternal age and parity are correlated.
The Third Signal in T Cell-Mediated Autoimmune Disease?1

The initial event in the pathogenesis of autoimmune disease is thought to be the priming of naive autoreactive T cells by an infection with a cross-reactive microorganism. Although such cross-reactive priming should be a common event, autoimmune disease does not frequently develop. This situation is reflected after the immunization of C57BL/6 mice with the neuroantigen myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) with CFA, which primes a type 1 T cell response but does not lead to clinical or histological manifestation of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis unless pertussis toxin is injected in addition. We show in this study that, in MOG:CFA-primed mice, the autoimmune CNS pathology develops after intracerebral deposition of TLR9-activating CpG oligonucleotides, but not following non-CpG oligonucleotide injection or after aseptic cryoinjury of the brain. Thus, access of primed MOG-specific Th1 cells to the uninflamed CNS or to CNS undergoing sterile inflammation did not suffice to elicit autoimmune pathology; only if the APC in the target organ were activated in addition by the TLR9-stimulating microbial product did they exert local effector functions. The data suggest that such licensing of APC in the target organ by microbial stimuli represents a checkpoint for functional self-tolerance. Therefore, microorganisms unrelated to the cross-reactive agent that primes the autoreactive T cells could dictate the onset and exacerbation of autoimmune diseases.
New norfloxacin resistance gene in Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO

A new type of norfloxacin-resistant mutant of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO was isolated. This mutant showed cross resistance to imipenem and chloramphenicol and hypersusceptibility to beta-lactam and aminoglycoside antibiotics. The new norfloxacin resistance gene nfxC was mapped near catA (46 min) on the PAO chromosome. Norfloxacin accumulation was decreased in the nfxC mutant; furthermore, the rate of imipenem diffusion through the outer membrane of the nfxC mutant was lower than that of the parent strain. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of outer membrane proteins showed a decrease of a 46-kilodalton protein and an increase of a 50-kilodalton protein in the nfxC mutant. We conclude the nfxC is a new norfloxacin resistance gene that affects outer membrane permeability to quinolones and other antimicrobial agents.
Lidar-Radiometer Inversion Code (LIRIC) for the retrieval of vertical aerosol properties from combined lidar/radiometer data: development and distribution in EARLINET

Abstract. This paper presents a detailed description of LIRIC (LIdar-Radiometer Inversion Code) algorithm for simultaneous processing of coincident lidar and radiometric (sun photometric) observations for the retrieval of the aerosol concentration vertical profiles. As the lidar/radiometric input data we use measurements from European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) lidars and collocated sun-photometers of Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET). The LIRIC data processing provides sequential inversion of the combined lidar and radiometric data. The algorithm starts with the estimations of column-integrated aerosol parameters from radiometric measurements followed by the retrieval of height dependent concentrations of fine and coarse aerosols from lidar signals using integrated column characteristics of aerosol layer as a priori constraints. The use of polarized lidar observations allows us to discriminate between spherical and non-spherical particles of the coarse aerosol mode. The LIRIC software package was implemented and tested at a number of EARLINET stations. Intercomparison of the LIRIC-based aerosol retrievals was performed for the observations by seven EARLINET lidars in Leipzig, Germany on 25 May 2009. We found close agreement between the aerosol parameters derived from different lidars that supports high robustness of the LIRIC algorithm. The sensitivity of the retrieval results to the possible reduction of the available observation data is also discussed.
Prevalence of vitamin B-12 insufficiency during pregnancy and its effect on offspring birth weight: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND Vitamin B-12 and folate are micronutrients essential for normal embryogenesis. Vitamin B-12 insufficiency in pregnancy is high in certain parts of the world, such as India, and although this has been linked to low birth weight (LBW) in these populations, the relation between vitamin B-12 and birth weight (BW) elsewhere is unknown. OBJECTIVES We performed a systematic review to assess 1) the worldwide prevalence of vitamin B-12 insufficiency in pregnancy and 2) its association with BW. DESIGN A search of 5 electronic databases was performed to identify eligible articles. Random-effects meta-analysis was conducted according to geographic regions and pregnancy trimesters for the prevalence subreview and by categorical measures of BW. RESULTS A total of 57 and 23 articles were included for the prevalence and BW subreviews, respectively. The pooled estimates of vitamin B-12 insufficiency were 21%, 19%, and 29% in the first, second, and third trimesters, respectively, with high rates for the Indian subcontinent and the Eastern Mediterranean. The large heterogeneity between studies was partially addressed by creating a standardized score for each study (mean vitamin B-12 insufficiency ÷ cutoff value), which internally corrected for geographic region, trimester, and assay type. Twelve of the 13 longitudinal studies included showed a decrease in mean or median vitamin B-12 across trimesters. Pooled analysis showed nonsignificantly lower maternal vitamin B-12 concentrations in LBW than in normal-BW infants and higher odds of LBW with lower vitamin B-12 values (adjusted OR: 1.70; 95% CI: 1.16, 2.50), but studies from India largely contributed to the latter. CONCLUSIONS Our review indicates that vitamin B-12 insufficiency during pregnancy is common even in nonvegetarian populations and that concentrations of vitamin B-12 decrease from the first to the third trimester. There is no consistent association between vitamin B-12 insufficiency and LBW. However, given the long-term risks of LBW, this observation warrants further cohort studies and randomized controlled trials.
A Digital Frequency-Locked Loop System for Capacitance Measurement

