Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Growth Regressions and What the Textbooks Don't Tell You

The paper discusses three econometric problems that are rarely given adequate discussion in textbooks: model uncertainty, parameter heterogeneity, and outliers. Leamer's extreme bounds analysis can be adapted to address all three problems simultaneously. Two examples are presented based on an influential cross-country growth paper by Levine and Renelt (1992). Copyright 2000 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the Board of Trustees of the Bulletin of Economic Research
On integral input-to-state stability for a feedback interconnection of parameterised discrete-time systems

This paper addresses integral input-to-state stability (iISS) for a feedback interconnection of parameterised discrete-time systems involving two subsystems. Particularly, we give a construction for a smooth iISS Lyapunov function for the whole system from the sum of nonlinearly weighted Lyapunov functions of individual subsystems. Motivations for such a construction are given. We consider two main cases. The first one investigates iISS for the whole system when both subsystems are iISS. The second one gives iISS for the interconnected system when one of subsystems is allowed to be input-to-state stable. The approach is also valid for both discrete-time cascades and a feedback interconnection of iISS and static systems. Examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the results.
Microorganisms responsible for intravascular catheter-related bloodstream infection according to the catheter site*

Objective:Current guidelines for the management of intravascular catheter-related bloodstream infection (IVC-RBSI) recommend that empirical antimicrobial therapy must have activity against Gram-positive bacteria, but additional empirical coverage for Gram-negative bacteria may be needed for severely ill or immunocompromised patients, and antifungal therapy may be needed in some situations. We hypothesized that the spectrum of etiological microorganisms responsible for IVC-RBSI and, in relation to that, the choice of empirical antimicrobial therapy depends on the catheter insertion site. We therefore compared the proportion of IVC-RBSI due to Gram-negative bacteria and yeasts according to catheter site. Design:Prospective cohort study from May 1, 2000, to April 30, 2004. Setting:A 24-bed medical-surgical intensive care unit in a 650-bed tertiary hospital. Patients:Patients requiring a central venous or arterial catheter. Measurements and Main Results:We diagnosed 88 IVC-RBSIs, comprising 36 femoral catheter sites (26 femoral venous and ten femoral arterial sites) and 52 other catheter sites (36 jugular venous, 11 subclavian venous, and five radial arterial sites). No differences were found between IVC-RBSI of femoral vs. other catheter sites for age, sex, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II, diagnosis at admission, use of antimicrobials, the time the catheter responsible for IVC-RBSI had been in place, or the duration of intensive care unit stay before IVC-RBSI. The proportion of IVC-RBSIs due to Gram-negative bacteria was higher in femoral, 14 of 36 (38.89%), than in the other catheter sites, 4 of 52 (7.69%) (odds ratio, 7.48; 95% confidence interval, 2.19–25.54; p = .001). Also, the proportion of IVC-RBSIs due to yeasts was higher in femoral, 6 of 36 (16.67%), than in the other catheter sites, 1 of 52 (1.92%) (odds ratio, 10.20; 95% confidence interval, 1.17–88.85; p = .035). Conclusions:Empirical antifungal therapy would seem to be indicated in patients with suspected femoral catheter-related bloodstream infection.
Corporate Governance, Competition and Firm Performance

The objective of this article is to disentangle the combined effect of product market competition and corporate governance variables on firm performance. While the linkage between internal governance mechanism and firm performance is well established in several studies, the interaction between internal and external governance mechanism has received scanty attention in emerging market economies. Here we have shown the independent and interaction effect of ownership and competition variables on firm productivity. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we document that competition has in reality become a discernible force in developing economies. The econometric modelling result shows that while the stand-alone effect of ownership variable on productivity is mostly insignificant, there is a strong positive interaction effect with competition variables.
Measuring Seeding Resolution Dependence of Diffusion Tensor Streamtube Visualization

