Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
National Oil Companies and Value Creation

Approximately two billion dollars a day of petroleum are traded worldwide, which makes petroleum the largest single item in the balance of payments and exchanges between nations. Petroleum represents the larger share in total energy use for most net exporters and net importers. While petroleum taxes are a major source of income for more than 90 countries in the world, poor countries net importers are more vulnerable to price increases than most industrialized economies. This paper has five chapters. Chapter one describes the key features of upstream, midstream, and downstream petroleum operations and how these may impact value creation and policy options. Chapter two draws on ample literature and discusses how changes in the geopolitical and global economic environment and in the host governments' political and economic priorities have affected the rationale for and behavior of National Oil Companies' (NOCs). Rather than providing an in-depth analysis of the philosophical reasons for creating a NOC, this chapter seeks to highlight the special nature of NOCs and how it may affect their existence, objectives, regulation, and behavior. Chapter three proposes a value creation index to measure the contribution of NOCs to social value creation. A conceptual model is also proposed to identify the factors that affect value creation. Chapter four presents the result of an exploratory statistical analysis aimed to determine the relative importance of the drivers of value creation. In addition, the experience of a selected sample of NOCs is analyzed in detail, and lessons of general applicability are derived. Finally, Chapter five summarizes the conclusions.
Resource Dependence, Managerial Discretion and Stakeholder Performance

Despite its remarkable rise in popularity, stakeholder theory continues to be criticized for a dearth of empirical studies as well as ambiguity in the underlying theory. Several scholars have argued that resource dependence theory provides a useful lens through which to view firm-stakeholder relationships (Frooman 1999; Mitchell, Agle, & Wood 1997; Rowley 1997). There may, however, be reason to question the extent of this proposed theoretical bolster due to differences in assumptions and prescriptions between the two theories. To test this proposed linkage, we introduce "stakeholder performance" as a measure of how well stakeholders are treated by the firm. We develop resource dependence-based hypotheses concerning stakeholder performance based on Boyd's (1990, 1995) operationalization of the three dimensions of environmental uncertainty identified by Dess & Beard (1984): munificence, dynamism, and complexity. As anticipated, these initial tests returned equivocal results. We follow up these results by considering the effects of different levels of managerial discretion (Hambrick & Finkelstein 1987) on stakeholder performance. We find that, under conditions of greater managerial discretion, stakeholder performance increases. Differences between resource dependence and stakeholder theory are elaborated and implications for future research are discussed.
Method for Studying Microbial Biofilms in Flowing-Water Systems

A method for the study of microbial biofilms in flowing-water systems was developed with special reference to the flow conditions in electrochemical concentration cells. Seawater was circulated in a semiclosed flow system through biofilm reactors (3 cm s) with microscope cover slips arranged in lamellar piles parallel with the flow. At fixed time intervals cover slips with their biofilm were removed from the pile, stained with crystal violet, and mounted on microscope slides. The absorbances of the slides were measured at 590 nm and plotted against time to give microbial biofilm development. From calibration experiments a staining time of 1 min and a rinse time of 10 min in a tap water flow (3 cm s) were considered sufficient. When an analysis of variance was performed on biofilm development data, 78% of the total variance was found to be due to random natural effects; the rest could be explained by experimental effects. The absorbance values correlated well with protein N, dry weight, and organic weight in two biofilm experiments, one with a biofilm with a high (75%) and one with a low ( approximately 25%, normal) inorganic content. Comparisons of regression lines revealed that the absorbance of the stained biofilms was an estimate closely related to biofilm dry weight.
Repeated ischaemic preconditioning: a novel therapeutic intervention and potential underlying mechanisms

What is the topic of this review? This review discusses the effects of repeated exposure of tissue to ischaemic preconditioning on cardiovascular function, the attendant adaptations and their potential clinical relevance. What advances does it highlight? We discuss the effects of episodic exposure to ischaemic preconditioning to prevent and/or attenuate ischaemic injury and summarize evidence pertaining to improvements in cardiovascular function and structure. Discussion is provided regarding the potential mechanisms that contribute to both local and systemic adaptation. Findings suggest that clinical benefits result from both the prevention of ischaemic events and the attenuation of their consequences.
Is Foreign Exchange Intervention Effective? Some Micro-Analytical Evidence from the Czech Republic

