Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Private International Cartels (PIC) Data Set: Guide and Summary Statistics, 1990-2013

This paper describes the sources and methods used to create the PIC data set, which the author believes to be the largest collection of legal-economic information on contemporary price-fixing cartels. It details the scope, strengths, and limitations of the data therein. Moreover, summary descriptive statistics are shown for the years 1990-2013. A few highlights of those statistics are: •In the past four years 70 new cartels were uncovered each year, a record. •Of the 1014 suspected cartels, 717 were convicted; 217 await a decision. •Relative to GDP, cartelization in Europe is triple the rate than in North America. •Nominal affected sales total $1.5 to $1.7 trillion; global cartels average $10 billion. •However, the size of European cartels is much smaller than other regions. •More than 34,000 companies (7,238 named) are liable for international price fixing. •77% of corporate cartelists are from Europe of North America. •863 persons were indicted or sanctioned, 8 per cartel and 2 per employer. •Prison sentences imposed total 400 years. •Gross cartel overcharges exceed $1.6 trillion, of which global cartels were 60%. •Monetary penalties reached $123 billion: 0.8% of sales and less than 5% of overcharges.
The effect of NBTI on 3D integrated circuits

Thermal-induced reliability problem can be very severe in 3D ICs. In this paper, Negative Bias Temperature Instability (NBTI) effect is addressed. We first propose an NBTI-aware simulation flow for 3D ICs. Using the flow and the MIPS789 benchmark circuit as an example, we demonstrate how we can evaluate digital 3D IC performance under NBTI. By comparing simulation results, we recommend to place critical gates on the layer close to the heat sink in order to lower peak temperature and NBTI impacts. The proposed floor plan can make peak temperature 20 °C lower and NBTI impact 2.4% less when compared to the one using homogeneous stacking.
Cancer Therapy : Clinical Prospective Phase II Study on 5-Days Azacitidine for Treatment of Symptomatic and / or Erythropoietin Unresponsive Patients with Low / INT-1 – Risk Myelodysplastic Syndromes

Purpose: This phase II prospective study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of 5-days azacytidine (5d-AZA) in patients with low-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Second, single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genetic profile and phosphoinositide-phospholipase C (PI-PLC) b1 levels were studied to evaluate possible biologic markers able to predict the hematologic response. Experimental Design: The study tested a lower intensity schedule of azacytidine. The treatment plan consisted of 75 mg/sqm/d subcutaneous administered for 5 days every 28 days, for a total of 8 cycles. Results: Thirty-two patients were enrolled in the study. The overall response rate was 47% (15 of 32) on intention-to-treat and 58% (15 of 26) for patients completing the treatment program. In this latter group, 5 (19%) achieved complete remission (CR) and 10 (38%) had hematologic improvement, according to the International Working Group (IWG) criteria. Three patients have maintained their hematologic improvement after 37, 34, and 33 months without other treatments. Moreover, 21 and 2 of 26 cases completing 8 cycles were transfusion-dependent for red blood cells and platelets at baseline, respectively. Of these, 7 (33%) and 2 (100%) became transfusion-independent at the end of the treatment program, respectively. Grade 3–4 neutropenia occurred in 28% of patients and 4 patients died early due to infections or hemorrhage. SNP results were not significantly correlated to the clinical outcome, whereas PI-PLCb1 level anticipated either positive or negative clinical responses. Conclusions: 5d-AZA is safe and effective in a proportion of patients with low-risk MDS. PI-PLCb1 gene expression is a reliable and dynamic marker of response that can be useful to optimize azacytidine therapy. Clin Cancer Res; 19(12); 3297–308. 2013 AACR.
The impact of gender, social capital and networks on business ownership: a research agenda

