Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Blue mode does not offer any benefit over white light when calculating Lewis score in small-bowel capsule endoscopy.

AIM To check the usefulness of blue mode (BM) review in lewis score (LS) calculation, by comparing it with respective LS results obtained by white light (WL) small-bowel capsule endoscopy (SBCE) review and mucosal inflammation as reflected by faecal calprotectin (FC) levels, considered as 'gold standard' for this study. METHODS Computational analysis of our SBCE database to identify patients who underwent SBCE with PillCam(®) and had FC measured within a 30-day period from their test. Only patients with prior colonoscopy were included, to exclude any colon pathology-associated FC rise. Each small bowel tertile was reviewed (viewing speed 8 fps) with WL and BM, in a back-to-back mode, by a single experienced reviewer. LS were calculated after each WL and BM reviews. Pearson rank correlation (rho, r) statistic was applied. RESULTS Twenty-seven (n = 27, 20F/7M) patients were included. Thirteen (n = 13) had SBCE with PillCam(®)SB1, and the remainder (n = 14) with PillCam(®)SB2. The median level of FC in this cohort was 125 μg/g. LS (calculated in WL SBCE review) correlation with FC levels was r = 0.490 (P = 0.01), while for BM review and LS correlation with FC was r = 0.472 (P = 0.013). CONCLUSION Although BM is believed to enhance mucosal details i.e., small mucosal breaks, it did not perform better than WL in the calculation of LS in our cohort.
Analysis of calendar effects: Day-of-the-week effects in Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia stock markets

Efficient market hypothesis suggests indifferent re turn of stock regardless its trading day. In fact, investors could made different return on certain da y because of calendar effects. This different retur n is called an abnormal return which can affect investor in deciding their investment strategy, portfolio selection and profit management. The study research ed day-of-the-week effects in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia stock markets in order to fi nd out the existence of anomaly in the three countries. Previous research showed evidence of day -of-the-week effects in emerging markets. Our study employs EGARCH econometric models. The result shows that there was Friday positive abnormal return in Indonesia and Malaysia. In Singapore, the re was no Friday positive abnormal return. The stud y also concludes that, there was no Monday negative a bnormal return in the three countries.
Application of the localization algorithms in WSN

Recent researches on the usage of technology in different area of life activities have made WSN widely useful in monitoring different environments. Different monitoring tasks are being used in WSN and for that; in order to acquire the best performance is needed to focus in an essential parameter that is the node localization. This paper studies the localization issue based on three existing algorithms, and gives insights of a new algorithm for sensor localization. This new algorithm is based on the advantages of other three existing algorithms, knowledge this gained from the simulations results. Our proposed algorithm aims to improve the network convergence, energy saving, and scalability for the WSN.
La participación electrónica: estado de la cuestión y aproximación a su clasificación = La participació electrònica: estat de la qüestió i aproximació a la seva classificació

espanolCASTELLANO En este articulo se presenta un analisis de la situacion de la participacion politica electronica en la actualidad, principalmente en Cataluna y en Espana. Son muy numerosas las experiencias de este tipo que estan surgiendo por todas partes, fruto tanto de la iniciativa privada como de la publica: voto electronico, debates, foros y consultas por Internet, plataformas municipales para el desarrollo de la participacion, parlamentos abiertos, paginas web de los partidos donde se crean canales de comunicacion con los ciudadanos, etc. En un intento de ordenar esta variedad de experiencias, desarrollaremos un sistema clasificatorio, siguiendo la escala de Arnstein sobre niveles de participacion, para, posteriormente, describir con detalle las iniciativas de voto electronico y las formas de participacion politica electronica basadas en Internet. Finalmente, se evaluaran las nuevas iniciativas de participacion electronica respecto del modelo de democracia al que contribuyen o refuerzan. La conclusion es que, a pesar de que la la mayor parte de la variedad y el numero de experiencias pertenecen a los niveles de informacion y comunicacion, y quedan, por lo tanto, dentro de los limites establecidos por el modelo de la democracia representativa. Con todo ello, hay experiencias, sobre todo a nivel local, con voluntad de superar este modelo y que constituyen canales para la deliberacion y la participacion en la toma de decisiones. catalaCATALA En aquest article es presenta una analisi de la situacio de la participacio politica electronica en l'actualitat, principalment a Catalunya i a Espanya. Son molt nombroses les experiencies d'aquest tipus que estan sorgint arreu, fruit tant de la iniciativa privada com de la publica: vot electronic, debats, forums i consultes per Internet, plataformes municipals pel desenvolupament de la participacio, parlaments oberts, webs dels partits on es creen canals de comunicacio amb els ciutadans, etc. En un intent d'ordenar aquesta varietat d'experiencies, desenvoluparem un sistema classificatori, tot seguint l'escala d'Arnstein sobre nivells de participacio, per a posteriorment descriure en detall les iniciatives de vot electronic i les formes de participacio politica electronica basades en Internet. Finalment, s'avaluaran les noves iniciatives de participacio electronica respecte al model de democracia al qual contribueixen o reforcen. La conclusio es que malgrat la varietat i el nombre d'experiencies, la gran part pertanyen als nivells d'informacio i comunicacio, i resten per tant dins dels limits establerts pel model de la democracia representativa. Amb tot, hi ha experiencies, sobretot en l'ambit local, amb voluntat de superar aquest model i que constitueixen canals per a la deliberacio i la participacio en la presa de decisions.
Sorting Models in Discrete Choice Fisheries Analysis