I estimate a two-equation system on the Czech koruna-euro exchange rate and order flow at hourly frequency with transactions data from the Reuters Spot Matching market in the second half of 2002, during which the Czech National Bank intervened to stem the appreciation of the koruna. I find a significant impact of order flow on the exchange rate, equal to 7.6 basis points per [euro]10 million, of which 80% persists throughout the day. The news of intervention increases the price impact of order flow by 3.9 basis points per [euro]10 million. The order flow equation yields inconclusive results.
Taxes, Income, and Retirement Savings: Differences by Permanent and Transitory Income

type="main" xml:lang="en"> This article examines the determinants of and benefits from saving for retirement in tax-preferred accounts by permanent and transitory income levels. We find that higher incomes (both permanent and transitory) are associated with a greater probability to contribute and larger contributions. We also find that tax benefits for retirement savings increase strongly with income, although the increase is slightly smaller when taxpayers are ranked by their permanent (rather than current) income. In addition, we find that a large portion of the benefits from the Saver's Credit go to taxpayers who would not be eligible based on their permanent income. Finally, we find that recent tax changes (including the introduction of the Saver's Credit) significantly increased contributions among low-income households, although the effect was centered among those with only transitorily low income. (JEL H24, H31, E21)
Miliary tuberculosis after in vitro fertilization and embryo transplantation.

BACKGROUND With the development of assisted reproductive technology, more patients with infertility prefer to get pregnant by in vitro fertilization and embryo transplantation (IVF-ET). But the indications of IVF-ET must be strictly controlled by the clinicians. CASE REPORT We described a case of a 29-year-old pregnant Chinese woman with military tuberculosis. She was admitted to the hospital with complaints of fever and shortness of breath. She received IVF-ET 83 days ago, because of infertility with bilateraltubal occlusion, and was in pregnancy status. We presented the clinical, laboratory and two chest CT scan features of the patient. The second chest CT scan showed randomly distributed, innumerable tiny, military nodules throughout the lungs. The fluorescence quantitative PCR of the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The M. tuberculosis was cultured from BALF on Day 29. So we made the diagnosis of military tuberculosis. CONCLUSION It is important to rule out tuberculosis for the infertility patients especially with bilateraltubal occlusion before IVF-ET in order to avoid tuberculosis disseminate during pregnancy.
A congestion-pricing problem with a polycentric region and multi-class users: a continuum modelling approach

Consider a region of arbitrary shape with multiple cities competing for multi-class users that are distributed continuously over the region. Within this region, the road network is represented as a continuum and users patronise in a two-dimensional continuum transportation system to their chosen city. A logit-type distribution function is specified to model the probabilistic destination choices made by the different classes of users. In this article, two different congestion-pricing models for this multi-class and multi-city continuum transportation system are studied. The first model focused on utility maximisation, which determines the optimal toll rates that maximise the total utility of the system, while the second model is a cordon-based congestion-pricing model that offers a sub-optimal but more practical tolling strategy. Both models are solved by finite element method and a promising Newtonian-based solution algorithm. A numerical example is given to show the effectiveness of the mathematical program and solution algorithm.
Spontaneous Labor and Elective Induction—A Prospective Randomized Study: II. Bilirubin Levels in the Neonatal Period

The effect of induction of labor on the neonatal bilirubin levels was investigated in a prospective randomized study. Forty‐three infants born after elective induction with oxytocin using the Cardiff infusion system and 38 infants born after spontaneous delivery were studied. Several factors other than oxytocin administration which could influence the bilirubin levels such as gestational age, placental transfusion and feeding routines did not differ between the two groups. There were no differences with regard to pH in umbilical vein, Apgar scores, haemoglobin and erythrocyte volume fractions or bilirubin levels neonatally. Thus there was no evidence of an association between induction of labor with oxytocin and jaundice during the neonatal period.
Axonal transcription factors: Novel regulators of growth cone‐to‐nucleus signaling

