Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Validity of automated threshold audiometry: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES A systematic literature review and meta-analysis on the validity (test-retest reliability and accuracy) of automated threshold audiometry compared with the gold standard of manual threshold audiometry was conducted. DESIGN A systematic literature review was completed in peer-reviewed databases on automated compared with manual threshold audiometry. Subsequently a meta-analysis was conducted on the validity of automated audiometry. METHODS A multifaceted approach, covering several databases and using different search strategies was used to ensure comprehensive coverage and to cross-check search findings. Databases included: MEDLINE, Scopus, and PubMed; a secondary search strategy was the review of references from identified reports. Reports including within-subject comparisons of manual and automated threshold audiometry were selected according to inclusion/exclusion criteria before data were extracted. For the meta-analysis weighted mean differences (and standard deviations) on test-retest reliability for automated compared with manual audiometry were determined to assess the validity of automated threshold audiometry. RESULTS In total, 29 reports on automated audiometry (method of limits and the method of adjustment techniques) met the inclusion criteria and were included in this review. Most reports included data on adult populations using air conduction testing with limited data on children, bone conduction testing and the effects of hearing status on automated audiometry. Meta-analysis test-retest reliability for automated audiometry was within typical test-retest variability for manual audiometry. Accuracy results on the meta-analysis indicated overall average differences between manual and automated air conduction audiometry (0.4 dB, 6.1 SD) to be comparable with test-retest differences for manual (1.3 dB, 6.1 SD) and automated (0.3 dB, 6.9 SD) audiometry. No significant differences (p > 0.01; summarized data analysis of variance) were seen in any of the comparisons between test-retest reliability of manual and automated audiometry compared with differences between manual and automated audiometry. CONCLUSION Automated audiometry provides an accurate measure of hearing threshold, but validation data are still limited for (1) automated bone conduction audiometry; (2) automated audiometry in children and difficult-to-test populations and; (3) different types and degrees of hearing loss.
Barbarians at the Gates: State Control of Global Mergers and Acquisitions

Cross-border mergers and acquisitions are a major and often politicised component of foreign direct investment. Using data on individual transactions between 1970 and 2006, we examine the restrictions countries place on mergers and acquisitions, whether they use these controls to discriminate against foreigners seeking to acquire domestic firms, and what factors may predict the propensity to block foreign entry by this method of direct investment. Drawing partly on the existing literature, we test hypotheses that state intervention can be explained by characteristics of the countries whose firms are targeted by acquirers, including per capita income, democracy, trade exposure, market size, government share of national income and industrial structure. Although democracy, trade exposure and high government expenditure are associated with more stringent merger control laws, none of these attributes cause states to discriminate against cross-border mergers. Countries with high per capita incomes, large markets and strict merger control laws, do use those regulations to discourage foreign acquirers. A second set of tests, based on observations of individual deals, rather than national aggregates, reveal that governments are particularly averse to foreigners acquiring firms that are bankrupt or in the defence sector. Overall, governments do treat cross-border mergers and acquisitions differently, and use their merger control laws to discriminate against foreign investors, particularly with respect to certain types of transactions.
EFFECTIVENESS ANALYSIS OF “SHANGRI-LA ACADEMY PROGRAM” TOWARDS EMPLOYEES’ WORKING MOTIVATION AT SHANGRI-LA HOTEL SURABAYA

This research has taken place at Shangri-La Hotel Surabaya, an international management hotel. The population of research is 573 respondents. The purpose of this research is to understand the effectiveness of Shangri-La Academy Program and the employees’ working motivation at Shangri-La Hotel Surabaya. The analysis technique uses descriptive quantitative analysis. The result of research showed that there is a dependency between Shangri-La Academy Program and employees’ working motivation Shangri-La Hotel Surabaya. Keywords: employee’s working motivation, Shangri-La Academy Program
Alloreactive Memory T Cells Are Responsible for the Persistence of Graft-versus-Host Disease1

Graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) is caused by a donor T cell anti-host reaction that evolves over several weeks to months, suggesting a requirement for persistent alloreactive T cells. Using the C3H.SW anti-C57BL/6 (B6) mouse model of human GVHD directed against minor histocompatibility Ags, we found that donor CD8+ T cells secreting high levels of IFN-γ in GVHD B6 mice receiving C3H.SW naive CD8+ T cells peaked by day 14, declined by day 28 after transplantation, and persisted thereafter, corresponding to the kinetics of a memory T cell response. Donor CD8+ T cells recovered on day 42 after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation expressed the phenotype of CD44highCD122highCD25low, were able to homeostatically survive in response to IL-2, IL-7, and IL-15 and rapidly proliferated upon restimulation with host dendritic cells. Both allogeneic effector memory (CD44highCD62Llow) and central memory (CD44highCD62Lhigh) CD8+ T cells were identified in B6 mice with ongoing GVHD, with effector memory CD8+ T cells as the dominant (>80%) population. Administration of these allogeneic memory CD8+ T cells into secondary B6 recipients caused virulent GVHD. A similar allogeneic memory CD4+ T cell population with the ability to mediate persistent GVHD was also identified in BALB/b mice receiving minor histocompatibility Ag-mismatched B6 T cell-replete bone marrow transplantation. These results indicate that allogeneic memory T cells are generated in vivo during GVH reactions and are able to cause GVHD, resulting in persistent host tissue injury. Thus, in vivo blockade of both alloreactive effector and memory T cell-mediated host tissue injury may prove to be valuable for GVHD prevention and treatment.
Social Communication Is Predicted by Inhibitory Ability and ADHD Traits in Preschool-Aged Children

Objective: Given the role inhibitory control plays in both ADHD and communication, this study examined whether inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive traits mediate the impact of weak inhibitory ability upon the knowledge and application of pragmatic rules early in development. Method: Participants were 36 typically developing preschoolers and their caregivers. ADHD traits were assessed per caregiver report. Inhibition was assessed in children using a distraction task. Pragmatic language was assessed by asking children about hypothetical social situations (knowledge) and by asking caregivers to report on children’s actual communicative behaviors (application). Results: Individual differences in inhibition predicted both facets of pragmatic language development. Hyperactive-impulsive behaviors were a significant mediator of this relationship—but only with regard to children’s ability to effectively apply pragmatic rules in everyday life. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that social communication difficulties in some young children are a downstream consequence of hyperactive-impulsive behaviors that arise from poorly developed inhibitory control.
Seismic reflection imaging of large‐amplitude lee waves in the Caribbean Sea

Results from the first testing of the R/V Marcus Langseth as a platform for collecting seismic reflection data from the water column of the ocean demonstrate that large‐amplitude lee waves can be acoustically mapped. A seismic profile collected in the Caribbean Sea offshore Costa Rica shows disturbances in finestructure, which we interpret to be lee waves, propagating hundreds of meters vertically through the water column above seafloor ridges. Waves show vertical displacements of 30–50 m and horizontal wavelengths of 300–3000 m. Reflector displacement spectra calculated in the region containing the lee waves exceed Garrett‐Munk energy levels by up to a factor of 10 at horizontal wavelengths of 300–3000 m, suggesting a locally derived source of internal wave energy consistent with our interpretation. Our results show that it is possible to image large‐scale lee waves, a phenomenon potentially responsible for dissipation and mixing within the ocean.
Chirp Spread Spectrum Toward the Nyquist Signaling Rate—Orthogonality Condition and Applications

With the proliferation of Internet-of-Things (IoT), the chirp spread spectrum (CSS) technique is re-emerging for communications. Although CSS can offer high processing gain, its poor spectral efficiency and the lack of orthogonality among different chirps tend to limit its potential. In this paper, we derive the condition to orthogonally multiplex an arbitrary number of linear chirps. For the first time in the literature, we show that the maximum modulation rate of the linear continuous-time chirps satisfying the orthogonality condition can approach the Nyquist signaling rate, the same as single-carrier waveforms with Nyquist signaling or orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing signals. The performance of the proposed orthogonal CSS is analyzed in comparison to the emerging LoRa systems for IoT applications with power constraint, and its capability for high-speed communications is also demonstrated in the sense of Nyquist signaling.
The Missing Dark Matter in the Wealth of Nations and its Implications for Global Imbalances

"Current account statistics may not be good indicators of the evolution of a country's net foreign assets and of its external position's sustainability. The value of existing assets may vary independently of current account flows, so-called 'return privileges' may allow some countries to obtain abnormal returns, and mismeasurement of FDI, unreported trade of insurance or liquidity services, and debt relief may also play a role. We analyse the relevant evidence in a large set of countries and periods, and examine measures of net foreign assets obtained by capitalizing the net investment income and then estimating the current account from the changes in this stock of foreign assets. We call dark matter the difference between our measure of net foreign assets and that measured by official statistics. We find it to be important for many countries, analyse its relationship with theoretically relevant factors, and note that the resulting perspective tends to make global net asset positions appear relatively stable. " Copyright (c) CEPR, CES, MSH, 2007.
Bilateral Trade and Economic Growth: The Empirical Evidence Between U.S. and South Korea