Similar to phase-locked loops, frequency-locked loops (FLLs) are useful in many applications involving waveform synchronization or synthesis. Simple logic circuit-based relaxation oscillators convert capacitance to frequency, which is a characteristic inverse relationship between output frequency and input capacitance. The oscillator's logic level square-wave output can be fed into an all-digital FLL that will frequency lock to the input signal and produce a digital output word N, where N is inversely proportional to the input frequency. The result is that N is linearly proportional to the unknown capacitance in the oscillator. This novel approach allows a simple FFL implementation for capacitance measurement and is demonstrated in hardware using a capacitive sensor that measures the mass of small quantities of water with an output capacitance range of 75-185 pF.
Task-Oriented Rehabilitation Robotics

ABSTRACTTask-oriented training is emerging as the dominant and most effective approach to motor rehabilitation of upper extremity function after stroke. Here, the authors propose that the task-oriented training framework provides an evidence-based blueprint for the design of task-oriented robots for the rehabilitation of upper extremity function in the form of three design principles: skill acquisition of functional tasks, active participation training, and individualized adaptive training. The previous robotic systems that incorporate elements of task-oriented trainings are then reviewed. Finally, the authors critically analyze their own attempt to design and test the feasibility of a TOR robot, ADAPT (Adaptive and Automatic Presentation of Tasks), which incorporates the three design principles. Because of its task-oriented training–based design, ADAPT departs from most other current rehabilitation robotic systems: it presents realistic functional tasks in which the task goal is constantly adapted, so that the individual actively performs doable but challenging tasks without physical assistance. To maximize efficacy for a large clinical population, the authors propose that future task-oriented robots need to incorporate yet-to-be developed adaptive task presentation algorithms that emphasize acquisition of fine motor coordination skills while minimizing compensatory movements.
Interleukin‐7 expression during mouse thymus development

We have monitored the expression of interleukin‐7 (IL‐7) in the developing embryonic mouse thymus by a combination of quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and immunofluorescence microscopy. A strong specific signal for IL‐7 mRNA was detected by day 12 in the developing fetal thymus. IL‐7 mRNA was found to be maximally expressed on day 15, and then decreased over the next 5 days. Immunofluorescence staining of fetal thymus sections using an anti‐IL‐7 antibody confirmed these PCR data. IL‐7 protein expression was first detected at day 13 of development. At 14 days the intensity of the staining increased by a factor of three and stayed at this level over the next 4 days. The same anti‐IL‐7 antibody used for immunofluorescence, blocked the proliferation of fetal thymocytes in organotypic cultures. In addition, we detected mRNA coding for IL‐2 and SCF (also known as the steel factor or KL) in embryonic thymocytes. The implications of these findings for early thymocyte growth are discussed.
Implementing Innovation with Ambidextrous Leadership in Small and Medium Enterprises.

Implementation was an overlooked aspect, with a paucity of research until the 1990s. Although scholarly and practical research grew, the preponderance focused on large established organizations. Only more recently have small and medium enterprises (SMEs) received attention. Yet, economic vitality depends on SME success. The study investigated innovation implementation in SMEs. Focus was on ambidextrous leaderships, senior leaders’ efforts to advance their organizations by ensuring capabilities for both current and future innovations. The study identified how senior leaders’ individual orientations motivated innovation and its implementation. Using a concurrent embedded mixed method design (Creswell, 2009), quantitative data was collected using a proven instrument (ISPITM) to inform qualitative one-on-one interviews. A simplified, modified Delphi approach with area experts aided in purposeful company selection. Research explored perspectives of two senior leaders in each of seven companies, headquartered in the Rochester, NY and Charlotte, NC areas. Follow-up calls for clarification and interview summaries for member checking provided increased credibility. Findings identified clear evidence of ambidexterity in SMEs but in an emerging form rather than that prescribed for large established businesses. Seven themes revealed leaders’ efforts to build capabilities for current and future innovations. Three meta-inferences were found. Results enriched understanding of innovation in SMEs, particularly of senior leaders seeking to create enduring organizations. Document Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Education (EdD) Department Executive Leadership First Supervisor Mary Collins Subject Categories Education This dissertation is available at Fisher Digital Publications: https://fisherpub.sjfc. edu/education_etd/189 Implementing Innovation with Ambidextrous Leadership in Small and Medium Enterprises By Deborah L. Pearce Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Ed.D. in Executive Leadership Supervised by Dr. Mary Collins Committee Member Dr. Timothy Madigan Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. School of Education St. John Fisher College December 2013
Why Do Small Firms Fail to Graduate to Medium and Large Firms in Pakistan