One of the greatest challenges facing empirical fisheries researchers is to endogenize fishing effort in bioeconomic models in a way that accounts for fleet heterogeneity. Such heterogeneity can manifest in a wide range of both observable and unobservable characteristics of fishing vessels and individual fishermen. Without accounting for heterogeneity, we simply have an incomplete understanding of how pressure on fish resources responds to policy instruments that are available, the states of fish stocks, and exogenous shocks to the system. Largely due to data limitations, the discrete choice fisheries literature has focused on modeling unobserved heterogeneity through random parameters. In this paper, we draw on the industrial organization literature on product differentiation and the public economics literature on spatial sorting to estimate sorting models of observable heterogeneity. Models of this type estimate individual-specific structural coefficients based on observable individual characteristics and choice-specific constants using contraction mapping. We apply the methods to location choices and target species choices in the Gulf of Mexico reef-fish fishery. For this application, we have an unusual data set that couples daily observations from logbooks with demographic information from a mail survey of captains. We use contraction mapping to control for spatially-, and species-explicit stock information. The models are used to explore spatial and inter-temporal species effort substitution in response to two marine reserves, which are implemented in sample.
Technology adoption by small businesses: An exploratory study of the interrelationships of owner and environmental factors

An integrative small business adoption of a technology model, which incorporates consumer and organizational behavior theories, is developed and tested to explore the direct and indirect impacts of owner and environmental factors on information technology adoption. Through structural equations modeling we present and test a conceptual framework that examines the interrelationships between owner-related characteristics and perceptions, and environmental-related constructs to predict the adoption of information technology by small retailers. The results indicate that all the tested variables affect the adoption of technology by small businesses directly and/or indirectly through mediating variables. The study advances the literature by creating a small business technology adoption model (SBTAM) that highlights the importance of examining interrelationships between the independent variables. The results have significant implications pertaining to organizations interested in marketing technological innovations to retailers and for small retailers that use this technology.
Phillips curve inflation and unemployment: an empirical research for Greece

The relationship between inflation and unemployment was first introduced in 1958 by Phillips who found a negative relationship between unemployment and money wage growth in the UK. However, this relationship appeared to become unstable in many countries over the 1970s. This paper investigates the relationship between inflation and unemployment in Greece using annual data from 1980 until 2010. To examine the long-run relationship for the case of Greece we use the cointegration test applying the Johansen (1988) maximum likelihood procedure while Granger causality test is obtained by the vector autoregression (VAR). The results show that there is a long-run and causal relationship between inflation and unemployment for the aforementioned period. Finally, the impulse responses applied for the 10-year forecasting, suggest that shocks in inflation rate cause a reduction on unemployment index for the first years, following by a slight rise for the remaining years under examination.
Hearing Aid Personalization

Modern digital hearing aids require and offer a great level of personalization. Today, this personalization is not performed based directly on what the user actually perceives, but on a hearing-care professional’s interpretation of what the user explains about what is perceived. In this paper, an interactive personalization system based on Gaussian process regression and active learning is proposed, which personalize the hearing aids based directly on what the user perceives. Preliminary results demonstrate a significant difference between a truly personalized setting obtained with the proposed system and a setting obtained by the current practice.
Anonymity, Frontrunning and Market Integrity

This article investigates the existence of systematic frontrunning on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the role of anonymous orders in concealing frontrunning. There is no evidence of widespread frontrunning activity, with this activity confined to a small number of brokers. In the instances where trading ahead of clients does occur, we find a positive association between the magnitude and frequency of frontrunning with broker activity levels, order size, sell-side orders and informed (profitable) client orders. Although anonymous orders are used more frequently by proprietary traders than their clients, their overall use is low and, contrary to investor perceptions, there is no evidence that they are commonly used to conceal frontrunning.
Performance Improvements through Implementation of Lean Practices: A Study of the U.K. Red Meat Industry