Purpose – To advance knowledge about the relationship between small firm networks and social capital by considering the network experiences of women business owners. To engage in such research, the paper proposes a conceptual model of business owner networking which is informed by social support theory.Design/methodology/approach – To develop a conceptual model of business owner networking the paper reviews extant small business network research and argues that, while network theory can provide an understanding of the impact which social capital may have on the entrepreneurial process, a concentration on quantitative methodologies has restricted understanding of this. To address the gender bias in small firm network research the paper integrates social support theory into a conceptual model of business owner networks.Findings – The conceptual model proposed recognises the interplay between network structures, interactions and contents and argues that consideration of these three network dimensions may pro.
Exchange rate Inflation and Unemployment in East European Economies: the Case of Poland and Hungary

The aim of this paper is to model the impact of exchange rate both inlation and unemployment variables in economics which are characterized by important structural changes, i.e. A transition phase moving from centralised economies towards market economies. This phenomeno, which is common to east european countries, stressed difefrent effects both for what concerns the behaviour of economic agents and for what concerns fiscal and monetary measures adopted by governments and aiming to keep under control the inflation-unemployment trade off. Time series relatioships between these variables are investigated within an econometric model. Economic theory and available data on the hypothetically relevant variables, along with the consideration of the main facts occured in the period under study, characterize our information set. It is found that single equation analysis yelds inefficient inference relative to the whole system analysis, and important structural changes are detected which reflect possible breaks in the structure of the economic system with a change in economic policy.
Location determinants of food manufacturers in the United States, 2000–2004: are nonmetropolitan counties competitive?

Infrastructure, agglomeration, product and input markets, fiscal attributes, and labor markets of local communities influenced food manufacturing location decisions in the lower 48 United States, 2000-2004. Negative binomial regression and spatial clustering methods forecast food processor location patterns at the county level. Noncore counties are at a comparative disadvantage with respect to attracting most food processors, but nonmetropolitan counties adjacent to urban areas may be attractive investment sites for footloose, supply, and demand-oriented food manufacturers. Copyright (c) 2009 International Association of Agricultural Economists.
Effects of repeated intra-articular administration of amikacin on serum amyloid A, total protein and nucleated cell count in synovial fluid from healthy horses.

REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY Serum amyloid A (SAA) in synovial fluid has recently been used as a marker for septic arthritis in horses but the effects of repeated intra-articular (IA) administration of amikacin on synovial SAA concentrations are unknown. OBJECTIVES To report the effect of repeated IA administration of amikacin on SAA, total protein (TP), nucleated cell count (NCC) and differential NCC in synovial fluid of healthy equine joints. METHODS A controlled, 2 period crossover study was performed on 5 clinically healthy horses. Each intercarpal joint received one of 2 treatments every 48 h for 5 consecutive times: arthrocentesis alone (control group) or arthrocentesis combined with IA administration of 500 mg of amikacin (treatment group). Clinical and lameness examinations were performed daily. Serum SAA and synovial SAA, TP, NCC and differential NCC were measured and statistically compared. Significance level was set at P < 0.05. RESULTS Horses remained healthy and nonlame throughout the study. Baseline values for all variables were not significantly different between groups. Values for TP in the treatment group were significantly higher than in the control group after the first sample (P < 0.05). In both groups NCC increased significantly (P < 0.05) after the first sample. No significant changes were identified in differential NCC. In both groups, all synovial and most serum SAA concentrations remained below the lower limit of quantification. CONCLUSIONS Repeated IA administration of amikacin caused increased values of TP and NCC in synovial fluid, with some TP concentrations falling within the range reported for septic arthritis. In contrast, synovial SAA concentrations did not increase in either group. POTENTIAL RELEVANCE Synovial SAA could serve as a more reliable marker than TP and NCC when evaluating a joint previously sampled or treated with amikacin.
Host residents' perceived social costs and benefits toward a staged tourist attraction.

Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine residents' perceived social costs and benefits toward an international tourist event, and their willingness to financially support the development of a permanent event facility. A telephone survey using a random sample (n = 600) of Albuquerque residents was conducted two weeks after the 1993 Kodak Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta (AIBF). The 23rd Annual AIBF was the largest hot-air balloon event in the world, with over 900 pilots competing in various races and contests. The nine-day event attracted over 1.6 million spectators to a 70-acre site leased to organizers by city government. Few social costs were experienced by residents, while a majority of residents experienced multiple social benefits from the event. Although residents' attitudes toward the event were mostly positive, few residents were likely to finance a stadium development proposal through property tax increases. Before taxpayer approval for permanent event facility construction is.
Treatment of intrinsic sphincter deficiency using autologous ear chondrocytes as a bulking agent

Intrinsic sphincter deficiency (ISD) is frequently treated with collagen bulking at the bladder neck. The standard material used, Contigen, biodegrades over 3–19 months requiring repeated injections to maintain efficacy. The study objective was to evaluate use of autologous ear chondrocytes for treatment of ISD. Women with documented ISD had harvest of auricular cartilage. Chondrocytes were isolated from the cartilage and expanded in culture and formulated with calcium alginate to form an injectable gel. Thirty‐two patients received a single outpatient injection just distal to the bladder neck. Outcome measures included voiding diary, quality‐of‐life scores, incontinence severity grading, and pad weight testing. Incontinence grading indicated 16 patients dry, and 10 improved at 12 months for a total of 26 of 32 (81.3%) dry and improved after one treatment. Only four patients had a 12‐month pad weight test over 2.2 g. Quality‐of‐life scores improved significantly after treatment. There was a decrease in incontinence impact scores in all categories. The urogenital distress inventory declined for all categories except bladder emptying and lower abdominal pain. Endoscopic treatment of ISD with autologous chondrocytes is safe, effective, and durable with 50 % of patients dry 12 months after one injection. Twenty‐six of 32 patients dry or improved at 3 months after the injection maintained the effect at the 12‐month visit. Neurourol. Urodynam. 20:157–165, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Wizard‐of‐Oz platform for embodied conversational agents

A low‐cost prototyping environment for experimenting with embodied conversational agents is discussed. The platform allows modeling and experimenting with different agent constructs and protocols prior to significant investment in the construction of the agent environment. Problems in the design of such a platform include the substantial number of agent controls needed and the flexibility required to represent the constructs of different theories, protocols and target environments as they are introduced and developed. These problems are addressed by augmenting a movie clip manager with a general drawing palette as a design tool. The result is a prototyping environment which simulates multiple agents on a desktop while allowing arbitrary notational conventions. The current version does not render multiple agents in a shared virtual environment, but the protocol‐based architecture is amenable to such extensions. In the meantime, valuable results regarding the social character of multiple agent interaction can be explored with the existing tool. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Hypervariable loci in the human gut virome

Genetic variation is critical in microbial immune evasion and drug resistance, but variation has rarely been studied in complex heterogeneous communities such as the human microbiome. To begin to study natural variation, we analyzed DNA viruses present in the lower gastrointestinal tract of 12 human volunteers by determining 48 billion bases of viral DNA sequence. Viral genomes mostly showed low variation, but 51 loci of ∼100 bp showed extremely high variation, so that up to 96% of the viral genomes encoded unique amino acid sequences. Some hotspots of hypervariation were in genes homologous to the bacteriophage BPP-1 viral tail-fiber gene, which is known to be hypermutagenized by a unique reverse-transcriptase (RT)-based mechanism. Unexpectedly, other hypervariable loci in our data were in previously undescribed gene types, including genes encoding predicted Ig-superfamily proteins. Most of the hypervariable loci were linked to genes encoding RTs of a single clade, which we find is the most abundant clade among gut viruses but only a minor component of bacterial RT populations. Hypervariation was targeted to 5′-AAY-3′ asparagine codons, which allows maximal chemical diversification of the encoded amino acids while avoiding formation of stop codons. These findings document widespread targeted hypervariation in the human gut virome, identify previously undescribed types of genes targeted for hypervariation, clarify association with RT gene clades, and motivate studies of hypervariation in the full human microbiome.
Non classical, multiple‐site interaction of [3H]‐prazosin with the α1‐adrenoceptor of intact BC3H1 cells

