Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fears, Beliefs, and Attitudes in DSM-III Hypochondriasis

In order to explore fears, beliefs, and attitudes of patients with DSM-III hypochondriasis, the authors administered the self-rated Illness Attitude Scales to 21 patients with hypochondriasis, matched family practice patignts, nonpatient employees, and nonhypochondriacal psychiatric patients. Hypochondriacal patients reported more fears of and false beliefs about disease; they attended more to bodily sensations, had more fears about death, and distrusted physicians' judgments more, yet sought more medical care than other subjects. They did not take better precautions about their health. The self-report of overt attitudes suggests a characteristic syndrome, consistent with the DSM-III description of hypochondriasis. Two of the subscales of the Illness Attitude Scales yielded characteristic responses in hypochondriasis.
Performance-related reward systems (PRRS) in Japan: practices and preferences in Nordic subsidiaries

An increasing number of companies in Japan have implemented performance-related reward systems (PRRS) due to the demerits in seniority-based reward systems, economic slowdown, increasing global competition, and an aging workforce. This study focuses on reward systems and preferences in foreign subsidiaries in Japan, an area that has been overlooked. In contrast to the convergence view that best practices are universally applicable, interviews conducted in 60 Nordic subsidiaries show that PRRS have faced considerable resistance, while seniority-based reward systems have proved robust, especially in older subsidiaries. Implications for practice and suggestions for future studies are provided.
Performance of medical image retrieval techniques: A comparative analysis

Medical Image retrieval and similar image classification are the two important aspects in decision making and automatic medical image annotation. These approaches help the doctors and radiologists in their decision making during decease identification and decision making. Image classification is usually done by checking image visual content or semantic content similarity. Image content may be represented by its visual features referring to mathematical attributes or high level description based semantic attributes. Content similarity is done by using similarity and dissimilarity measures or distance metrics. As image attributes are wide in range, the similarity measure worked well for one feature set may not show the similar performance for other. For this reason in this paper we explored geometrical and statistical dissimilarity measures viz. Manhattan, Cosine, Chi-square and Cramer distances and their effect with respect to image intensity feature set and wavelet based texture feature set. Through experimentation, we have drawn certain conclusions on the performance of these distance metrics in classification and retrieval of IRMA CLEFmed 2007 and 2008 image sets. Mean Average Precision and Average Recall Rates were used in analyzing retrieval performance for analyzing the medical image retrieval and classification task.
Default probability anomalies in the momentum strategies

This study examines the usefulness of default probability (DP) in explaining momentum profits. We follow Merton (1974) in computing the DP and then follow Jegadeesh and Titman (1993) in conducting default momentum investing. We consider emerging Taiwanese stock market and divide its stocks into three DP groups. Our findings show that adding DP to momentum investing leads to an increase in momentum profits, suggesting that momentum pay-off increases as DP increases. Moreover, a significant and positive momentum profit of buying winners in the high-DP group and selling losers in the low-DP group is observed, implying that DP anomalies exit in momentum strategies. These findings shed light on the source of profitability of momentum strategies.
Investment Strategies in Incomplete Markets: Sufficient Conditions for a Closed Form Solution

This paper analyses the portfolio problem of an investor who wants to maximize the expected power utility of his terminal wealth both in a complete and an incomplete financial market. We derive sufficient conditions for having a closed form solution. These conditions must hold on a suitable combination of the drift and diffusion coefficients of the stochastic processes describing the state variables and the asset prices. In particular, we show that our framework leads to two cases : (i) the case solvable thorough a log-linear value fucntion, and (ii) the case solvable thorough a log quadratie value function.
Could hypothetical scenarios enhance understanding on decision for life-sustaining treatment in non-demented Chinese older persons?

