Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Do Dual Tasks Have an Added Value Over Single Tasks for Balance Assessment in Fall Prevention Programs? A Mini-Review

Background: The Prevention of Falls Network Europe (ProFaNE) aims to bring together European researchers and clinicians to focus on the development of effective falls prevention programs for older people. One of the objectives is to identify suitable balance assessment tools. Assessment procedures that combine a balance task with a cognitive task may be relevant since part of all falls occurs during dual-task performance of walking or other balance activities. Objective: To evaluate whether dual-task balance assessments are more sensitive than single balance tasks in predicting falls and detecting changes in balance performance after fall interventions. Methods: A systematic literature search was performed in the databases PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, AMED, PsycINFO and Cochrane. Articles were selected according to the following inclusion criteria: (1) population: older adults (mean age ≧65 years), (2) assessment tool: dual task combining gait or other balance task with a cognitive task, (3) design: prospective or retrospective data collection of falls, or intervention study. Analysis of papers focused on measures of predictive ability or sensitivity-to-change for both tasks during dual-task performance as well as for the single balance and cognitive task. Results: Out of 114 dual-task studies in older people, 19 articles matched the inclusion criteria. Fourteen studies had sample sizes of 60 subjects or less; the studied populations, task combinations as well as other methodological aspects varied. None of the articles reported the same statistical measures for both tasks during dual-task performance as well as single balance and cognitive task. In two studies with prospective data collection of falls, higher odds ratios were found for the dual compared to the single balance task. Conclusions: Upon the available literature, conclusions for an added value of dual balance tasks for fall prediction or assessing fall intervention effects cannot be made due to incomplete comparisons of single and dual balance tasks. Nevertheless, two studies do provide an indication that dual balance tasks may have added value for fall prediction.
The role of environment in shaping the genetic diversity of the subalpine mosquito, Aedes rusticus (Diptera, Culicidae)

The relative involvement of larval dietary tolerance to the leaf‐litter toxic polyphenols in shaping population genetic structure of the subalpine mosquito Aedes rusticus was examined. This was compared with other parameters such as geographical range, type of vegetation surrounding the breeding site, and occurrence of annual larvicidal treatments. Population genetic structure was analysed at 10 presumed neutral polymorphic isoenzyme loci. Toxicological comparisons involved standard bioassays performed on larvae fed on toxic decomposed leaf litter. Significant overall genetic differentiation was observed among the 22 studied populations and within the five defined geographical groups. Analysis of molecular variance revealed an absence of relation between genetic and environmental parameters, genetic variance being essentially found within populations. This suggested that the larval dietary tolerance to the toxic leaf litter and the other studied parameters poorly influence population genetic structure. The local adaptation of subalpine mosquito populations to the surrounding vegetation thus appears as a labile trait. Such a dynamic adaptation is also suggested by the correlation between geographical and toxicological distances and the correlation between dietary tolerance to the leaf‐litter toxic polyphenols and annual larvicidal treatments.
New developments in the delivery of cardiac resynchronization therapy: targeted lead placement, multi-site and endocardial pacing

Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is a proven treatment adjunct for selected patients with heart failure and evidence of ventricular dyssynchrony. When applying most contemporary guidelines the accepted response rate has remained static with up to one-third of patients failing to respond. Empiric lateral/posterolateral lead positioning may not be the optimal strategy in all patients, particularly in those with extensive scar and there have been developments that suggest an approach whereby the latest mechanically activating segment is targeted for left ventricular (LV) lead placement may be of some benefit. Additionally, alternative means of delivering CRT, either by means of multi-site pacing or LV endocardial pacing, have similarly shown promise. At a time where novel predictors of response to CRT have proved disappointing in multi-center trials, a paradigm shift away from prediction towards better delivery of CRT may potentially be of most benefit to the significant minority who do not respond.
Testing for Speculative Bubbles in Stock Markets: A Comparison of Alternative Methods

We propose several tests for rational bubbles and investigate their power properties. The focus lies on the case where bubble detection is reduced to testing for a unknown change from a random walk to an explosive process. In simulations, a Chow-type break test exhibits the highest power and performs well relative to the power envelope. The Chow-type procedure also provides a reliable estimator for the break date. Furthermore, we suggest monitoring procedures for detecting speculative bubbles in real time. As applications, we analyze the Nasdaq composite index and various other financial time series. Copyright The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com. , Oxford University Press.
Variation in implementation of corporate social responsibility practices in emerging economies' firms: A survey of Chilean fruit exporters

