Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Clinical significance of CXCR3 and CXCR4 expression in primary melanoma

Tumor cell migration involved in metastases is a tightly regulated, nonrandom process. Chemokines have been identified as critical molecules guiding cell migration. We performed a prospective study to analyze a possible association between the expression of chemokine receptors CXCR3 and CXCR4 by primary melanoma and clinical outcome. Forty primary melanomas were available for analysis; 57% of the tumors expressed CXCR3 and 35% expressed CXCR4 by melanoma cells. At initial diagnosis, 5 patients had subclinical lymph node involvement and after a median follow‐up time of 32 months, 2 additional patients developed regional lymph node metastases and 5 patients developed distant metastases. The expression of CXCR4, but not CXCR3, by melanoma cells in primary lesions was significantly associated with the presence of ulceration, increased tumor thickness, a greater risk of developing regional and distant metastases and a higher mortality rate. Our study underscores the value of CXCR4 expression as a useful marker for predicting outcome in patients with localized melanoma. In addition, our findings support that, among chemokine receptors, CXCR4 might be an appropriate therapeutic target for adjuvant therapy in patients at risk for metastatic disease. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Wage Indexing Rules and the Behavior of the Economy

Explaining economic fluctuations by the existence of imperfect wage rules begs the question of why such rules are chosen in labor contracts. The form of wage rules is not exogenous but determined by cost and efficiency considerations. Fully contingent rules preserve efficiency but are costly to write and enforce. Noncontingent rules may lead to large inefficiencies. Actual rules, which index the wage only to the price level, may be the optimal compromise. This paper characterizes the equilibrium of an economy in which the form of wage rules is endogenous. It shows the effects of the distributions of exogenous shocks on the equilibrium distribution of output and the form of the rule. It then studies the role of policy in such an economy.
Trading Behavior During Stock Market Downturns: The Dow, 1915 - 2004

Stock markets periodically experience sharp falls with some referred to as outright crashes. The extant literature has generally resorted to survey type evidence to determine the behavior of investors during such episodes. These kind of studies come to the conclusion that fundamentals play little role in explaining sharp stock market downturns as in October 1987. We know of no econometric study that asks whether feedback, momentum or trend chasing type behavior might explain the behavior of large stock market downturns. Resorting to a feedback trader model, we estimate a variety of asymmetric GARCH-type models. Based on daily data on the Dow Jones Industrial Average index since 1915 we find that there is evidence of positive feedback trading during episodes of stock market crashes. Hence, the econometric evidence is broadly consistent with findings based on surveys.
A Simple Nonparametric Approach to Derivative Security Valuation

Canonical valuation uses historical time series to predict the probability distribution of the discounted value of primary assets' discounted prices plus accumulated dividends at any future date. Then the axiomatically rationalized maximum entropy principle is used to estimate risk-neutral (equivalent martingale) probabilities that correctly price the primary assets, as well as any predesignated subset of derivative securities whose payoffs occur at this date. Valuation of other derivative securities proceeds by calculation of its discounted, risk-neutral expected value. Both simulation and empirical evidence suggest that canonical valuation has merit. Copyright 1996 by American Finance Association.
SCHATTSCHNEIDER REVISITED: SENATE VOTING ON THE SMOOT‐HAWLEY TARIFF ACT OF 1930

While scholars have devoted considerable attention to U.S. trade policy in the 1930s, particularly the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, little quantitative research focuses on the factors impinging upon elite decision makers who shaped Smoot-Hawley. We look at 11 votes on the Senate floor related to Smoot-Hawley to examine the impact of a variety of measures of constituency economic interests and member characteristics on elite decision making. Contrary to our expectations, the evidence does not support a pressure group model of policy making. We conclude by emphasizing the importance of political parties in making the Tariff Act of 1930. Copyright 1994 Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
Routine Neurophysiologic Tremor Analysis as a Diagnostic Tool for Essential Tremor: A Prospective Study

The objective of the current study was to investigate the diagnostic potential of the routine tremor neurophysiologic analysis for the diagnosis of essential tremor (ET) in patients with postural tremor syndrome. Three hundred consecutive outpatients attending for postural tremor were included. Accelerometry and surface electromyography was performed between 1 and 4 weeks after the first clinical visit. A final clinical diagnosis (mean follow-up period, 53 months) of the postural tremor syndrome was made by two neurologists blind to the neurophysiologic results. Six neurophysiologic criteria for the diagnosis of ET were applied to define the neurophysiologic examination as compatible or not compatible with ET (all criteria must be present): (1) rhythmic burst of postural tremor on EMG; (2) tremor frequency greater than or equal to 4 Hz; (3) absence of rest tremor or, if present, frequency 1.5 Hz lower than the postural tremor; (4) absence of tremor latency from rest to postural position; (5) changes of the dominant frequency peak less or equal to 1 Hz after the weight load test; and (6) no changes in tremor amplitude after mental concentration. The neurophysiologic criteria for ET showed a sensitivity of 97.7%, a specificity of 82.3%, a positive predictive value of 95.1%, a negative predictive value of 91.1%, and positive probability ratio of 5.5. The odds ratio was 198.43 (95% CI, 66.03 to 596.35). For the diagnosis of ET in patients with postural tremor, routine neurophysiologic tests have high diagnostic and predictive value that justifies its practice in movement disorders clinics.
Bayesian inference of the climbing grade scale