We present a study to measure the relationship between seeding resolution involved in 3D diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DTI) tractography and the streamtube visualization of human brain DTI model. We investigate five scales of seeding resolution with the same brain dataset and measure the effect of the resolution difference on user performance on a set of tasks typical of those conducted by neurological experts. The study covers representative fiber bundles in the brain anatomy and the measurement metrics includes users’ task performance in terms of correctness, completion time, computer log, and participants’ comments collected from post-study interviews. Initial results show that lower resolutions bring about higher task correctness over all tasks consistently, and that the completion time fluctuates with changing resolutions and the pattern of change varies slightly from task to task.
Aggressive T‐cell large granular lymphocyte leukemia: A case report and review of the literature

The majority of patients with T‐cell large granular lymphocyte (LGL) leukemia will have an indolent clinical course. Herein, we report a case of an aggressive T‐cell LGL leukemia in a previously healthy 42‐year‐old Caucasian male who presented with acute onset of B‐symptoms, hepatosplenomegaly, lymphocytosis, moderate anemia, and thrombocytopenia. Immunophenotypically, the malignant cells co‐expressed CD3+CD8+CD56+ markers and the T‐cell receptor beta (TCR β) gene demonstrated clonal rearrangement. The patient was treated with an intensive chemotherapeutic regimen (hyper‐CVAD) and he achieved a complete remission. A systematic review of all available English literature revealed 12 well‐described cases of aggressive T‐cell LGL leukemia suggesting that this variant is a new and distinct entity in the spectrum of LGL disorders. Am. J. Hematol. , 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Individual Characterization of an Oscillator by Means of Cross-Correlation or Cross-Variance Method

Two new methods using the concepts of cross correlation and cross variance are proposed for comparing three oscillators. They allow one to characterize individually each oscillator and they reduce the influence of the measurement system noise if the noise sources on each channel are independent. Therefore, better resolution can be obtained in the spectral purity and frequency stability measurements.
What We Know about M&A Success

The lodging industry is a fruitful area for merger and acquisition (M&A) research, although the empirical evidence is surprisingly sparse given the degree of industry consolidation. Although the M&As are motivated by the expected synergy between the target and the acquiring firms, some mergers are successful while others are not. Studies have found that, on average, lodging transactions are distinct from those in other industries because owners of both target and acquirer are better off after the merger. A thorough analysis of lodging M&A deals may enhance our knowledge of the factors related to successful deals not only in the lodging industry but also in other industries. This investigation of the current state of knowledge of M&A success suggests an agenda for further research on lodging industry transactions. In particular, identification of the best practices associated with each stage of the M&A process, especially about how lodging firms integrate, transfer, and manage the resources of the combined firm, is a ripe area for future research.
Essays on Firms in International Trade

This paper investigates the relationship between exporting and productivity during a phase of trade liberalization. Trade liberalization has shown to influence firm productivity which in turn may increase selection into the export market. Increased selection into exporting may again have feedback effects on productivity (learning by exporting). The present paper develops an empirical model which allows assessing these different mechanisms within a common framework. In the model a firm’s productivity development endogenously depends on its exporting decisions and the degree of trade liberalization. Moreover, short-run export profits depend on firm productivity. The firm then makes an optimal export market participation decision accounting for sunk and fixed costs of exporting. Structural estimation of the model suggests that trade liberalization indeed influences firm productivity positively while no learning by exporting is detected. Moreover, sunk costs of exporting are substantial indicating the importance of the selection effect. A counterfactual experiment suggests that the indirect effect of trade liberalization on exporting via the productivity channel is only of minor importance.
Assessing HF radar capabilities to resolve mesoscale eddy interactions with littoral waters