As in many sectors in emerging economies, the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become important for exporting agri-food firms in view of their integration in global supply chains. The purpose of this research was to assess the implementation by Chilean fruit exporters of CSR practices that go beyond minimum legal requirements. The principal results are that, although socio-economic components of CSR such as poverty reduction and socially just working conditions receive much attention, firms consider comprehensive environmental practices as less important. The results also indicate a slightly higher implementation of comprehensive CSR practices by large firms as compared to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The main conclusion is that, although CSR is increasingly considered by Chilean firms, among SMEs in particular, more attention needs to be paid to raising awareness among managers about CSR practices and to providing assistance in their implementation. This supports findings on CSR implementation in other emerging economies that an active role of civil society and industry organizations is key and that targeted support strategies are needed to install a holistic awareness of CSR and help firms to improve on those aspects of CSR that are relatively underdeveloped.
The formulation of MOTAD programming models for farm planning using subjectively elicited activity net revenue distributions

If activity net revenue distributions for farm planning under risk are subjectively assessed, the claimed advantages of MOT AD (Minimisation Of Total Absolute Deviation) programming can be reaped only if some way can be found of generating discrete vectors of net revenue deviations. Pseudo-random sampling is evaluated for this purpose and it is shown that, even with relatively large sample sizes, there is an appreciable risk that the MOTAD formulation will yield solutions some distance from the (E, V)-efficient frontier. An alternative procedure is described based on the use of linear programming to define a discrete distribution of outcomes that has means, variances and co-variances similar to those of the elicited joint normal distribution. It is shown that a MOTAD formulation based on a discrete distribution so derived can closely approximate the (E, V) frontier.
A Positive Theory of Privatisation for Sub-Saharan Africa

We build a simple positive theory of privatisation for countries where governments have private agendas. Privatisation occurs when the rulers of the country can fetch enough shares in the newly created firms to compensate them from the private benefits they were deriving from public firms. The comparative statics of the model suggests a relationship between the level of privatisation and the level of corruption which has an inverted U-shape. A brief look at data from Sub-Saharan Africa does not reject this hypothesis. Copyright 1999 by Oxford University Press.
Interest Rate Caps “Smile” Too! But Can the LIBOR Market Models Capture the Smile?

Using 3 years of interest rate caps price data, we provide a comprehensive documentation of volatility smiles in the caps market. To capture the volatility smiles, we develop a multifactor term structure model with stochastic volatility and jumps that yields a closed-form formula for cap prices. We show that although a three-factor stochastic volatility model can price at-the-money caps well, significant negative jumps in interest rates are needed to capture the smile. The volatility smile contains information that is not available using only at-the-money caps, and this information is important for understanding term structure models. Copyright 2007 by The American Finance Association.
Streptolysin S Inhibits Neutrophil Recruitment during the Early Stages of Streptococcus pyogenes Infection

ABSTRACT In contrast to infection of superficial tissues, Streptococcus pyogenes infection of deeper tissue can be associated with a significantly diminished inflammatory response, suggesting that this bacterium has the ability to both promote and suppress inflammation. To examine this, we analyzed the behavior of an S. pyogenes mutant deficient in expression of the cytolytic toxin streptolysin S (SLS−) and evaluated events that occur during the first few hours of infection by using several models including injection of zebrafish (adults, larvae, and embryos), a transepithelial polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) migration assay, and two-photon microscopy of mice in vivo. In contrast to wild-type S. pyogenes, the SLS− mutant was associated with the robust recruitment of neutrophils and significantly reduced lethal myositis in adult zebrafish. Similarly, the mutant was attenuated in embryos in its ability to cause lethality. Infection of larva muscle allowed an analysis of inflammation in real time, which revealed that the mutant had recruited PMNs to the infection site. Analysis of transepithelial migration in vitro suggested that SLS inhibited the host cells' production of signals chemotactic for neutrophils, which contrasted with the proinflammatory effect of an unrelated cytolytic toxin, streptolysin O. Using two-photon microscopy of mice in vivo, we showed that the extravasation of neutrophils during infection with SLS− mutant bacteria was significantly accelerated compared to infection with wild-type S. pyogenes. Taken together, these data support a role for SLS in the inhibition of neutrophil recruitment during the early stages of S. pyogenes infection.
The role of vegetable and fruit consumption in the aetiology of squamous cell carcinoma of the oesophagus: A case‐control study in Uruguay

There is strong evidence of a protection of high consumption of plant foods against squamous cell carcinoma of the oesophagus, but the respective role of fruits and vegetables is not well elucidated. In the time period 1996–2003, a case‐control study designed in order to address this question was conducted in Uruguay. The study included 200 cases and 400 age‐ and sex‐matched controls. High total vegetable and total fruit consumption was the strongest protective food group for this malignancy (OR 0.31, 95% CI 0.18–0.51). When this food group was dissected in total vegetables and total fruits, the latter item was more protective than the former one (OR for total fruits 0.48, 95% CI 0.35–0.66) (p‐value for difference between both variables 0.04). Finally, when total fruits were dissected in citrus fruits and other fruits, citrus fruits were strongly associated with a reduction in risk (OR 0.47, 95% CI 0.34–0.67). The results of our study point towards an important role of fruits in the prevention of squamous cell carcinoma of the oesophagus. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Global Trends in Relative and Absolute Wealth Concentrations