'Lean' is an established industrial paradigm with proven track record in various sectors of the industry (Womack & Jones, 1996). World-class Companies such as Toyota (second biggest global car manufacturer), Porsche (most profitable global OEM), Boeing (largest global aerospace business) and Tesco (third largest global retailer) have adopted Lean at the corporate level. This paper reports on the introduction of 'Lean Thinking' to a new sector - the 'Red Meat Industry' (Food Chain Centre, 2004). This contribution highlights the benefits of lean production techniques in different stages of the red meat value chain and reports 2- 3% potential cost savings at each stage of the chain.
Age-related changes in core body temperature and activity in triple-transgenic Alzheimer ’ s disease ( 3 xTgAD ) mice

160 INTRODUCTION Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a chronic progressive neurodegenerative disorder that is characterised by the accumulation of extracellular -amyloid (A) plaques, neurofibrillary tangles composed of hyperphosphorylated tau, neuronal loss and neuroinflammation (Frank-Cannon et al., 2009; Ballard et al., 2011). AD patients present with complex cognitive impairment, memory loss being one of the earliest clinical symptoms. Patients with AD also suffer from non-cognitive behavioural symptoms, such as depression, anxiety, agitation, weight loss, hyperactivity and disturbed circadian rhythms and sleep (Assal and Cummings, 2002; Gillette-Guyonnet et al., 2007; Bombois et al., 2010; Klaffke and Staedt, 2006; Stoppe et al., 1999; Finkel, 2003). These non-cognitive behavioural symptoms might not simply be a consequence of AD neuropathology, but instead could be a predictor of the disease. Furthermore, non-cognitive behavioural changes in AD can lead to a poorer quality of life and, in cases such as severe weight loss, can be life-threatening (White et al., 1998; White et al., 2004). In spite of their serious consequences, most non-cognitive changes in AD remain poorly understood. Understanding when and how these non-cognitive symptoms of AD occur could lead to a better quality of life for AD patients. Frequently reported non-cognitive changes in AD patients include disruptions in the circadian rhythms of locomotor activity and core body temperature, usually characterised by an increase in nocturnal activity and a raised body temperature (Touitou et al., 1986; Okawa et al., 1991; Okawa et al., 1995; Satlin et al., 1995; Mishima et al., 1997; Volicer et al., 2001; Harper et al., 2001; Harper et al., 2004; Harper et al., 2005; Klegeris et al., 2007). To better understand the aetiology and progression of AD, several mouse models have been developed that harbour mutations linked to human AD, including amyloid precursor protein (APP) and presenilin 1 (PS1) and PS2. These mice develop some of the pathological and cognitive features observed in human AD (Hall and Roberson, 2011; Braidy et al., 2011). Several transgenic AD mouse models also exhibit increases in spontaneous and natural locomotor activity, comparable to AD patients (Huitrón-Reséndiz et al., 2002; Bedrosian et al., 2011; Richter et al., 2008; Ambrée et al., 2006; Vloeberghs et al., 2004; Sterniczuk et al., 2010; Van Dam et al., 2003). Furthermore, mice expressing human mutant APP have an altered core body temperature at an age when significant A plaque deposition is present (Huitrón-Reséndiz et al., 2002). However, the evidence for longitudinal core body temperature changes in AD mouse models prior to significant pathology is limited. Furthermore, most of these studies Disease Models & Mechanisms 6, 160-170 (2013) doi:10.1242/dmm.010173
Managing the neo-bureaucratic organisation: lessons from the UK's prosaic sector

This article evaluates the extent to which ‘post-bureaucratic’ organisational forms have been introduced to the UK organisations, the implications for human resource management (HRM) policies and practices in the sector and, finally, for middle managers in these organisations. The study draws from interview data at 42 organisations from the UK's ‘prosaic’ sector, including both private and public sectors, manufacturing and services, and ‘old tech’ and ‘new tech’. It further draws from interviews with middle managers in those organisations. It concludes that certain structural changes have been made, but that older functional lines of authority still exist and that post-bureaucratic claims are misleading. However, a harsher working environment has arisen for managers in these organisations, with longer hours and a more complex working environment. Older certainties such as job security, a safe career path and seniority-based pay have all been eroded.
Bt cotton, damage control and optimal levels of pesticide use in Pakistan

Abstract We use farm survey data and a damage control framework to analyze impacts of Bt cotton on yields and pesticide use in Pakistan. We also derive optimal levels of pesticide use with and without Bt, taking into account health and environmental externalities. This has not been done previously in the literature. Conventional cotton growers suffer from significant insect crop damage; they underuse pesticides from a profit-maximizing perspective. Yet, the picture is reversed when externalities are also considered. The social optimum of pesticide use is much lower than the private optimum, and both optima are lower with Bt than without this technology. Bt controls pest damage more effectively. Hence, yields on Bt farms are about 20 per cent higher in spite of lower pesticide use. Large pest damage is a typical phenomenon in developing countries. In such situations, Bt can contribute to productivity growth, while reducing pesticide applications and associated negative externalities.
No evidence of a change in HIV-1 virulence since 1996 in France