Eularian and lagrangian observations collected through the Caribbean Coastal Ocean Observing System (CARICOOS) and satellite imagery suggest that the interaction between mesoscale eddies (MSEs) and littoral waters may be significant in the southern coast of Puerto Rico (northern Caribbean Sea), where the insular shelf is narrow (O[10 km]); tidal ranges are low (<;0.5 m), high swells are almost inexistent; nearshore bathymetry is complex; and MSE activity is high. A recent expansion of the CARICOOS HF Radar network allows for unprecedented coverage of near-surface currents near the southwestern coast of Puerto Rico, with the potential to detect and track such mesoscale ocean features. This study assesses the shoreward extent at which CARICOOS HF radars are able to resolve near-surface currents potentially resulting from mesoscale forcings. The approach taken consists of time and frequency domain comparisons of HF radial velocities (ideal and measured) with a moored ADCP, as well as qualitative comparisons with drifter trajectories. Potential implications of this work include: 1) implementation on ecological early warnings systems; 2) navigational safety and optimization; 3) fisheries management; among others.
Multi-unit versus single-unit franchising: assessing why franchisors use different ownership strategies

The aim of this article is to examine what factors underlie the choice of organisational form when franchisors add new franchised units to their networks. Franchisors may grant new units to existing franchisees (multi-unit franchising (MUF)) or to new franchisees (single-unit franchising). We find that this choice depends on the existence of contractual problems (namely adverse selection and moral hazard) and several network characteristics influence the magnitude of these problems. In particular, we found a positive relationship between the intensity of the use of MUF and network size, geographical concentration of the units of the network, and industries where customers tend to be non-repetitive.
Expression status and clinical significance of lncRNA APPAT in the progression of atherosclerosis

Background Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been reported to modulate cardiovascular diseases, and expression dynamics of lncRNAs in the bloodstream were proposed to be potential biomarkers for clinical diagnosis. However, few cardiovascular diseases-related circulating lncRNAs were identified and their prediction power has not been investigated in depth. Here we report a new circulating lncRNA, atherosclerotic plaque pathogenesis associated transcript (APPAT), and evaluated its role and predicting ability in atherosclerotic development. Methods APPAT was analyzed and screened by high-throughput sequencing, and then detected in vitro and in vivo. Immunofluorescence-fluorescence in situ hybridization (IF-FISH) was utilized to explore distribution and subcellular location of APPAT. The expressing alteration of APPAT in samples of healthy and pathological coronary artery was explored further. We also assessed the level of circulating APPAT in blood samples from healthy individuals, and patients with angina pectoris (AP) or myocardial infarction (MI). Additionally, we predicted and validated microRNA targets of APPAT, then showed the expression level of a candidate target which was primarily measured in human VSMCs cell line, coronary artery, and blood samples. Lastly, we examined the potential indicating ability of APPAT for the risk of AP or MI. Results APPAT showed significant reduction in ox-LDL treated human VSMCs in vitro. It enriched in contractile VSMCs of artery tunica media and mainly existed in cytoplasm. Significant down-regulation of APPAT was found in coronary artery samples with severe stenosis. More importantly, we observed decreased expression of APPAT in blood samples accompanying disease progression. ROC and correlation analyses further verified the relatively high predicting ability of APPAT. We also observed the predicted miRNA exhibited opposite expression direction to that of APPAT. Conclusions This study revealed that circulating lncRNA-APPAT may perform an important function and have some indicating ability on the development of atherosclerosis.
Prevalence of idiopathic normal-pressure hydrocephalus