This paper compares changes in relative and absolute wealth concentrations to establish if both processes have followed similar trajectories. The findings indicate that while the level of relative wealth concentration has increased recently, it is not extraordinarily high in an historical perspective. On the contrary, the level of absolute wealth concentration is most likely higher than that previously occurred because of the increase in the wealth holdings and population size of high net worth individuals. The sustainability of this on-going absolute concentration of wealth is questionable insofar as the resulting pressure of investor demand for safe securities poses a potential threat for financial stability.
Genetic Effects for Femoral Biomechanics, Structure, and Density in C57BL/6J and C3H/HeJ Inbred Mouse Strains

Genome‐wide QTL analysis for bone density, structure, and biomechanical phenotypes was performed in 999 (B6xC3H)F2 mice. Multivariate phenotypes were also derived to test for pleiotropic QTL effects. Highly significant QTLs were detected with pleiotropic effects on many of these phenotypes, and QTLs with unique effects on specific phenotypes were found as well.
AGGREGATE PHILLIPS CURVES ARE NOT ALWAYS VERTICAL: HETEROGENEITY AND MISMATCH IN MULTIREGION OR MULTISECTOR ECONOMIES

The aggregation of sectoral or regional Phillips curves yields an inflation–unemployment trade-off that is not vertical in the long run if there are mismatches between supply and demand in the regional or sectoral labor markets. This remains true even when the individual Phillips curves are all vertical. This result stems from variations in the slope of the individual short-run Phillips curves, rather than from changes to the equilibrium level of unemployment. It implies a role for the management of the distribution of demand over different sectors or regions, in order to minimize the natural rate of unemployment.
Influences of Money Supply and Oil Price on U.S. Stock Market

This paper studies the long-run and short-run dynamic effects of broad money supply (M2) and oil price on U.S. stock market (S&P500). Monthly data are employed from January, 1974 through April, 2006. Each variable is non-stationary in level with I (1) behavior. The above three variables depict a co-integrating relationship. The vector error-correction models do not reveal any converging long-run causal flows, although short-run interactive feedback relationships exist. The current volatility of U.S. stock market is fueled by its past volatilities. Negative monetary and oil shocks initially depress the U.S. stock market.
Analytical Bounds for two Value-at-Risk Functionals

Abstract Based on the notions of value-at-risk and conditional value-at-risk, we consider two functionals, abbreviated VaR and CVaR, which represent the economic risk capital required to operate a risky business over some time period when only a small probability of loss is tolerated. These functionals are consistent with the risk preferences of profit-seeking (and risk averse) decision makers and preserve the stochastic dominance order (and the stop-loss order). This result is used to bound the VaR and CVaR functionals by determining their maximal values over the set of all loss and profit functions with fixed first few moments. The evaluation of CVaR for the aggregate loss of portfolios is also discussed. The results of VaR and CVaR calculations are illustrated and compared at some typical situations of general interest.
Multivariate life table methodology for estimating the effect of child mortality on the total fertility rate and its components

3 Notation Used in this Paper 4 Introduction 6 Methodology 7 Background 7 Incorporating Child Mortality into the Underlying CLL Models 9 Constructing the Global Life Tables from the Birth Probabilities Paitmn 15 Partitioning Factor 22 “Overall Probability Approach” to Calculating the Partitioning Factor 23 “Logit Model Approach” to Calculating the Partitioning Factor 25 Estimating Child Mortality Rates from the Global Life Table 25 Estimating the Extent of Replacement of Dead Children from the Global Life Table.26 Validation and Application of the Paitmn Method 27 Validation of the Paitmn Method 31 Validation of the Partitioning Factor 50 Application of the Methodology to All Three NFHS Surveys 51 Conclusion 53 Acknowledgments 56 References 57
Terms of Trade Shocks and Fiscal Cycles

The latest boom in commodity prices fueled concerns about fiscal policies in commodity-exporting countries, with many claiming that it triggered loose fiscal policy and left no funds for a rainy day. This paper examines the links between fiscal policy and terms-of-trade fluctuations using a sample of 74 countries, both developed and developing. It finds evidence that booms in the terms of trade do not necessarily lead to larger government surpluses in developing countries, particularly in emerging markets and especially during capital flow bonanzas. This is not the case in OECD countries, where fiscal policy is of an acyclical nature.
Market volatility and the dynamic hedging of multi-commodity price risk