Objective:We investigated temporal trends in the CD4 cell count and in plasma HIV RNA and total HIV DNA levels measured at the time of primary HIV infection, as proxies for HIV-1 virulence, taking changes in patient characteristics into account. Design:We studied 903 patients enrolled during primary HIV infection in the French multicenter ANRS PRIMO cohort from 1996 to 2007. Methods:Associations between the year of primary HIV infection and the values of the three markers were tested with regression models. The year of primary HIV infection was first introduced as a restricted cubic splines function in a regression model in order to explore the shape of the associations, and then as a continuous/categorical variable. The following confounders were considered in multiple regression analysis: time since infection and age (introduced as restricted cubic spline functions), sex, place of birth (Africa vs. others), symptomatic primary HIV infection, smoking, and virus-related factors (subtype B vs. non-B, and drug resistance mutations). Results:Multivariate analysis showed no temporal trends in the CD4 cell count (square-root) or in HIV-1 RNA and DNA levels (log10) measured at the time of primary HIV infection. We observed the well described associations between the prognostic markers and the time since infection, sex, symptomatic primary HIV infection, and smoking. Conclusion:The CD4 cell count and HIV RNA and DNA levels measured at the time of primary HIV-1 infection remained stable across 12 consecutive years (1996–2007) in the ANRS PRIMO cohort, suggesting no major change in virulence, after taking into account changes in patient characteristics.
Cord plasma adiponectin: a 20-fold rise between 24 weeks gestation and term.

Adiponectin is an adipocyte-derived hormone with profound insulin-sensitizing, antiinflammatory, and antiatherogenic effects. Apart from its obvious potential as a mediator of adult metabolic syndrome, adiponectin could have a significant role in regulating fetal growth.We measured plasma adiponectin concentrations by ELISA in cord vein of 197 infants. Of them, 122 were born preterm (gestational age, 22-32 wk), and 75 at term (49 from a healthy and 26 from a diabetic pregnancy, with similar findings, and thus all data from term infants pooled). Mean adiponectin concentrations increased from less than 1 microg/ml at 24 wk gestation to approximately 20 microg/ml at term. One week increase in gestational age corresponded in preterm infants to 43% increase (95% confidence interval 34-53%; P < 0.0001) in adiponectin and term infants to 21% increase (12-31%; P < 0.0001). In preterm infants, one unit increase in birth weight sd score corresponded to 42% increase (22-66%; P = 0.0001) in adiponectin, and females had 57% higher adiponectin concentrations (0-146%; P = 0.05) than males. These differences were not seen in term infants. Adiponectin levels were lower in preterm infants with recent (<12 h) exposure to maternal betamethasone but were unrelated to mode of delivery, preeclampsia, or impaired umbilical artery flow. In conclusion, adiponectin concentrations in fetal circulation show a 20-fold rise between 24 wk gestation and term and, in preterm infants are associated with birth weight sd score, sex, and glucocorticoid exposure. Adiponectin may play an important role in regulating fetal growth and explaining its links to the metabolic syndrome and its consequences during adult life.
Imaging of P‐glycoprotein–mediated pharmacoresistance in the hippocampus: Proof‐of‐concept in a chronic rat model of temporal lobe epilepsy

Purpose: Based on experimental findings, overexpression of P‐glycoprotein at the blood–brain barrier has been suggested to be a contributor to pharmacoresistance of the epileptic brain. We test a technique for evaluation of interindividual differences of elevated transporter function, through microPET analysis of the impact of the P‐glycoprotein modulator tariquidar. The preclinical study is intended for eventual translation to clinical research of patients with pharmacoresistant seizure disorders.
The World Distribution of Income (Estimated from Individual Country Distributions)

We estimate the world distribution of income by integrating individual income distributions for 125 countries between 1970 and 1998. We estimate poverty rates and headcounts by integrating the density function below the $1/day and $2/day poverty lines. We find that poverty rates decline substantially over the last twenty years. We compute poverty headcounts and find that the number of one-dollar poor declined by 235 million between 1976 and 1998. The number of $2/day poor declined by 450 million over the same period. We analyze poverty across different regions and countries. Asia is a great success, especially after 1980. Latin America reduced poverty substantially in the 1970s but progress stopped in the 1980s and 1990s. The worst performer was Africa, where poverty rates increased substantially over the last thirty years: the number of $1/day poor in Africa increased by 175 million between 1970 and 1998, and the number of $2/day poor increased by 227. Africa hosted 11% of the world's poor in 1960. It hosted 66% of them in 1998. We estimate nine indexes of income inequality implied by our world distribution of income. All of them show substantial reductions in global income inequality during the 1980s and 1990s.