Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
International and Intranational Risk Sharing

This paper reviews three important issues in the literature on international and intranational risk sharing. First, we establish a comprehensive se t of stylized facts for consumption risk sharing within and across countries. Consistent with the findings in the literature, we find that the correlation of our consumtion measure across countries is much less than that for output. As pointed to by Backu s, Kehoe and Kydland (1993), this constitutes a violation of complete international risk sharing, which they labeled the 'quantity anomaly'. The findings using international data are contrasted with those using intranational data for Japanese prefectures, U . S. states and Canadian regions. Consistent with the findings by Crucini (1998) and Hess and Shin (1997, 1998), intranational data continues to demonstrate the quantity anomaly for the U.S., but not for Japan and Canada. Second, following the work by Crucini (1998), we estimate an econometric specification which allows us to quantify the extent of risk sharing within and across countries. The results indicate that, while still incomplete, a larger fraction of risk is shared within countries than across the m. Finally, using these estimates of the current extent of risk sharing, we calculate the potential welfare benefits from additional international and intranational risk sharing.
Overexpression of interleukin-33 is associated with poor prognosis of patients with glioma

Interleukin-33 (IL-33) has shown diagnostic and prognostic values in multiple human cancers. However, there is little knowledge on the role of IL-33 in human gliomas and its association with disease prognosis. This study aimed to evaluate the value of IL-33 in the prognosis of glioma patients. The expression of IL-33 was determined and compared in surgical specimens from 86 glioma patients and 16 normal brain tissues. The associations of IL-33 expression with the clinicopathological features and prognosis of glioma patients were assessed. qRT-PCR assay showed higher IL-33 mRNA expression in glioma tissues than in normal brain tissue ( p < 0.001), and significantly higher IL-33 mRNA expression was detected in both low- and high-grade glioma tissues relative to normal brain tissues ( p < 0.001). Western blotting revealed elevated IL-33 protein levels in glioma tissues compared to those in normal brain tissues, and immunohistochemical staining showed higher IL-33 protein expression in glioma tissues than in normal brain tissues. IL-33 expression correlated with the glioma grade ( p < 0.001) and Karnofsky performance status score ( p = 0.024), and the glioma patients with high IL-33 expression had a shorter progression-free survival ( p < 0.001) and overall survival ( p < 0.001) than those with low IL-33 expression. The univariate and multivariate analyses showed that IL-33 overexpression and the glioma grade were independent factors of a poor prognosis in glioma patients. Therefore, IL-33 may be a promising biomarker for the detection of gliomas, and IL-33 expression is useful for predicting the prognosis of the disease.
Japanese working‐class girls in their first employment: transition to adulthood

Experience of entry into the workforce varies across societies (each offering a particular set of social conditions), and across social groups within a society. This article examines how urban Japanese working‐class girls made sense of their first permanent full‐time employment and conceived the transition to adulthood over the period 1989–92. They experienced the seemingly certain link between high school and permanent full‐time jobs, and started working immediately after graduation. For them permanent full‐time jobs alone were not sufficient for engendering a sense of adulthood, and the nature of their experiences mattered. In order to feel a sense of growth towards adulthood, they needed to find realistic personal goals (which may seem trivial to others) and the required motivation to pursue them through their experience of work.
Some New Multi-Protocol Attacks

Security protocols are often designed and analyzed in isolation. In the real world, however, more than one protocol may be executed concurrently, possibly with the same keying material. An intruder may therefore be able to manipulate messages from different protocols in order to break the security of an otherwise secure protocol. Attacks involving interactions between different protocols, also referred to as multi-protocol attacks, have appeared less frequently in the literature than attacks involving single protocols. This paper presents multi-protocol attacks on several existing protocols that are believed to be resistant to attacks when used in isolation.
Exposure of breastfed infants to quercetin after consumption of a single meal rich in quercetin by their mothers.

SCOPE The exposure to quercetin (Q) has not been studied in breastfed infants whose mothers were consuming a Q-rich diet. The objective of the study was to determine whether plant-origin antioxidant-Q passes from the mother's diet to her milk and to calculate the pharmacokinetic parameters of this phenomenon. METHODS AND RESULTS Eleven breastfeeding women were included in this controlled case study. Volunteers followed a Q-restricted diet for 5 consecutive days with the exception of the 3rd day when they received a single meal providing 1 mg of Q per kg of body weight. Urine analysis showed the presence of Q already in the first collected samples after the test (1.5-4 h), which indicated its rapid absorption from the meal. The Cmax = 68 ± 8.44 nmol/L concentration of Q in the milk was calculated for Tmax = 11.89 ± 3.37 h. It was significantly different (p = 0.007) from 40 nmol/L and (p = 0.016) from 42 nmol/L of Q concentration before and 48 h after the test, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Q was shown to be a component of human milk at the nmol/L level. Infants breastfed by mothers consuming a diet rich in Q are exposed to a dose of approximately 0.01 mg of Q daily.
Future Long-Horizon Performance Measurement Conditional on Past Survival