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of idiopathic normal-pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) in elderly persons in a large population-based sample using radiologic and clinical examinations. Methods: We examined representative elderly populations aged 70 years and older that had undergone neuropsychiatric evaluations and CT of the brain between 1986 and 2000 (n = 1,238). Gait was evaluated by clinical examination and history of walking difficulty. Cognitive function was evaluated with the Mini-Mental State Examination and urinary incontinence by self-report. iNPH was diagnosed in concordance with the American-European iNPH guidelines. Exclusion criteria were history of meningitis, severe head trauma, and subarachnoid hemorrhage. Results: The prevalence of probable iNPH was 0.2% in those aged 70–79 years (n = 2) and 5.9% (n = 24) in those aged 80 years and older, with no difference between men and women. Only 2 of these persons had been treated for iNPH. Hydrocephalic ventricular enlargement, i.e., a CT image consistent with NPH, was found in 56 persons (4.5%). An Evans Index >0.3 was found in 256 (20.7%) and occluded sulci at the high convexity in 67 persons (5.4%). All of these findings were more common in the older age groups. Conclusions: Many elderly possess clinical and imaging features of iNPH, especially those older than 80 years. The number of persons with iNPH is probably much higher than the number of persons currently treated.
tert-Butyl 3-oxo-2-oxa-5-azabicyclo[2.2.1]heptane-5-carboxylate

The title compound, C10H15NO4, also known as N-tert-butyloxycarbonyl-allohydroxy-l-proline lactone, is quite similar to N-acetyl-allohydroxy-l-proline lactone [Lenstra, Petit & Geise (1979 ▶). Cryst. Struct. Commun. 8, 1023–1029], whereby both carbonyl groups point roughly in the same direction because of the trans conformation of the peptide bond.
Collaborative care for depression in UK primary care: a randomized controlled trial – Corrigendum

Collaborative care for depression in UK primary care: a randomizedcontrolled trial – CorrigendumD. A. Richards, K. Lovell, S. Gilbody, L. Gask, D. Torgerson, M. Barkham, M. Bland, P. Bower, A. J. Lankshear, A. Simpson,J. Fletcher, D. Escott, S. Hennessy and R. RichardsonPsychological Medicine / Volume 39 / Issue 04 / April 2009, pp 701 - 701 DOI: 10.1017/S0033291709005200, Published online: 05 March 2009Link to this article:
The Rate-Distortion Function for the Quadratic Gaussian CEO Problem

A new multiterminal source coding problem called the CEO problem was presented and investigated by Berger, Zhang, and Viswanathan. Recently, Viswanathan and Berger have investigated an extension of the CEO problem to Gaussian sources and call it the quadratic Gaussian CEO problem. They considered this problem from a statistical viewpoint, deriving some interesting results. In this paper, we consider the quadratic Gaussian CEO problem from a standpoint of multiterminal rate-distortion theory. We regard the CEO problem as a certain multiterminal remote source coding problem with infinitely many separate encoders whose observations are conditionally independent if the remote source is given. This viewpoint leads us to a complete solution to the problem. We determine the tradeoff between the total amount of rate and squared distortion, deriving an explicit formula of the rate-distortion function. The derived function has the form of a sum of two nonnegative functions. One is a classical rate-distortion function for single Gaussian source and the other is a new rate-distortion function which dominates the performance of the system for a relatively small distortion. It follows immediately from our result that the conjecture of Viswanathan and Berger on the asymptotic behavior of minimum squared distortion for large rates is true.
DERIVATIVE FORMULAS FOR GENERALIZED SRB MEASURE, ENTROPY, AND HAUSDORFF DIMENSION OF HYPERBOLIC SYSTEMS OF CODIMENSION ONE

Under the condition that unstable manifolds are one dimensional, the derivative formula of the potential function of the generalized SRB measure with respect to the underlying dynamical system is extended from the hyperbolic attractor case to the general case when the hyperbolic set intersecting with unstable manifolds is a Cantor set. It leads to derivative formulas of objects and quantities that characterize a uniformly hyperbolic system, including the generalized SBR measure and its entropy, the root of the Bowen’s equation, and the Hausdorff dimension of the hyperbolic set on a dimension two manifold.
Augmented endothelial‐specific L‐arginine transport prevents obesity‐induced hypertension

Hypertension is a major clinical complication of obesity. Our previous studies show that abnormal uptake of the nitric oxide precursor L‐arginine, via the cationic amino acid transporter‐1 (CAT1), contributes to endothelial dysfunction in cardiovascular disease. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that abnormal L‐arginine transport may be a key mediator of obesity‐induced hypertension.
Flavin redox bifurcation as a mechanism for controlling the direction of electron flow during extracellular electron transfer.