1 In intact BC3H1 cells the EC50 of noradrenaline (NA) for the inositol phosphate response measured at 37°C (EC50 = 193 nm) was much lower than its apparent dissociation constant (Ki37°c = 83.211 μm) determined at this temperature by [3H]‐prazosin binding. 2 After pretreatment of the cells with NA at 37°C for 45 min, the time used in binding assays at this temperature, this difference between EC50 and Ki37°c did not decrease significantly. An agonist‐induced reduction in α1‐adrenoceptor affinity can therefore not explain the very high Ki37°C value. 3 NA pretreatment at 37°C decreased the number of [3H]‐prazosin binding sites (assessed by whole cell binding at 2°C) by only 49%; not by 100%, the value expected if agonist‐induced receptor internalization were the origin of the very low Ki37°C. 4 The EC50 of NA for the inositol phosphate response in the presence of 156 pM [3H]‐prazosin was 1.841 μm but the IC50 of NA for the inhibition of [3H]‐prazosin binding (126 pm) was 316 μm. As there is no α1‐adrenoceptor reserve in these cells we propose that at 37°C [3H]‐prazosin interacts, not only with the catecholamine recognition site (site 1) of the receptor, but also reacts weakly with another site from which it cannot be directly displaced by catecholamine‐like substances (site 2).
Associations of Vigorous-Intensity Physical Activity with Biomarkers in Youth

Introduction Physical activity (PA) conveys known cardiometabolic benefits to youth, but the contribution of vigorous-intensity PA (VPA) to these benefits is unknown. Therefore, we sought to determine (a) the associations between VPA and cardiometabolic biomarkers independent of moderate-intensity PA (MPA) and time sedentary and (b) the accelerometer cut point that best represents the threshold for health-promoting VPA in youth. Methods Data from the International Children's Accelerometry Database (ICAD) were analyzed in 2015. The relationship between cardiometabolic biomarkers and four categories of VPA estimated via three sets of cut points were examined using isotemporal substitution quantile regression modeling at the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentile of the distribution of each biomarker, separately. Age, sex, accelerometer wear time, sedentary time, and MPA were controlled for while allowing substitution for light-intensity PA. Data from 11,588 youth (4–18 yr) from 11 ICAD studies (collected 1998–2009) were analyzed. Results Only 32 of 360 significant associations were observed. Significant, negative relationships were observed for VPA with waist circumference and insulin. Replacing light-intensity PA with VPA (corresponding to at the 25th to 90th percentiles of VPA) was associated with 0.67 (−1.33 to −0.01; P = 0.048) to 7.30 cm (−11.01 to −3.58; P < 0.001) lower waist circumference using Evenson and ICAD cut points (i.e., higher counts per minute). VPA levels were associated with 12.60 (−21.28 to −3.92; P = 0.004) to 27.03 pmol·L−1 (−45.03 to −9.03; P = 0.003) lower insulin levels at the 75th to 90th percentiles using Evenson and ICAD cut points when substituted for light PA. Conclusions Substituting light PA with VPA was inversely associated with waist circumference and insulin. However, VPA was inconsistently related to the remaining biomarkers after controlling for time sedentary and MPA.
Choosing Optimal Antifungal Agents To Prevent Fungal Infections in Nonneutropenic Critically Ill Patients: Trial Sequential Analysis, Network Meta-analysis, and Pharmacoeconomic Analysis