Background: With increasing longevity, there is an increasing need for medical professionals to face situations in which explanation for decision on life-sustaining treatment (LST) would be required. Objectives: As advance decision making for LST in case of severe medical illness may be unfamiliar for most of the Chinese elders, we aim to explore if procedures adopted to enhance the exposure to the issue concerned would bring about improvement in knowledge toward decision for LST. Method: This was a cross-sectional study. The design was divided into three sections: (i) a pre-scenario knowledge assessment, (ii) scenario exposure (relating issues of LST using case vignettes), and (iii) a post-scenario assessment. The pre- and post-scenario assessment comprises 10 questions, exploring the understanding toward basic issues related to LST. The scenario exposure comprises two hypothetical case vignettes describing situations demanding decisions for LST. The knowledge level toward LST was assessed and compared before and after the presentation of the two vignettes. Results: One-hundred community dwelling older persons (aged over 60 years) were recruited. The scenario exposure improved the knowledge level of participants (paired samples t-test, p < 0.05). Participants who were younger and better educated were more likely to perform better in the knowledge test (bivariate correlation and logistic regression, p < 0.05). Conclusions: The results demonstrated that hypothetical scenarios may help to enhance and facilitate the understanding of LST. The study should be carried forward to explore the applicability of enhancement procedure to facilitate the decision making for advance directives and LST in the older community.
Rapid urease tests lack sensitivity in Helicobacter pylori diagnosis when peptic ulcer disease presents with bleeding

OBJECTIVE:The eradication of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in patients with bleeding peptic ulcer disease (PUD) decreases the rate of ulcer rebleeding. Although all methods for H. pylori diagnosis have been extensively evaluated in uncomplicated PUD the efficacy of the commonly used rapid urease test (RUT) has not been established in patients with bleeding peptic ulcer disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the RUT (CLOtest) in patients with bleeding duodenal ulcers (DUs). METHODS:Consecutive patients with symptoms of upper GI tract hemorrhage and a DU at the time of endoscopy were evaluated. The presence of H. pylori infection was determined by RUT, microbiology, and histology. Consecutive patients with uncomplicated DUs were similarly evaluated. The prevalence of H. pylori as determined by the RUT alone was compared to that determined by a combination of all tests in both patient groups.RESULTS:Fifty-five patients with bleeding DUs and 69 with nonbleeding DUs were evaluated. The prevalence of H. pylori in patients presenting with bleeding was 72.7% (95% confidence interval [CI] 61.0–84.5%) and lower than the prevalence rate of 92.8% (95% CI 86.6–98.8%) in patients with uncomplicated PUD (p < 0.05). The prevalence of H. pylori in the bleeding DU group as determined by RUT alone (54.5%) was less than that determined by a combination of all tests (73%) with a false-negative rate of 10 of 40 (25%; 95% CI 11.6–38.4%) (p < 0.05). This false-negative rate was significantly greater than that observed in the group presenting with dyspepsia (1 of 64 [1.6%; 95% CI 0–4.6%]) (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS:The prevalence of H. pylori is lower in patients with bleeding DUs when compared to patients with uncomplicated DUs. In addition, the sensitivity and negative predictive value of the RUT is lower in patients presenting with bleeding, and other methods of H. pylori diagnosis should be used in this patient group.
Does Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase Gene Variation Play a Role in the Occurrence of Hypertension in Pregnancy?

Objective: Nitric oxide is suggested to play a role in the development of preeclampsia. Methods: We studied 61 patients with gestational hypertension (GH), 77 with GH and significant proteinuria (urine protein excretion ≥ 300 mg/24 h), 82 with essential hypertension (EH) and 188 normotensive women with at least one normal pregnancy. Main Outcome Measure(s): A polymorphism within the constitutive endothelial nitric oxide synthase (ecNOS) gene in various types of hypertension in pregnancy was explored. Results: Allelic and genotypic frequencies did not differ between controls and case groups. A significant difference was observed between the frequency of the rare allele in GH patients and that in EH group (χ2: 4.47, P < .04). This difference approximated the significance when GH subjects with or without proteinuria were grouped (χ2 square: 3.33; P = .068). Cigarette smoking or gravidity did not interact with the ecNOS polymorphism in identifying different types of hypertension in this setting. Conclusion: Our findings argue against an association between ecNOS polymorphism and preeclampsia and support the hypothesis for a different pathogenesis of GH in respect to EH.
Light Therapy