Developing axons contain transcripts that are locally translated to influence the axonal proteome. Recent studies have shown that axonal transcripts include mRNAs encoding transcription factors. These mRNAs are translated to produce transcription factors that can be retrogradely trafficked back to the nucleus, where they regulate gene expression programs. These findings point to a novel mechanism of growth cone‐to‐nucleus signaling that occurs when growth cones encounter extracellular signaling molecules that stimulate local translation of these transcription factors, thereby influencing gene transcription. Here we summarize recent findings on local translation of transcription factors in axons and their roles in different neuronal processes such as neuronal specification, survival, and axon regeneration. Comprehensive axonal transcriptome studies have revealed transcripts that encode many more transcription factors and cofactors, suggesting a potentially broad role for this type of signaling. We review the progress on the approaches and tools that have been developed to study local translation and retrograde trafficking of transcription factors. We also highlight the challenges in the field and discuss the potential routes to resolving them. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol 74: 245–258, 2014
How to write a case report.

BACKGROUND Since before Hippocrates, case reports have provided a rich resource for teaching and research in medicine. Case reports are published by many prominent journals--more than 140,000 case reports are indexed in MEDLINE from 1996 to present--and a number of narrative guidelines for the preparation of case reports have appeared in the medical literature. To facilitate the preparation of case reports, we reviewed the existing guidelines and a random sampling of published case reports and created a fill-in-the-blanks worksheet for physicians to use to capture unique scientific observations. Although originally developed to assist family practice residents to write case reports, the case report worksheet can be used by physicians in any practice setting and any discipline to collect and report interesting, unusual, or newsworthy cases.
Adjuvant postoperative fluorouracil-modulated chemotherapy combined with pelvic radiation therapy for rectal cancer: initial results of intergroup 0114.

PURPOSE The combination of radiation therapy with fluorouracil (5-FU)-based chemotherapy is generally accepted as appropriate postoperative therapy for patients with adenocarcinomas of the rectum that extend through the bowel wall or with lymph nodes positive for tumor. We attempted to determine whether the efficacy of this postoperative therapy could be improved by the addition of leucovorin and/or levamisole. METHODS A total of 1,696 patients were randomized and eligible for treatment with one of four treatment schemes. All patients received two cycles of bolus 5-FU-based systemic chemotherapy followed by pelvic radiation therapy with chemotherapy and two more cycles of the same systemic chemotherapy. Chemotherapy was either 5-FU alone, 5-FU with leucovorin, 5-FU with levamisole, or 5-FU with leucovorin and levamisole. RESULTS With a median follow-up duration of 48 months, there is no statistically significant advantage to any of the treatment regimens compared with bolus 5-FU alone. There is evidence of increased gastrointestinal toxicity with the three-drug combination compared with bolus 5-FU alone. Statistical analysis suggests it is very unlikely that either levamisole-containing combination will be shown to be of value with further follow-up evaluation. CONCLUSION There is no evidence at present for a beneficial effect of levamisole in the adjuvant treatment of rectal cancer. Definitive evaluation of the effect of the addition of leucovorin to 5-FU and pelvic radiation will require further follow-up evaluation.
The mechanical effect of blocking screws ("Poller screws") in stabilizing tibia fractures with short proximal or distal fragments after insertion of small-diameter intramedullary nails.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS To evaluate the mechanical effects of medial and lateral blocking screws in supplementing intramedullary nail fixation of high proximal and low distal tibial fractures treated with small-diameter intramedullary nails. STUDY DESIGN Intact fresh human cadaveric tibiae were sectioned to provide ten distal segments measuring seventy millimeters and ten proximal segments measuring ninety millimeters. In the distal segments, stainless steel solid eight-millimeter tibial nails were advanced to eight millimeters from the ankle joint. Two transverse and one anterior-posterior (AP) locking screw were inserted using a custom-made jig. The same jig was used for the placement of a medial and a lateral blocking screw (BS) in the AP direction, nine millimeters above the superior most interlocking screw and eight millimeters distal to the lower end of the segment. In the proximal segments, two interlocking screws (both static and dynamic screws) were placed in a medial-lateral direction with the use of the insertion handle. A jig was used for placement of a medial and a lateral BS in the AP direction, nine millimeters below the lower transverse interlocking screw and sixteen millimeters proximal to the lower end of the segment. The bone-implant construct (BIC) was embedded and fixed in a materials testing machine. The BICs were loaded in the medial-lateral direction at a distance of 185 millimeters from the nail ends with loads from -150 newtons to + 150 newtons. Force-displacement curves were recorded before and after insertion of the BSs. RESULTS In proximal BICs, the addition of BSs decreased the deformation of the BICs 25 percent, from 8.9 +/- 1.9 degrees [mean +/- standard deviation (SD)] in the control group to 6.8 +/-1.1 degrees in the BS group (mean +/- SD) (p < 0.0001). In distal BICs, the addition of BSs decreased the deformation of the BICs 57 percent, from 9.5 +/- 1.4 degrees (mean +/- SD) in the control group to 4.0 +/- 1.0 degrees in the BS group (mean +/- SD) (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS The study suggests that medial and lateral blocking screws can increase the primary stability of distal and proximal metaphyseal fractures after nailing and can be an effective tool for selected cases that exhibit malalignment and/or instability.
FITNESS AND ADAPTATION IN A NOVEL ENVIRONMENT: EFFECT OF INBREEDING, PRIOR ENVIRONMENT, AND LINEAGE