ABSTRACT The use of antifungal interventions in critically ill patients prior to invasive fungal infection (IFI) being microbiologically confirmed and the preferred drug are still controversial. A systematic literature search was performed to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared untargeted antifungal treatments applied to nonneutropenic critically ill patients. The primary outcomes were all-cause mortality and proven IFI rates. A random-effects model was used with trial sequential analyses (TSA), a network meta-analysis (NMA) was conducted to obtain indirect evidence, and a cost-effectiveness analysis using a decision-analytic model was completed from the patient perspective over a lifetime horizon. In total, 19 RCTs involving 2,556 patients (7 interventions) were included. Untargeted antifungal treatment did not significantly decrease the incidence of all-cause mortality (odds ratio [OR] = 0.89, 95% confidence interval [95%CI] = 0.70 to 1.14), but it did reduce the incidence of proven IFI (OR = 0.45, 95%CI = 0.29 to 0.71) relative to placebo/no intervention. The TSA showed that there was sufficient evidence supporting these findings. In the NMA, the only significant difference found for both primary outcomes was between fluconazole and placebo/no intervention in preventing proven IFI (OR = 0.35, 95%CI = 0.19 to 0.65). Based on drug and hospital costs in China, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratios per life-year saved for fluconazole, caspofungin, and micafungin relative to placebo/no intervention corresponded to US$889, US$9,994, and US$10,351, respectively. Untargeted antifungal treatment significantly reduced proven IFI rates in nonneutropenic critically ill patients but with no mortality benefits relative to placebo/no intervention. Among the well-tolerated antifungals, fluconazole remains the only one that is effective for IFI prevention and significantly cheaper than echinocandins.
THE VARIANCE HYPOTHESIS ON THE OUTPUT-INFLATION TRADEOFF: EVIDENCE FROM SCANDINAVIA*

This paper contains some further empirical tests of the variance hypothesis, according to which the output-inflation tradeoff varies inversely with the variance of nominal aggregate demand. Finnish quarterly data and annual cross-country data from the Scandinavian countries are used. Finnish time-series data are in conformity with the hypothesis, whereas the tests using cross-country data, particularly when Zellner's seemingly unrelated regression estimation procedure is applied, fail to indicate supporting evidence for the variance hypothesis.
Spatial Patterns of Subprime Mortgages by Local Banks, Nonlocal Banks, and Independents in the Continental US

Mortgage innovations and New Deal agencies facilitated lower priced loans for prime borrowers and minimum price disparities across US regions. In the 1980s deregulation removed price restrictions on banks' mortgages and also removed geographic distance restrictions on lending, opening the subprime industry. Global and local Moran indices identified interregional price disparities based upon proportions of subprime mortgage originations. A cluster of high-priced mortgage originations was found along the Gulf States both before and after the subprime collapse of 2007. Local banks, perceived to have special underwriting knowledge about their markets, and who were more likely to offer preferred prices, were compared with nonlocal banks and independent mortgage companies on their spatial distributions of mortgage pricing. During the boom and bust years from 2005 to 2008, the regional patterns of proportions of subprime mortgages for each mortgage institution type were similar, adversely impacting borrowers in the Southern Gulf region. These spatial patterns suggest that nonlocal banks and independents made the same underwriting conclusions about borrowers in regional markets as the local bank specialists.
Relevance of disease‐ and organ‐specific endothelial cells for in vitro research

The endothelium is a dynamic, heterogeneous, disseminated organ that possesses vital secretory, synthetic, metabolic and immunological functions. Endothelial dysfunction has been implicated as a key factor in the development of organ‐specific vascular diseases. This minireview gives a brief overview on EC (endothelial cell) biomarkers in arterial and venous endothelium and critically discusses the different sources of ECs that are most frequently applied in in vitro assays and research. The relevance of organ‐ and disease‐specific endothelial cell cultures for studying cellular responses as a basis for improving therapeutic interventions is highlighted with particular emphasis on endothelial dysfunction in transplant‐associated coronary artery disease, in atherosclerotic lesions and in response to diabetes mellitus.
Managing and integrating geography models in distributed environment

For the current “Model islands” problems which occur in the process of the geography modeling and model sharing, we propose an idea of geography model sharing and reusing method which based on the metadata standard in distributed environment. This article mainly solves how to describe and manage the geography model to achieve the model sharing and reuse. We work on the design of the metadata standard, the integrating standard and the managing environment of the geography model. It is expected to provide a convenient platform for the geographers, so that they can easily reuse any model, which means the heterogeneous models can be well shared.