Conventional antibacterial treatment fails to eradicate biofilms associated with common infections of the oral cavity. Unlike chemical agents, which are less effective than anticipated, owing to diffusion limitations in biofilms, light is more effective on bacteria in biofilm than in suspension. Effectiveness depends also on the type and parameters of the light. We tested the phototoxic effects of non-coherent blue light (wavelengths, 400-500 nm) and CO2 laser (wavelength, 10.6 μm), which have different mechanisms of action on the oral bacterium Streptoccocus mutans, in biofilm and on tooth enamel. Exposure of S. mutans in biofilm to blue light had a delayed effect on bacterial viability throughout the biofilm and a sustained antibacterial effect on biofilm newly formed by previously irradiated bacteria. A synergistic antibacterial effect between blue light and H2O2 may enhance the phototoxic effect, which involves a photochemical mechanism mediated by reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation. The effect of CO2 laser irradiation on the viability of S. mutans in biofilm on enamel samples appeared to be higher in the deep layers, due to heating of the enamel surface by the absorbed energy. Biofilms do not interfere with the chemical changes resulting from irradiation, which may increase the enamel’s resistance to acid attack.
On Delay in Bargaining with One-Sided Uncertainty

Recently, attention has been given to a model of two-person bargaining in which the parties alternate making of fers and there is uncertainty about the valuation of one party. The p urpose of the analysis has been to identify delay to agreement with a screening process, where agents with relatively lower valuations dis tinguish themselves by waiting longer to settle. The authors point ou t a fundamental difficulty with this program by demonstrating that th e assumptions used in the literature allow for delay only in so far a s the time between offers is significant. Copyright 1988 by The Econometric Society.
Using Arabic Transliteration to Improve Word Alignment from French- Arabic Parallel Corpora

In this paper, we focus on the use of Arabic transliteration to improve the results of a linguistics-based word alignment approach from parallel text corpora. This approach uses, on the one hand, a bilingual lexicon, named entities, cognates and grammatical tags to align single words, and on the other hand, syntactic dependency relations to align compound words. We have evaluated the word aligner integrating Arabic transliteration using two methods: A manual evaluation of the alignment quality and an evaluation of the impact of this alignment on the translation quality by using the Moses statistical machine translation system. The obtained results show that Arabic transliteration improves the quality of both alignment and translation.
Valuation of Early Exercisable Interest Rate Guarantees

Interest rate guarantees are important elements of many financial contracts offered in today's financial markets. For example, life insurance policies often contain an explicit interest rate guarantee that ensures the investor a certain minimum return during some specified period. Sometimes the interest rate guarantee is of American type in the sense that it applies for a period of time chosen by the investor. In life insurance contracts this is labeled the surrender feature. This article analyzes the valuation of American or early exercisable interest rate guarantees. We draw on some recent results on American option pricing theory to obtain analytic formulas for the interest rate guarantees. The theoretic results are accompanied by numerical examples, and comparisons to European type guarantees are made.
Long-term effect of low-dose folic acid intake: potential effect of mandatory fortification on the prevention of neural tube defects.