Climbing grades are used to classify a climbing route based on its perceived difficulty, and have come to play a central role in the sport of rock climbing. Recently, the first statistically rigorous method for estimating climbing grades from whole-history ascent data was described, based on the dynamic Bradley-Terry model for games between players of time-varying ability. In this paper, we implement inference under the whole-history rating model using Markov chain Monte Carlo and apply the method to a curated data set made up of climbers who climb regularly. We use these data to get an estimate of the model's fundamental scale parameter m, which defines the proportional increase in difficulty associated with an increment of grade. We show that the data conform to assumptions that the climbing grade scale is a logarithmic scale of difficulty, like decibels or stellar magnitude. We estimate that an increment in Ewbank, French and UIAA climbing grade systems corresponds to 2.1, 2.09 and 2.13 times increase in difficulty respectively, assuming a logistic model of probability of success as a function of grade. Whereas we find that the Vermin scale for bouldering (V-grade scale) corresponds to a 3.17 increase in difficulty per grade increment. In addition, we highlight potential connections between the logarithmic properties of climbing grade scales and the psychophysical laws of Weber and Fechner.
Water Policy and Regulatory Reform in New Zealand

New Zealand faces unusual water challenges. The country relies heavily upon agricultural exports. This has resulted in the adoption of a permissive, devolved system of water management. However, the intensification of land use has resulted in significant water degradation, and stretched the capacity of local government to address competing water needs. Water resource management has largely been devolved to local government with limited national policy guidance creating further tensions. This paper summarizes recent water policy and reform in New Zealand, and discusses how central government is attempting to reinvigorate national guidance for future water management.
Efficiency Performance in Indian Banking—Use of Data Envelopment Analysis

Performance evaluation of the banking sector in India has assumed primal importance due to intense competition, greater customer demands and changing banking reforms. This study attempts to measure the relative performance of Indian banks over the period 1997–2004 using the output-oriented CRR DEA model. The analysis uses nine input variables and seven output variables. Segmentation of the banking sector in India was done along the following basis: bank assets size, ownership status and years of operation. Overall, the analysis supports the conclusion that foreign owned banks were on average most efficient and that new banks are more efficient that old ones, which are often burdened with old debts. In terms of size, the smaller banks are globally efficient, but large banks are locally efficient. Moreover, this study finds evidence of concentration of efficiency parameters among peer bank groups.
Characterization of Ligand Binding to the Cannabinoid Receptor of Rat Brain Membranes Using a Novel Method: Application to Anandamide

Abstract: Ligand binding to the cannabinoid receptor of brain membranes has been characterized using [3H]CP 55,940 and the Multiscreen Filtration System. Binding of [3H]CP 55,940 is saturable and reaches equilibrium by 45 min at room temperature. At a concentration of 10 µg of membrane protein/well, the KD for [3H]CP 55,940 is 461 pM and the Bmax is 860 fmol/mg of protein. The apparent KD of [3H]CP 55,940 is dependent upon tissue protein concentration, increasing to 2,450 pM at 100 µg of membrane protein. Binding of [3H]CP 55,940 is dependent upon the concentration of bovine serum albumin in the buffer; the highest ratio of specific to nonspecific binding occurs between 0.5 and 1.0 mg/ml. The Ki of anandamide, a putative endogenous ligand of the cannabinoid receptor, is 1.3 µM in buffer alone and 143 nM in the presence of 0.15 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride. When [14C]anandamide is incubated with rat forebrain membranes at room temperature, it is degraded to arachidonic acid; the hydrolysis is inhibited by 0.15 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride. These results support the hypothesis that anandamide is a high‐affinity ligand of the cannabinoid receptor and that it is rapidly degraded by membrane fractions.
Distance administration: Multiple perspectives on multi-site institutions

It is becoming increasingly important to understand multi-campus arrangements in the rapidly changing higher education environment. Some attention has been given to the academic perspectives of such arrangements; however, there is limited published work relating to administrative and professional services. Different approaches are evident and although the organisational structure in any particular context will be determined by a host of complex and changing factors, it is important that careful consideration is given to the viewpoint of administrators who work day to day distant from the main institutional centre. This paper focuses on the perspectives of administrators within multi-campus institutions, emphasising the viewpoint of those working at sites that are not the main institutional administrative centre. It considers organisational structure and specific issues that might affect staff. Potential positives and negatives for individuals and institutions are discussed and key factors for consideration are emphasised.
Targeted transformation of Ascobolus immersus and de novo methylation of the resulting duplicated DNA sequences