Commodity cash and futures prices experienced a severe boom-and-bust cycle between 2006 and 2009. Increases in commodity price volatility have raised concerns about the usefulness of commodity futures and options as risk management tools. Dynamic hedging strategies have the potential to improve risk management when conditional (co)variances depart significantly from their unconditional, long-run counterparts and may be useful to decision-makers despite their greater complexity and higher transaction costs. We propose a Nonparametric Copula-based Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedastic (NPC-GARCH) approach to estimate time-varying hedge ratios, and evaluate the benefits of dynamic hedging during four sub-periods between 2000 and 2011 using a stylized Texas cattle feedlot management problem. The NPC-GARCH approach allows for a flexible, nonlinear and asymmetric dependence structure between cash and futures prices for different commodities. We find that NPC-GARCH dynamic hedging performs better than either static, GARCH-Dynamic Conditional Correlation (DCC) or GARCH-Baba, Engle, Kraft and Kroner (BEKK) hedging in terms of lower tail risk (expected shortfall), but that there is no significant difference between hedging approaches in terms of portfolio variance reduction.
Genetic improvement of Saccharomyces cerevisiae wine strains for enhancing cell viability after desiccation stress

In the last few decades spontaneous grape must fermentations have been replaced by inoculated fermentation with Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains as active dry yeast (ADY). Among the essential genes previously characterized to overcome the cell‐drying/rehydration process, six belong to the group of very hydrophilic proteins known as hydrophilins. Among them, only SIP18 has shown early transcriptional response during dehydration stress. In fact, the overexpression in S. cerevisiae of gene SIP18 increases cell viability after the dehydration process. The purpose of this study was to characterize dehydration stress tolerance of three wild and one commercial S. cerevisiae strains of wine origin. The four strains were submitted to transformation by insertion of the gene SIP18. Selected transformants were submitted to the cell‐drying–rehydration process and yeast viability was evaluated by both viable cell count and flow cytometry. The antioxidant capacity of SIP18p was illustrated by ROS accumulation reduction after H2O2 attack. Growth data as cellular duplication times and lag times were calculated to estimate cell vitality after the cell rehydration process. The overexpressing SIP18 strains showed significantly longer time of lag phase despite less time needed to stop the leakage of intracellular compounds during the rehydration process. Subsequently, the transformants were tested in inoculated grape must fermentation at laboratory scale in comparison to untransformed strains. Chemical analyses of the resultant wines indicated that no significant change for the content of secondary compounds was detected. The obtained data showed that the transformation enhances the viability of ADY without affecting fermentation efficiency and metabolic behaviour. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Founding angels as an emerging subtype of the angel investment model in high-tech businesses

Some important hurdles hamper the commercialisation of (scientific) knowledge, especially in Europe. Currently, the support provided by investors and technology transfer offices seems insufficient for new technology-based firms (NTBFs) and academic spin-offs to overcome these. Both from a financial perspective and from an operational perspective, opportunities are emerging for investment models to support their development. This paper introduces the founding angels' (FAs) concept as an emerging subtype of the angel investment model and provides empirical evidence based on 16 case studies in Germany and Switzerland to elucidate the potential of this investment model. FAs join the start-up teams of NTBFs, complementing the scientific members coming mainly from universities and research institutions with business expertise and scientific understanding. They make significantly fewer investments than in the case of business angels (BAs), but because of their very early engagement, they hold more shares and are much more engaged operationally. FAs have more the role of a founder and an entrepreneur and less that of an investor because of their early engagement in the venture. They complement BAs and venture capitalists and normally support the start-up's efforts to raise funding.
The Innovative Performance Of The World'S Largest Firms: Some New Evidence ‡

Data on R & D expenditures and US patenting in the world's 660 largest, technologically active firms both show a linear relation between firm size and the volume of innovative activities, despite some inconsistencies between the two measures. Technological diversity increases with firm size, but relatively weakly, especially in R & D-intensive sectors. Sectoral variations in the comparative technological advantage of large firms based in Japan, the USA and W. Europe are better explained by variations in rivalry in their home market than by variations in their size.
Are the human resource practices of effective firms distinctly different from those of poorly performing ones? Evidence from Taiwanese enterprises

The strategic importance of human resources and their contribution to the effectiveness of business firms are receiving increasing recognition worldwide. In this study, I examine different approaches to human resource management (HRM) practices for business firms in different performance categories. Findings obtained from a study of 315 firms in Taiwan demonstrate that organizational performance is significantly related to the management of such human resource functions as planning, staffing, appraisal, compensation, and training and development. The results also indicate that successful firms are often those that adopt a highly effective approach to the management of their human resources.