Abstract The ability of populations to undergo adaptive evolution depends on the presence of genetic variation for ecologically important traits. The maintenance of genetic variation may be influenced by many variables, particularly long-term effective population size and the strength and form of selection. The roles of these factors are controversial and there is very little information on their impacts for quantitative characters. The aims of this study were to determine the impacts of population size and variable versus constant prior environmental conditions on fitness and the magnitude of response to selection. Outbred and inbred populations of Drosophila melanogaster were maintained under benign, constant stressful, and variably stressful conditions for seven generations, and then forced to adapt to a novel stress for seven generations. Fitness and adaptability were assayed in each replicate population. Our findings are that: (1) populations inbred in a variable environment were more adaptable than those inbred in a constant environment; (2) populations adapted to a prior stressful environment had greater fitness when reared in a novel stress than those less adapted to stress; (3) inbred populations had lower fitness and were less adaptable than the outbred population they were derived from; and (4) strong lineage effects were detectable across environments in the inbred populations.
Usefulness of urinary collagen IV excretion for predicting the severity of Henoch-Schönlein nephropathy children

The aim of the study The aim of the study was to evaluate the usefulness of urinary collagen IV (Col IV) excretion for predicting the severity of autoimmune renal inflammation in children with HSN (Henoch-Schönlein nephritis). Material and methods We studied 26 children, in whom HSN was diagnosed based on kidney biopsy. In all patients, urinalysis was performed and 24-hour urinary protein excretion was measured at the onset of the disease. All kidney biopsies were also scored using the Oxford classification: M – mesangial hypercellularity score (M0 absent, M1 present); E – presence of endocapillary proliferation (E0 absent, E1 present), S – segmental glomerulosclerosis/adhesion (S0 absent, S1 present), T – tubular atrophy/interstitial fibrosis (T0 ≤ 25%, T1 26-50%, T2 > 50%). The MEST score was calculated as the sum of M + E + S + T. Results Urinary Col IV level was significantly higher in the study group than in control group. Urinary Col IV level was insignificantly higher in group A (nephrotic proteinuria) compared to the B (non-nephrotic proteinuria) and C (without proteinuria). We found no significant differences in the age at the disease onset, severity of proteinuria, and Col IV between groups 1 (S0, T0) and 2. (S1,T1/T2). The MEST score was significantly higher in group 2 than group 1. Conclusions Urinary Col IV excretion in children with HSN may be related to the lesions severity by the Oxford classification but seems to be associated with the mean value (the MEST score). In younger children, a more aggressive disease course is observed, and thus earlier and more aggressive treatment should be considered in this group.
Gender Equality in the Ivory Tower, and How Best to Achieve It