This paper examines the measurement of long-horizon abnormal performance when stock selection is conditional on an extended period of past survival. Filtering on survival results in a sample driven towards more-established, frequently traded stocks and this has implications for the choice of benchmark used in performance measurement (especially in the presence of the well-documented size effect). A simulation study is conducted to document the properties of commonly employed performance measures conditional on past survival. The results suggest that the popular index benchmarks used in long-horizon event studies are severely biased and yield test statistics that are badly misspecified. In contrast, a matched-stock benchmark based on size and industry performs consistently well. Also, an eligible-stock index designed to mitigate the influence of the size effect proves effective.
Tolvaptan, a selective oral vasopressin V2-receptor antagonist, for hyponatremia.

BACKGROUND Hyponatremia (serum sodium concentration, <135 mmol per liter) is a predictor of death among patients with chronic heart failure and cirrhosis. At present, therapy for acute and chronic hyponatremia is often ineffective and poorly tolerated. We investigated whether tolvaptan, an orally active vasopressin V(2)-receptor antagonist that promotes aquaresis--excretion of electrolyte-free water--might be of benefit in hyponatremia. METHODS In two multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials, the efficacy of tolvaptan was evaluated in patients with euvolemic or hypervolemic hyponatremia. Patients were randomly assigned to oral placebo (223 patients) or oral tolvaptan (225) at a dose of 15 mg daily. The dose of tolvaptan was increased to 30 mg daily and then to 60 mg daily, if necessary, on the basis of serum sodium concentrations. The two primary end points for all patients were the change in the average daily area under the curve for the serum sodium concentration from baseline to day 4 and the change from baseline to day 30. RESULTS Serum sodium concentrations increased more in the tolvaptan group than in the placebo group during the first 4 days (P<0.001) and after the full 30 days of therapy (P<0.001). The condition of patients with mild or marked hyponatremia improved (P<0.001 for all comparisons). During the week after discontinuation of tolvaptan on day 30, hyponatremia recurred. Side effects associated with tolvaptan included increased thirst, dry mouth, and increased urination. A planned analysis that combined the two trials showed significant improvement from baseline to day 30 in the tolvaptan group according to scores on the Mental Component of the Medical Outcomes Study 12-item Short-Form General Health Survey. CONCLUSIONS In patients with euvolemic or hypervolemic hyponatremia, tolvaptan, an oral vasopressin V2-receptor antagonist, was effective in increasing serum sodium concentrations at day 4 and day 30. (ClinicalTrials.gov numbers, NCT00072683 [ClinicalTrials.gov] [SALT-1] and NCT00201994 [ClinicalTrials.gov] [SALT-2].).
Transitional Dynamics with Human Capital Accumulation and Mortality Decline

In the empirical growth literature the level of life expectancy was found to have a positive and statistically significant impact on the rate of economic growth. However, mortality decline exhibits a weakly negative and statistically insignificant relationship with economic growth. Combined these facts reveal that it is the level of life expectancy, not changes in life expectancy, that affect economic growth. This paper presents a theoretical growth model; which, when calibrated to the data, is consistent with these facts. The model is also used to quantify the contribution of life expectancy to the growth rate of income per person.
Characteristics of Patients Entering Cardiac Rehabilitation in the United Kingdom 1993-2006: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE

PURPOSE: To analyze changes in clinical characteristics of patients entering a cardiac rehabilitation program between 1993 and 2006 and to consider the implications on the delivery of cardiac rehabilitation programs in the future. METHODS: Data were analyzed for 4692 coronary heart disease patients who joined the Phase II cardiac rehabilitation program between January 1993 and December 2006. RESULTS: Over the study period mean age increased from 60.0 to 64.0 years (P < .001) and the proportion of participants aged 75 years or older increased from 4.4% to 17.1% (P < .001). In the first 8 years, the percentage of women increased from 17.8% to 23.7% but has changed little since. The most frequent index diagnosis throughout the study was acute myocardial infarction. The percentage of patients with percutaneous coronary intervention increased from 3.5% in 1993-1994 to 21.1% in 2005-2006, which contrasted with a recent decline in percentages of those with coronary artery bypass grafting in the United Kingdom. Prevalence of diagnosed diabetes almost doubled over the study period. The percentage of participants who were current smokers stayed constant at 6% to 9%. The percentage taking statins increased from 2.5% to 94.6% with a corresponding decrease of mean total blood cholesterol 6.00 to 4.07 mmol/L. Prescription of all cardiovascular secondary prevention medications increased significantly. CONCLUSION: Overall, cardiac rehabilitation participants are becoming older with a consequent change in their abilities and needs. This may lead to changes in cardiac rehabilitation practice.
Incidence and Risks of Congenital Anomalies of Kidney and Urinary Tract in Newborns