BACKGROUND Understanding the full effect of chronic low-dose folic acid is important in interpreting the effect of the mandatory folic acid fortification program in North America. OBJECTIVE We aimed to describe the rate of attainment and steady state (plateau) of red blood cell (RBC) folate in response to long-term intake of 140 μg (designed to mimic fortification) and 400 μg (recommended dose for the primary prevention of neural tube defects) folic acid/d in reproductive-aged women living in a country with minimal fortification. DESIGN On the basis of pharmacokinetics principles, it was recently proposed that a steady state should be reached after 40 wk. Thus, 144 women aged 18-40 y were randomly assigned to receive a daily folic acid supplement of 140 (n = 49) or 400 (n = 48) μg or placebo (n = 47) for 40 wk. RBC folate was measured at baseline and at 6, 12, 29, and 40 wk. RESULTS After 40 wk, RBC folate did not reach a plateau in either treatment group. Kinetic modeling of the data indicated that RBC folate would approximately double from 779 to 1356 nmol/L in response to 140 μg folic acid/d with only ≈50% of model-estimated steady state conditions achieved at 40 wk. An average RBC folate concentration of 1068 nmol/L after 12 wk of supplementation with 400 μg folic acid/d was readily achieved at 36 wk after continuous intake of 140 μg/d. CONCLUSION Our model shows the considerable length of time required to attain the full effect of low-dose folic acid, which suggests that 140 μg folic acid/d could be as effective as 400 μg folic acid/d taken during the periconceptional period if given sufficient time. This trial is registered at www.anzctr. org.au as ACTRN12609000215224.
Integrating Financial and Environmental Information for Better Decision Making

n our last column, we described the impetus I to integrate life-cycle considerations into business decision making. We argued for the importance of using life-cycle assessment (LCA) and life-cycle thinking as a means to an end, that is, more informed decision making. This has implications to determining both the right techniques to answer the questions being asked, and the metrics used to communicate the results to decision makers. In the first case, it is important to understand the questions these consequences in metrics or units more useful to decision makers. The metrics frequently considered the most helpful for decision making are financial. Life-cycle costing (LCC) has been used as a means to develop a comprehensive assessment of costs associated with the life cycle of a product system-measured in conventional business terms. Life-cycle cost is defined by a U.S. executive order as the amortized annual cost of a product, including capital costs, and . _ (monetary) disposal costs disthat are being asked, and then determine what methodologies, knowledge, and data are needed to assist in answering those questions. For example, a U.S. company was recently asked by a federal agency to conduct an LCA study as part If assessments are driven counted over the lifetime of a by &cision makers’ nee& product. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sugand couched in terms Of gests that the life-cycle cost Can undersad, may also include societal costs; then LCA, LCC, and however consideration of environmental consequences is of0 t h techniques a n begin ten missing from LCC efforts. of a manufacturing facility expansion. We were asked to define the LCA. In the course of the discussion, the company revealed that it did not know why it had been asked to undertake the study, and as such we could not provide guidance on the ultimate goal and scope of assessment. In the second case, it is critical to consider the environmental consequences of product systems and be able to communicate effectively to interact.
How to Use an Innovation Audit as a Learning Tool: A Case Study of Enhancing High-Involvement Innovation

Many types of innovation auditing exist, though there are few descriptions of them being tested. Little effort has been made to examine their effect on companies, and even less to considering whether these audits could be used more efficiently. First, this article discusses some of the reasons for doing an innovation audit; then, it examines a new, facilitated, interactive way of using an innovation audit to achieve/improve high-involvement innovation in small- and medium-sized enterprises through a learning process.
Secretion of collagen I and tenascin is modulated by laminin‐111 in 3D culture of human adenoid cystic carcinoma cells

Adenoid cystic carcinoma is a frequent malignant salivary gland neoplasm with high levels of recurrence and metastasis. This neoplasm expresses prominent extracellular matrix (ECM). We are studying regulatory mechanisms underlying secretion of ECM molecules in adenoid cystic carcinoma. We have previously demonstrated that laminin modulates the phenotype of a human adenoid cystic carcinoma (CAC2) cell line. Thus, this molecule would be a good candidate to regulate secretion of ECM molecules in these cells. Here we analysed the role played by laminin‐111 [formerly laminin‐1; Aumailley et al. (2005) . Matrix Biol. 24, 326] stimulating secretory activity of CAC2 cells. Three‐dimensional cultures of cells in laminin‐111 (treated) or agarose (controls) were studied by light and electron microscopy. Ultrastructural analysis of CAC2 cells grown within laminin‐111 showed pseudocysts filled with secretory‐like material. Cells exhibited prominent and dilated endoplasmic reticulum and coated and uncoated vesicles. Ultrastructural findings suggested that laminin‐111 induced secretory activity in CAC2 cells. We further investigated this point by light microscopy, immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy. Histochemistry showed periodic acid‐Schiff (PAS)‐positive diastase‐resistant material in CAC2 cells treated by laminin‐111. This material could represent laminin‐induced secretion of ECM molecules. We searched for collagen I and tenascin in CAC2 cells treated by laminin‐111. Confocal microscopy and immunoblot showed that laminin‐111 enhanced secretion of collagen I and tenascin in CAC2 cells. We suggest that laminin‐111 modulates secretion of collagen I and tenascin in cells derived from human adenoid cystic carcinoma.
The Role of Smartphones in Mediating the Touristic Experience