To develop a method to modify genomic sequences in Ascobolus immersus by precisely reintroducing defined DNA segments previously manipulated in vitro, we investigated the effect of transforming DNA conformation on recombination with chromosomal sequences. Circular single-stranded DNA carrying the met2 gene and double-stranded DNA linearized by cutting within the met2 gene both transformed protoplasts of a met2 mutant strain of A. immersus to prototrophy. In contrast to the equivalent circular double-stranded DNA, which chiefly integrated at nonhomologous chromosomal sites, single-stranded and double-stranded cut DNAs recombined primarily with the homologous chromosomal met2 sequence. Of the single-stranded DNA transformants, 65% resulted from replacement of the resident met2 mutation by the exogenous wild-type allele. In 70% of the double-stranded-cut DNA transformants, one or more copies of the transforming DNA had integrated at the met2 locus, leading to tandem duplications of the met2 target region separated by plasmid DNA. These duplicated sequences could recombine, leading to progeny containing only one copy of the met2 region. This resulted in a precise gene replacement if the wild-type allele had been retained. In addition, we show that newly duplicated sequences were most often de novo methylated at the cytosine residues during the sexual phase. Cytosine methylation was associated with inactivation of the integrated met2 gene(s) in segregants of crosses. However, methylation was not accurately maintained at each DNA replication cycle, so that Met- segregants recovered a wild-type phenotype through successive mitotic divisions. This finding indicated that met2 genes were silenced by methylation alone.
Hierarchical Network-on-Chip and Traffic Compression for Spiking Neural Network Implementations

The complexity of inter-neuron connectivity is prohibiting scalable hardware implementations of spiking neural networks (SNNs). Traditional neuron interconnect using a shared bus topology is not scalable due to non-linear growth of neuron connections with the neural network size. This paper presents a novel hierarchical NoC (H-NoC) architecture for SNN hardware which addresses the scalability issue by creating a 3-dimensional array of clusters of neurons with a hierarchical structure of low and high-level routers. The H-NoC architecture also incorporates a spike traffic compression technique to exploit SNN traffic patterns, thus reducing traffic overhead and improving throughput on the network. In addition, adaptive routing capabilities between clusters balance local and global traffic loads to sustain throughput under bursting activity. Simulation results show a high throughput per cluster (3.33×109 spikes/second), and synthesis results using 65-nm CMOS technology demonstrate low cost area (0.587mm2) and power consumption (13.16mW @100MHz) for a single cluster of 400 neurons, which outperforms existing SNN hardware strategies.
Dynamic Price Models for New-Product Planning

The major points established in this paper are: classic marginal pricing is far from optimum for a rapidly evolving business; more appropriate dynamic models can be formulated if one has some feeling for the dominant evolutionary forces in the business environment; and, planning based on the dynamic models can lead to a significant improvement in the long run profit performance. Two developments in the management science literature, the experience curve phenomenon and market-penetration models, are used to illustrate the nature of the dynamic feedback between market and production activity which causes a new growth business to evolve. A specific illustrative example is offered which demonstrates the fact that dynamic price models can be used to test the long run consequences of specific pricing rules or to determine the optimum long run pricing scenario within the context of any constraints which a manager might wish to impose. As opposed to the conventional static theory which emphasizes the instantaneous profit flow, the dynamic models use an appropriately discounted accumulated profit as the major parameter for making value judgments. The specific example considered emphasizes the importance of these ideas for a growth market and suggests that dynamic models can lead to as much as an order of magnitude more profit in the long run than the conventional static theory. More modest, but significant, improvements in long run performance can be obtained in a moderate growth business.
An Empirical Study on Liquidity Risk and its Determinants in Bosnia and Herzegovina

This paper presents the research of liquidity risk and its determinants in banking sector of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H). The aim of this paper is to to examine banks' exposure to liquidity risk in the context of 17 out of 28 commercial banks in B&H, by using data in the period 2002-2012. In the empirical part of the research the multiple regression analysis will be applied with the aim to test the statistical significance and explanatory power of selected variables using various data analysis techniques. For the purpose of analysis of the subject matter and the aim of the research, our paper is organized as follows: After background information about trends in liquidity position of banking sector in B&H and its development is provided in Section 1, Section 2 provides a brief overview of the conducted researches in recent years related to the determinants of the commercial banks’ liquidity. Section 3 describes models and variables used in the models & hypotheses. Section 4 analyzes and interprets the empirical findings the impact of explanatory variables on banks' exposure to liquidity risk. Finally, the research conducted in this study showed that most of the analyzed variables had a certain influence on determining the level of banks' exposure to liquidity risk Based on this research the commercial banks should further decide which a variable needs to be used in order to achieve desired level of liquidity.
A SINGLE POSTERIOR APPROACH FOR VERTEBRAL COLUMN RESECTION IN ADULTS WITH SEVERE RIGID KYPHOSIS