Abstract Congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT) are 1 of the major factors in young adults needing renal replacement therapy, but there is little extensive assessment of their incidence and risk factors. This study aimed to evaluate trends in the incidence of and risk factors for CAKUT among all births in Taiwan. This population-based case–control study design was conducted using the Taiwan national births registry, which contains detailed information about maternal health and characteristics of newborns, supplied by health professionals. Of 1,603,794 newborns registered between 2004 and 2014, 668 infants were reported to have CAKUT. Newborns without congenital anomalies were matched with CAKUT cases by birth year, month, and Apgar score in a ratio of 5:1. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for developing CAKUT were calculated using a conditional multivariate logistic regression model. The incidence of CAKUT was approximately 4.2 per 10,000 births. The adjusted ORs for CAKUT in newborns associated with maternal age of 20 to 29 (OR, 2.18; 95% CI, 1.11–4.28), or 30 to 39 (OR, 2.29; 95% CI, 1.17–4.51), maternal gestational diabetes (OR, 2.22, 95% CI, 1.06–4.67), maternal thalassemia/hemochromatosis (OR, 2.67; 95% CI, 1.35–5.27), polyhydramnios or oligohydramnios (OR, 9.16; 95% CI, 5.46–15.37), birth parity >1 (OR, 0.27; 95% CI, 0.15–0.50), having a gestational age <37 weeks (OR, 1.48; 95% CI, 1.23–1.78), and being a boy (OR, 1.83; 95% CI, 1.53–2.19). Infants of mother with gestational diabetes were more likely to have congenital anomalies, small gestational age (<37 weeks) and low birth weight. CAKUT are associated with several maternal health risk factors. As Taiwan has the highest prevalence and incidence rates of end-stage renal disease in the world, these findings strongly support the need to develop professional guidelines for prenatal counseling and management of women at risk of adverse birth outcomes, to prevent kidney disease progression and reduce complications.
Optional Time-of-Use Prices for Electricity: Econometric Analysis of Surplus and Pareto Impacts

We estimate a model of time-of-use (TOU) consumption and choice among optional TOU tariffs in which the customer's choice among tariffs is based on its demand parameters, which vary in the population. We simulate the impact on consumption, consumer surplus, and profit of several optional TOU rates that were offered experimentally in northern California. The analysis suggests that, with one possible exception, the offering of these optional rates did not constitute a Pareto improvement. However, total surplus, excluding measurement costs, is estimated to have risen by $1.41 to $2.55 per month per customer who chose the TOU rates.
Natural Therapies for Cardiovascular Diseases

The natural therapies are generally referred to as these complementary and alternative therapies that have specific biological activity to human, including aromatherapy, diet-based therapies, folk medicine, megavitamin therapy, neural therapy, phytotherapy, and herbal medicine. In recent years, the potential benefit of natural therapy in improving chronic diseases prognosis has drawn more and more attention, and the use of natural therapy by physicians and patients has also increased markedly. From several decades ago to now, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) continue to be the leading cause of mortality all over the world. In spite of some major advances in modern western medicine for treating CVDs, from revascularization to western medical therapy, the complications related to these procedures and recurrent acute cardiovascular events still occur in patients, who often suffer from unfavorable quality of life. With the increasing awareness of self-care of patients, natural therapies become popular among people with CVDs all over the world for their unique advantages in preventing diseases and relieving symptoms, rehabilitation, and health care. A handful of these natural therapies have purported cardiovascular effects. However, the role of these therapies in CVDs still needs more clinical evidence and definite mechanism of actions. Therefore, we opened this special issue which included researches of safety of natural therapies, side effects, clinical trials, and practice that assessed the roles of natural therapies for CVDs. In this special issue, original research papers and reviews from different areas including China, Australia, Italy, and Malaysia are presented. These papers are focused on the mechanism of action of natural medicine and the systematic review of natural therapy in treating CVDs. The benefit of Eurycoma longifolia (E. longifolia) Jack, which originates from Southeast Asia, showed that the vasodilatory effect of a partially purified subfraction of root extracts of this natural plant. These novel findings may be of particular benefit to individuals who experience side effects with or who are intolerant of or not responsive to the conventional treatments. A pharmacological research provided evidence to support the traditional use of the Danshen-Sanqi combination for vascular disease through their synergistic interactions on anti-inflammatory pathways, which were examined in lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide, tumor necrosis factor, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 generation pathways. Another pharmacological research showed that two compounds (ethyl caffeate and labiatenic acid) were selected as most promising CYP11B2 inhibitors, which provided a new approach to discover novel CYP11B2 inhibitors from Chinese medicine. In addition, a falconoid compound in many …
Power and Conflicts of Interest in Professional Firms: Evidence from Investment Banking