This paper analyzes the relationships between bilateral trade and economic growth in the U.S. and Korean economies. Using quarterly data from 1990 to 2008, the theoretical procedures utilize Ordinary Least Square (OLS) and Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) models under the static model assumption, an Impulse Response Function (IRF) and Forecast Error Variation Decomposition (FEVD) under the Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model, and Granger causality tests. Empirical results indicate a causal relationship between bilateral export growth and economic growth for the U.S. and Korean economies. The export-led growth (ELG) hypothesis is strongly supported by the results of Granger causality tests on Korean exports.
Renewable natural resources from the view of oil dependent countries: the case of Turkey

Increases in oil prices induce various economic and political impacts, such as greater attention being given to renewable substitute alternatives. From this perspective, this study provides some descriptive statistics and univariate estimations for one of the countries that cannot meet its demand for petroleum. Biofuel, one of the examples of renewable natural resources, may have a great potential as an oil substitute. The major problem behind this potential is to find some relationships between the oil substitutes and any other related variables. The results of both comovements and the univariate GARCH analysis of some factors related with biofuel acreage may shed light on the future policy planning of the potential of renewable natural resources in the case of an oil dependent country.
A polymorphism in the endothelin-A receptor gene predicts survival in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

AIMS The endothelin system plays a role in the complex pathophysiology of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. We investigated whether genetic polymorphisms of the endothelin system might be associated with dilated cardiomyopathy-related cardiac phenotypes and differences in disease outcome. METHODS One hundred and twenty-five unrelated dilated cardiomyopathy patients of a well characterized dilated cardiomyopathy cohort were genotyped for six common polymorphisms of the endothelin-1, endothelin-A (ETA) and endothelin-B (ETB) receptor genes using hybridization with allele-specific oligonucleotides. RESULTS The H323H (C/T) polymorphism in exon 6 of the ETA receptor gene was significantly associated with a shorter survival time after diagnosis. The odds ratio for carriers of the less frequent ET(A)T allele to die within 2 years after diagnosis was 5.5 (95% confidence interval, 1.4 to 21.0, P=0.013) compared to non-carriers. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed a significantly different survival time for T allele carriers as compared to non-carriers as tested by logrank (P=0.0196), Breslow (P=0.0195), and Tarone tests (P=0.020). The influence of the ETA H323H polymorphism on survival remained significant when known predictors of prognosis such as left ventricular ejection fraction, left ventricular end-diastolic diameter, age and NYHA functional classification were entered in a Cox proportional hazards analysis. In this model, end-diastolic diameter showed a trend to influence survival (P=0.07) but only the ETA H323H polymorphism (P=0.0029) was a significant independent predictor of survival. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that genetic variation in the ETA receptor predicts survival in dilated cardiomyopathy patients, which might have important consequences for the identification of high-risk individuals.
Time transfer by laser link: a complete analysis of the uncertainty budget

The Time Transfer by Laser Experiment (T2L2) on the Jason 2 satellite is a mission allowing remote clocks synchronization at the picosecond level. It is based on laser ranging technologies, with a laser station network on the ground and a dedicated instrument on board the satellite. It was launched in June 2008 and has been working continuously since then. T2L2 performances are very promising for time and frequency metrology and also for fundamental physics. The scientific objectives of the whole experiment rely on a rigorous uncertainty budget. This is governed by the characteristics of the space instrument and the laser stations network, the post treatment done on the ground, and also the process used to calibrate the laser stations. The uncertainty budget demonstrates that T2L2 is able to perform common-view time transfers between remote sites with an expanded uncertainty better than 140 ps (coverage factor = 2).
Strategic risk: an ordinal approach

Strategic management researchers have shown increasing awareness of the importance of the concept of risk at the strategic level. In recognition of this interest, this research adopts a commonly used conceptualization of risk and shows how this conceptualization leads to a new measure of risk, based upon the chance of loss of relative position within a set of firms. This framework is shown to be particularly appropriate for strategy research. Information contained in probability distributions describing the relative positions of sets of firms over time is shown to be partitionable on the basis of gain or loss in position as well as on firm identity, leading to the derivation of a new measure of strategic risk for an individual firm. This development also provides a hierarchical quantification of risk at the levels of the industry, group and individual firm. The ordinal risk measure is applied to both hypothetical data for illustration and to data on the U.S. airline industry.
Therapeutic Self-Disclosure within DBT, Schema Therapy, and CBASP: Opportunities and Challenges