The iron-reducing bacterium Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 has a dual directional electronic conduit involving 40 heme redox centers in flavin-binding outer-membrane c-type cytochromes (OM c-Cyts). While the mechanism for electron export from the OM c-Cyts to an anode is well understood, how the redox centers in OM c-Cyts take electrons from a cathode has not been elucidated at the molecular level. Electrochemical analysis of live cells during switching from anodic to cathodic conditions showed that altering the direction of electron flow does not require gene expression or protein synthesis, but simply redox potential shift about 300 mV for a flavin cofactor interacting with the OM c-Cyts. That is, the redox bifurcation of the riboflavin cofactor in OM c-Cyts switches the direction of electron conduction in the biological conduit at the cell-electrode interface to drive bacterial metabolism as either anode or cathode catalysts.
A Case for Static Analysis of Linux to Find Faults in Interrupt Request Handlers

Bugs in operating system kernels threaten system reliability and availability. Static analysis of device drivers is one of the most useful methods to find and fix bugs in operating systems. Unfortunately, existing tools focus on bug patterns that come from developers’ ad hoc beliefs and experiences, although the developers have a chance to utilize many past bug reports. The objective of this paper is to uncover particular types of real bugs in a widely used operating system. Specifically, this paper presents a case for finding six real bugs in Linux when obtaining 160 bug reports about interrupt request line (IRQ) handlers in past Linux. The 160 bug reports enable us to recognize nine patterns of mishandling IRQ handlers, and our analyzer, which is based on the recognized patterns, successfully detects the uncovered bugs.
Competitive synergy through practicing triple bottom line sustainability: Evidence from three hospitality case studies

This study advances the discussion of sustainability within the hospitality literature through the introduction of the concept of triple bottom line (TBL) sustainability and the potential synergistic benefits to competitiveness hospitality firms can achieve from practicing it. TBL sustainability transitions a firm’s attention away from solely focusing on short-term profits to a concentration on the firm’s long-term environmental, social, and economic performance. The study suggests that this transition to practicing TBL sustainability can result in “competitive synergy” for hospitality firms. The term “competitive synergy” is used to describe the phenomenon of when the anticipated benefits (e.g. reduced energy costs) from focusing on sustainability coalesce with the unanticipated benefits (e.g. increased employee job satisfaction) to make hospitality firms more competitive. One interviewee describes this synergy as a “resonant harmonic” because of the multiple benefits gained that were not part of the original motivations for engaging in sustainability. In an attempt to demonstrate industry examples of competitive synergy, three hospitality case studies practicing TBL sustainability are presented. These cases studies range from a small boutique hotel in Floyd, VA (Hotel Floyd), to a Caribbean resort in the Dominican Republic (Puntacana), and even to one of the world’s largest hotel groups (InterContinental). Findings from the interviews highlight the many tangential benefits discovered from implementing sustainable initiatives aimed at environmental, social, and economic sustainability.
Are exogenous requirements sufficient to induce corporate risk management activities?

This article reports the current practices of risk management in Slovenian companies and relates the incentives for risk management in the country's post-transitional legal and business environment to the neoclassical theoretical motives for risk management. We find that in such an environment, which more or less characterises most Eastern European countries, neoclassical theoretical motives do not provide sufficient (endogenous) incentives for shareholders and managers to manage risk within their firms. We argue that the compulsory use of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) disclosure requirements induces managers to actively analyse and manage risks. We see this exogenous push as a necessary but unfortunately not a sufficient mechanism to induce managers to manage risk within their firms since managers perceive the reporting requirements primarily as cost-enhancing. We argue that, in order to endogenise the incentives, governments need to create market conditions in which managers will also see the added value of risk management. This will require predominantly a change in corporate governance mechanisms.