We study the resolution of conflicts of interest that arise when actors in professional firms represent separate parties with competing interests, using models of power and reputation to predict the resolution of such conflicts. We tested models on an initial sample of over 8,000 security analysts' ratings of corporate equity securities. Results show that analysts rate their clients' securities more favorably than other analysts rating the same securities. This positive bias is moderated by the reputation of the analyst and his or her department. Implications and extensions for organizational theory, multiservice professional firms, and security market regulation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Hash function based on multiple input signature analysis registers and the application in EPC C1G2 tag

Hash function is found in many applications for security authentication. With the pervasiveness of Internet of Things, the security of passive or battery powered devices like RFID tag and wireless sensors have attracted more and more attention. Hash functions based on LFSR are hardware efficient security component that suitable for passive devices with limited power and computing resources. A new hash function based on multiple input signature analysis registers (MISR), a parallel structure of LFSR, is proposed. It is proved to be more secure, more hardware efficient, much higher speed than other hash functions based on LFSR. We adopt hardware reusing technology in realizing the hash function in EPC C1G2 RFID with little hardware consumption.
Ensuring European leadership in the global marketplace

As European institutions seek greater integration and union in the twenty‐first century, their executives and managers need to acquire new leadership abilities. In the emerging global marketplace, European leadership requires learning a variety of such competencies. Post‐industrial management, for example, demands high performance in cultivating organizational alliances, partnerships and synergy across borders. Other new work culture challenges involve psychological contracts suitable within an international context and for an information age. Engaging in multicultural business not only means coping with local ethical perceptions, but providing appropriate transfer of technology. The global management system that is developed will manifest four basic dimensions: technical; economic; political; and cultural! Worldwide, the customers and employees in these market exchanges are people in transition – many are threatened by accelerating change. Some of these individuals and their institutions are experiencing .
History and Current Concepts in the Analysis of Facial Attractiveness

Background: Facial attractiveness research has yielded many discoveries in the past 30 years, and facial cosmetic, plastic, and reconstructive surgeons should have a thorough understanding of these findings. Many of the recent studies were conducted by social, developmental, cognitive, and evolutionary psychologists, and although the findings have been published in the psychology literature, they have not been presented in a comprehensive manner appropriate to surgeons. Methods: The author reviews the findings of facial attractiveness research from antiquity to the present day and highlights and analyzes important concepts necessary for a thorough understanding of facial attractiveness. Results: Four important cues emerge as being the most important determinants of attractiveness: averageness (prototypicality), sexual dimorphism, youthfulness, and symmetry. Conclusions: A surgeon planning facial cosmetic, plastic, or reconstructive surgery can potentially gain both profound insight and better quality surgical results by appreciating these findings.
Hopes and Prospects

"Hopes and Prospects" is Noam Chomsky's indispensable analysis of the world at present and a roadmap for the future. In "Hopes and Prospects", Noam Chomsky examines the challenges of our early twenty-first century. He explores obstacles and threats such as the widening gap between North and South America, US exceptionalism (which continues under Obama), the fiascos of Iraq and Afghanistan, the US-Israeli assault on Gaza and the recent financial bailouts. He sees hope for the future and opportunities to move forward, however - in the democratic wave in Latin America and in the global solidarity movements which suggest 'real progress towards freedom and justice'. "Hopes and Prospects" is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the primary challenges facing the human race in the coming years. "A treasure-trove of truths that shouldn't be left buried in our sandpit of propaganda and lies". (Johann Hari, "Independent"). "Noam Chomsky is a global phenomenon . he may be the most widely read American voice on foreign policy on the planet today". ("The New York Times Book Review"). "The west's most prominent critic of US imperialism . the closest thing in the English-speaking world to an intellectual superstar". ("Guardian"). Noam Chomsky is the author of numerous bestselling political books, including "Hegemony or Survival", "Failed States", "Interventions", "Perilous Power", "What We Say Goes", "Imperial Ambitions", "Making the Future", "How the World Works", and "Hopes and Prospects" all of which are published by Hamish Hamilton/Penguin. He is a professor in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at MIT, and is widely credited with having revolutionized modern linguistics. He lives in Lexington, Massachusetts.
Predicting Tender Offer Success: A Logistic Analysis

Abstract This research develops and tests a model for the prediction of tender offer outcomes. Variables that increase the supply of “obtainable shares” (such as increased bid premiums or the payment of solicitation fees) are shown to increase the probability of success. Increased ownership of target firm shares by the bidder also increases the probability of success. Variables that impede the tendering of shares (such as target management opposition or a competing bid) decrease the probability of success. Tests of the model utilizing both linear and logistic analysis support the theoretical constructs and help resolve the paradoxical findings of previous research.