In recent years, various therapeutic interventions have been established that extended behavior and cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) by so-called “third-wave” strategies. In order to address specific therapeutic challenges in certain subgroups of patients who do not sufficiently respond to “classical CBT,” some of these third-wave strategies put particular emphasis on therapist self-disclosure. This article highlights therapeutic self-disclosure as a means to address interpersonal problems by comparing three third-wave strategies: (a) acceptance and change strategies as used in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), (b) the concept of “limited reparenting” as used in Schema Therapy (ST), and (c) disciplined personal involvement as used in the Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP). On the basis of a critical discussion on opportunities and challenges within these three concepts, self-disclosure is proposed to be a promising therapeutic tool that is worth to be investigated in more depth in future studies.
Clobetasol propionate 0.05% spray for the management of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis of the scalp: results from a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND Clobetasol propionate 0.05% spray is available for treating moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis; however, there is limited information with plaque psoriasis of the scalp. OBJECTIVE Evaluate the efficacy, safety, and quality-of-life impact of clobetasol propionate 0.05% spray in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis of the scalp. METHODS Multicenter, randomized, double-blind, vehicle-controlled study involving 81 men and women with moderate-to-severe (Global Severity Score [GSS] = 3 or 4) plaque psoriasis of the scalp. Eligible patients were treated with clobetasol propionate 0.05% spray or vehicle spray, which was applied twice daily for up to four weeks. The primary efficacy end point was the GSS of psoriasis of the scalp after four weeks. Safety assessments included local tolerability, presence of Cushing's syndrome, and adverse events. RESULTS At the end of treatment, 85 percent (35/41) of patients in the clobetasol propionate 0.05% spray group achieved success (GSS clear or almost clear), compared with 13 percent (5/40) in the vehicle spray group (P is less than .001). The proportion of patients treated with clobetasol propionate 0.05% spray who achieved a rating of clear (GSS = 0) after two weeks and at the end of treatment was 12 percent and 51 percent, respectively. Clobetasol propionate 0.05% spray was well tolerated, and there were no serious adverse events or reported cases of folliculitis or Cushing's syndrome. CONCLUSION Treatment with clobetasol propionate 0.05% spray for up to four weeks is effective and well tolerated for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis of the scalp.
Predictors of subjective and objective caregiving burden in older female caregivers of adults with intellectual disabilities

ABSTRACT Background: Informal, unpaid, and lifelong older caregivers of adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) are usually female and most often are mothers of adults with ID. However, research exploring different predictors of subjective and objective burden among these older female caregivers is sparse. The objective of this study was to examine whether the subjective and objective burden as well as positive appraisals are predicted by the same or different variables linked to the caregivers and the adults with ID. Methods: Face-to-face interview questionnaires were administered in a city in Taiwan in 2006–2007 and 350 female family caregivers aged 55 years and older completed the interview in their homes. The independent variables included adult care demands and caregiver variables, while the dependent variables were caregivers’ subjective burden, caregivers’ objective burden and caregivers’ positive appraisals. Results: The results demonstrated that adult care demands were associated more with the objective than the subjective caregiving burden. The strongest predictors of both subjective and objective burden were the care recipient's instrumental activities of daily living functionality, caregiver's age, and caregiver's health status. The significant predictors for positive caregiving appraisals were the caregiver's age and the caregiver's level of social support. Conclusions: The results indicate that both the subjective and objective burdens were mostly related to the same factors, that is, to the characteristics of the older female caregivers and the recipients of care with ID. On the other hand, positive attitudes towards caregiving roles were only associated with caregiver variables.
Characterization of Monoclonal Antibodies for Identification of Borrelia japonica, Isolates from Ixodes ovatus

Monoclonal antibodies for identification of Borrelia japonica isolated from tick, Ixodes ovatus and long‐tailed shrew, Sorex unguiculatus in Japan and Borrelia related to Lyme disease (Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato) were prepared and characterized. All isolates belonging to B. japonica and isolates from I. dentatus and cottontail rabbit in North America reacted with MAb O1441b against flagellin which was prepared from immunized mice with strain HO14, type strain of B. japonica, but isolates from I. persulcatus, patient, and wood mouse, Apodemus speciosus ainu, in Japan, and isolates belonging to B. burgdorferi, B. garinii and B. afzelii from North America and Europe did not. Strains used in this study reacted with MAb P62 against common antigen which was prepared from immunized mice with strain NT24 isolated from I. persulcatus in Japan, but B. japonica did not. These MAbs are useful for identification and differentiation of B. japonica and B. burgdorferi sensu lato in Japan.