ABSTRACT Both statistical and qualitative interview data confirm the on-going existence of gender inequality within American academia, with women both underrepresented and underpaid compared to their male counterparts. Surprisingly, what is needed to remedy this situation is not a secret. Most of the policies outlined in this article as good workable solutions are programs that have been tested and described in more than one study. Indeed, evidence suggests that when the nine strategies we identify here are fully implemented, as they have been at a few colleges and universities, the number of women on the faculty increases dramatically. The fact that we do not adopt these policies more widely in academia suggests not a lack of knowledge so much as apathy, prejudice, gender stereotypes, and cultural cues that end by depriving society of some of its best talent and energy.
Crowdsource a little to label a lot: labeling a speech corpus of dialectal Arabic

Arabic is a language with great dialectal variety, with Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) being the only standardized dialect. Spoken Arabic is characterized by frequent code-switching be-tween MSA and Dialectal Arabic (DA). DA varieties are typically differentiated by region, but despite their wide-spread usage, they are under-resourced and lack viable corpora and tools necessary for speech recognition and natural language processing. Existing DA speech corpora are limited in scope, consisting of mainly telephone conversations and scripted speech. In this paper we describe our efforts for using crowdsourcing to create a labeled multi-dialectal speech corpus. We obtained utterance-level dialect labels for 57 hours of high-quality audio from Al Jazeera consisting of four major varieties of DA: Egyptian, Levantine, Gulf, and North African. Using speaker linking to identify utterances spoken by the same speaker, and measures of label accuracy likelihood based on annotator behavior, we automatically labeled an additional 94 hours. The complete corpus contains 850 hours with approximately 18% DA speech.
Physicochemical characterization of metabolic acidosis induced by normal saline resuscitation of patients with severe sepsis and septic shock.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to characterize and quantify metabolic acidosis that was caused by initial volume expansion during the reanimation of patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. METHODS A blood sample was drawn for physicochemical characterization of the patient's acid-base equilibrium both before and after volume expansion using 30 mL/kg 0.9% saline solution. The diagnosis and quantification of metabolic acidosis were based on the standard base excess (SBE). RESULTS Eight patients with a mean age of 58 ± 13 years and mean APACHE II scores of 20 ± 4 were expanded using 2,000 ± 370 mL of 0.9% saline solution. Blood pH dropped from 7.404 ± 0.080 to 7.367 ± 0.086 (p=0.018), and PC O2 increased from 30 ± 5 to 32 ± 2 mmHg (p=0.215); SBE dropped from -4.4 ± 5.6 to -6.0 ± 5.7 mEq/L (p=0.039). The drop in SBE was associated with the acidifying power of two factors, namely, a significant increase in the strong ion gap (SIG) from 6.1 ± 3.4 to 7.7 ± 4.0 mEq/L (p = 0.134) and a non-significant drop in the apparent inorganic strong ion differences (SIDai) from 40 ± 5 to 38 ± 4 mEq/L (p = 0.318). Conversely, the serum albumin levels decreased from 3.1 ± 1.0 to 2.6 ± 0.8 mEq/L (p = 0.003) with an alkalinizing effect on SBE. Increased serum chloride levels from 103 ± 10 to 106 ± 7 mEq/L (p < 0.001) led to a drop in SIDai. CONCLUSION Initial resuscitation using 30 mL/kg of 0.9% saline solution for patients with severe sepsis and septic shock is associated with worsened metabolic acidosis, as measured by SBE. This worsened SBE can be ascribed to a serum increase in the levels of unmeasurable anions and chloride.