Background: Correction of severe kyphosis is a challenging operation in spinal surgery. A two stage operation has been commonly used: anterior release and decompression followed by posterior correction and fusion. We describe the posterior vertebral osteotomy technique for correction of severe and rigid kyphosis through posterior-only approach. Methods: Twelve patients (six male and six female ) with severe and rigid kyphotic deformity of the thoracic spine were treated by posterior vertebral column resection using a single posterior approach. The apex level of kyphosis was at the upper thoracic in five patients, the lower thoracic in four patients and mid thoracic in three patients. There was old fracture in one patient, congenital deformity in six, tumor in three and neurofibromatosis in two patients. After posterior vertebral column resection, segmental posterior instrumentation was used for correction of the kyphotic deformity. Complications and radiographic findings were analyzed to evaluate clinical outcomes and radiologic changes of posterior vertebral column resection in patients with angulated kyphotic deformity. Results: The major curve correction was averaged 31.66 ° (SD=15.69) (45%). The resection was performed at the involve level in every patient. Posterior segmental fusion was achieved in average 8.9 (SD=1.7) segments. Anterior reconstruction was with titanium mesh cage in two and with cancellous chip packing in other patients. There were no neurologic complications after six month. Bony fusion achieved in all patients, and there was no correction loss. Conclusion: Satisfactory correction is safely performed by posterior vertebral column resection with a direct visualization of the circumferentially decompressed spinal cord. Although the performance is technically laborious, it offers good correction without jeopardizing the integrity of the spinal cord.
Transitional and Steady-state Costs of Disinflation When Growth is Endogenous

In a monetary version of the Uzawa (1965)-Lucas (1988) model of endogenous growth, this paper illustrates how a credible policy of rapid disinflation can induce temporary declines in employment and output, with the former exhibiting a significant degree of persistence; however, these temporary declines in employment and output are not associated with any nominal rigidities in the economy, and therefore do not represent dead-weight losses that occur along the transition path, but are instead a part of an optimal response to the policy change. The measured welfare benefits of disinflation are seen to be higher when the transition path is taken into account. Copyright 1999 by The London School of Economics and Political Science
T‐Brain‐1 – A Potential Master Regulator in Autism Spectrum Disorders

T‐Brain‐1 (TBR1), a causative gene in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), encodes a brain‐specific T‐box transcription factor. It is therefore possible that TBR1 controls the expression of other autism risk factors. The downstream genes of TBR1 have been identified using microarray and promoter analyses. In this study, we annotated individual genes downstream of TBR1 and investigated any associations with ASDs through extensive literature searches. Of 124 TBR1 target genes, 23 were reported to be associated with ASDs. In addition, one gene, Kiaa0319, is a known causative gene for dyslexia, a disorder frequently associated with autism. A change in expression level in 10 of these 24 genes has been previously confirmed. We further validated the alteration of RNA expression levels of Kiaa0319, Baiap2, and Gad1 in Tbr1 deficient mice. Among these 24 genes, four transcription factors Auts2, Nfia, Nr4a2, and Sox5 were found, suggesting that TBR1 controls a transcriptional cascade relevant to autism pathogenesis. A further five of the 24 genes (Cd44, Cdh8, Cntn6, Gpc6, and Ntng1) encode membrane proteins that regulate cell adhesion and axonal outgrowth. These genes likely contribute to the role of TBR1 in regulation of neuronal migration and axonal extension. Besides, decreases in Grin2b expression and increases in Gad1 expression imply that neuronal activity may be aberrant in Tbr1 deficient mice. These analyses provide direction for future experiments to reveal the pathogenic mechanism of autism. Autism Res 2015, 8: 412–426. © 2015 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The Power of Media and Changes in Discriminatory Behavior Among Employers

This study analyzes whether news media coverage of discrimination testing in the labor market leads to a lower degree of ethnic discrimination in hiring. To this end, unique data is used that relates an exogenous shock, in the form of extensive media coverage of discrimination testing, to data on employers' actual discriminatory behavior collected in 2 field experiments. The results reveal no sign of employers changing their hiring practices after the media coverage.
Illuminant colour based image forensics

Detecting forgery in digital images is one of the major research activities in the current time. We propose a method to find the forgery in digital images by exploiting colour mismatches among the objects in the image. While creating a composite image from a number of images, it becomes hard to match the colour of one object with reference to the other. In the proposed method, the colour mismatch is decided by estimating the illuminant colour of different objects in the image.