In pursuit of its labour welfare policy and to provide protection against certain contingencies, the government plays a crucial role in introducing and encouraging the payment of fringe benefits.l The proportion of total remunerations which make up fringe benefits is influenced by preferential treatment under income tax laws.2 For example, social security and employee's old-age benefits schemes are financed, respectively, t~ough contributions by the employers at 7 percent and 5 percent of the wages of secured workers. These expenses are reduced if an employer pays more in the form of fringe benefits than wages. Some other gains, including reduction in labour turnover, increase in labour productivity and creation of a favourable public image of the enterprise encourage employers to offer fringe benefits rather than wages. On the other hand, interests of labour unions are to protect or to get an increase in thcic total pay package. Workers will prefer fringe benefits if, with their introduction, net income rises and savings are made by group purchases of some benefits. Thus, these benefits affect decision of labour supply and demand, and enhance welfare.
Induction of apoptosis by fumonisin B1 in HT29 cells is mediated by the accumulation of endogenous free sphingoid bases.

Fumonisin B1 (FB1) and aminopentol (AP1) (which is formed by hydrolysis of FB1) are found in corn contaminated with some strains of Fusarium moniliforme. Incubation of HT29 cells (a human colonic cell line) with FB1 or AP1 caused a significant reduction in cell number; AP1 was less potent, with 50 microM AP1 causing the same reduction (ca. 30% after 24 h) as 10 microM FB1. The reduction in cell number reflected increases in DNA fragmentation and the percentage of apoptotic cells. Both FB1 and AP1 caused the accumulation of sphinganine (25- and 35-fold by 10 microM FB1 and 50 microM AP1, respectively); thus, concentrations of FB1 and AP1 that caused comparable reductions in cell number were also similar with respect to elevation of sphinganine, a compound that is growth inhibitory and cytotoxic. Inhibition of the first step of sphingolipid biosynthesis with ISP-1 prevented the elevation in sphinganine, DNA fragmentation, and apoptosis induced by FB1. Therefore, these effects of FB1 on HT29 cells can be attributed to the accumulation of sphinganine. Since consumption of food contaminated with Fusarium moniliforme (Sheldon) exposes colonic cells to these mycotoxins, the possibility that FB1 and AP1 are toxic for intestinal cells in vivo should be evaluated, especially in the light of the recent report (Bhat et al., Clin. Toxicol. 35, 249, 1997) describing intestinal disturbances in humans after consumption of moldy corn and sorghum containing fumonisins.
The Thoracodorsal Artery Perforator Flap: Anatomic Basis and Clinical Application

Based on the dissection of 20 fresh cadavers, the authors have detailed further the vascular anatomy of the thoracodorsal artery and its cutaneous perforator vessels. The thoracodorsal artery showed a constant bifurcation into a horizontal branch and a lateral branch, located on the deep surface of the latissimus dorsi muscle 4 cm (range, 3–6 cm) distal to the inferior scapular border and 2.5 cm (range, 1–4 cm) medial to the lateral free margin of the muscle. In 20 specimens there was a total of 64 musculocutaneous perforators larger than 0.5 mm. Thirty-six perforators (56%) originated from the lateral branch and 28 perforators (44%) originated from the horizontal branch. All perforators originated within a distance of 8 cm from the neurovascular hilus and ran in proximity with the horizontal or lateral branches. In 11 dissections (55%) there was also a direct cutaneous branch originating from the extramuscular course of the thoracodorsal artery before the neurovascular hilus. This cutaneous branch did not pierce the latissimus muscle but rounded the lateral muscle edge and supplied the overlying subcutaneous tissue and skin. It is hoped that the constant anatomy will encourage surgeons in the future to use the thoracodorsal artery perforator flap more often.