Mobile phones have evolved to be smart computers (smartphones) supporting a wide range of information services that can be accessed anytime and from (almost) anywhere. With the increasing number of users and greater incursion into people’s life, smartphones have the potential to significantly influence the touristic experience. This study explores the mediation mechanisms of smartphones by examining stories provided by travelers related to their use of smartphones (and associated applications) for traveling purposes. The results reveal that smartphones can change tourists’ behavior and emotional states by addressing a wide variety of information needs; in particular, the instant information support of smartphones enables tourists to more effectively solve problems, share experiences, and “store” memories. The implications of these findings are important in that they suggest a huge potential for smartphones in changing many aspects of the tourism business.
The Public Interest and the Australian Industrial Relations Commission

* Consultant, Freehill, Hollingdale and Page, Solicitors, MLC Centre, Martin Plaza, Sydney, NSW 2000. An address to The Industrial Relations Society of Victoria and The Australian Institute of Management&mdash;Victoria, 20 July 1992. The most significant decision taken by the federal industrial tribunal in the year 1982 was published on 23 December of that year. ’ The Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, as it was then known, heard applications by the Commonwealth, the six states and the Northern Territory, that there should be a pause in award wage movements because of the parlous condition of the Australian economy. A full bench of seven members found that a combination of factors had ~ . produced the most serious economic crisis since the depression of the 1930’s’. 2 The commission decided that there should be a pause and that there would be a review after six months. It is nearly ten years since that decision was taken, and as the decade comes to a close it is possible to recognize events that confirmed the commission in the eminent role which it has filled for most of this century. It is in this decade also that there emerged the developments that are destined to reduce that role drastically. The wage pause was in place for most of 1983, and yet it tends to be the forgotten happening of that period; in the public mind, it did not match the first accord made by the Labor Party and the Australian Council of Trade Unions in February, or the Labor Party’s victory in the federal elections in March, or the National Economic Summit Conference in April. Nevertheless, the pause was a rare event that cast on the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission responsibilities that could not be undertaken by the Australian governments or any of their agencies. The commission’s function then, as now, was to prevent or settle industrial disputes by conciliation, and where that failed to deal with the dispute by arbitration, yet no party to the proceedings in December 1982 challenged the authority of the full bench to make the decision to impose a wage pause, that is, to refrain for a fixed term from discharging its statutory functions. The underlying question in the debate was: did the public interest require that the application by the eight governments be granted? And this question was answered in the affirmative. The fact that the Commonwealth government,
Application of Keynesian and convergence theories in Portugal. An alternative approach

This work aims to test the Verdoorn Law, with the alternative specifications of (1)Kaldor (1966), for five Portuguese regions (NUTS II) from 1986 to 1994. It is intended to test, even in this work, the alternative interpretation of (2)Rowthorn (1975) of the Verdoorn's Law for the same regions and periods. The results of this work will be complemented with estimates of these relationships to other sectors of the economy than the industry (agriculture and services sectors) and for the total economy of each region. The aim of this paper is, also, to present a further contribution to the analysis of absolute convergence, associated with the neoclassical theory, of the sectoral productivity at regional level.