Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Volatility characteristics of stocks underlying Exchange Traded Funds in South Africa

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), since their inception, are now taking a foothold in emerging markets. The study measures price volatility in ETFs and their underlying stocks before and after ETF inception so as to provide new evidence of the volatility implications of ETFs for financial markets. The analysis focuses on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) SatrixTop40 ETF and its components using an EGARCH (1, 1) model. The analysis focuses on leverage effects, absolute size of volatility innovations and volatility persistence, and concludes that these volatility characteristics have changed and/or increased after the Satrix Top40 ETF introduction on the JSE.
Fractional Flow Reserve to Determine the Appropriateness of Angioplasty in Moderate Coronary Stenosis: A Randomized Trial

Background—PTCA of a coronary stenosis without documented ischemia at noninvasive stress testing is often performed, but its benefit is unproven. Coronary pressure-derived fractional flow reserve (FFR) is an invasive index of stenosis severity that is a reliable substitute for noninvasive stress testing. A value of 0.75 identifies stenoses with hemodynamic significance. Methods and Results—In 325 patients for whom PTCA was planned and who did not have documented ischemia, FFR of the stenosis was measured. If FFR was >0.75, patients were randomly assigned to deferral (deferral group; n=91) or performance (performance group; n=90) of PTCA. If FFR was <0.75, PTCA was performed as planned (reference group; n=144). Clinical follow-up was obtained at 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months. Event-free survival was similar between the deferral and performance groups (92% versus 89% at 12 months and 89% versus 83% at 24 months) but was significantly lower in the reference group (80% at 12 months and 78% at 24 months). In addition, the percentage of patients free from angina was similar between the deferral and performance groups (49% versus 50% at 12 months and 70% versus 51% at 24 months) but was significantly higher in the reference group (67% at 12 and 80% at 24 months). Conclusions—In patients with a coronary stenosis without evidence of ischemia, coronary pressure-derived FFR identifies those who will benefit from PTCA.
Calcium release and sarcoplasmic reticulum membrane potential in frog skeletal muscle fibres.

Single twitch fibres were dissected from frog muscle, stretched to a sarcomere spacing greater than or equal to 3.9 micron, then mounted for optical recording. The experiments were carried out at 15‐17 degrees C. In some cases D2O Ringer solution was used instead of H2O Ringer solution to reduce movement and any related optical artifacts. Following action potential stimulation, both the amplitude and time course of the change in intrinsic retardation (Baylor & Oetliker's second component, 1975) were found to be approximately independent of wavelength between 480 and 750 nm (D2O Ringer solution). Fibres were injected with the Ca2+‐sensitive dye Arsenazo III so that changes in myoplasmic free [Ca2+] could be estimated by measuring changes in dye‐related absorbance at 660 nm. The time course of free [Ca2+] was compared with the time course of two other optical signals which have been previously suggested to monitor s.r. (sarcoplasmic reticulum) membrane potential, intrinsic retardation and Nile Blue A fluorescence (Bezanilla & Horowicz, 1975). In D2O Ringer solution the retardation time course was closely similar to that of free [Ca2+] whereas the fluorescence time course was considerably slower. Thus, it is possible that either the retardation signal or Nile Blue A fluorescence (or both) monitors free [Ca2+] rather than s.r. potential. If so, the underlying mechanism which senses Ca2+ must do so very rapidly in the case of retardation and with a delay in the case of Nile Blue A. Changes in Nile Blue A fluorescence were measured in a voltage‐clamped fibre (H2O Ringer solution). Only small changes were observed during hyperpolarization or small depolarization whereas relatively large changes were observed near mechanical threshold. These increased e‐fold in magnitude every 4‐5 mV. This steep voltage dependence, similar to that already shown for intrinsic retardation and [Ca2+], provides additional evidence that Nile Blue A fluorescence monitors a step in excitation‐contraction coupling. Theoretical waveforms of s.r. membrane potential were computed using a typical waveform of s.r. Ca2+ release (from Baylor, Chandler & Marshall, 1983) under the assumption that Ca2+ crosses the s.r. membrane as electrical current. Voltage waveforms were calculated using several combinations of electrical parameters for the s.r. membrane. Only certain combinations gave theoretical potential changes similar to the intrinsic retardation or Nile Blue A fluorescence signal. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
The Dynamics of Firms'Entry and Diversi…cation: A Bayesian Panel Probit Approach. A cross-country analysis

In this paper we analyze entry dynamics in new submarkets of pharmaceutical companies. In particular we study entry decisions at time t in a new submarket, conditioned on the entrance in a new submarket at time t-1. This model allows us to connect with the ourishing literature about the prominent role of submarkets, (Klepper and Thompson, 2002, Mitchell, 2000 and Sutton,1998) in explaining diversi cation and entry choices. Our analysis is based on a Bayesian approach which allows us to properly account for heterogeneity among rms. We try to manage the inclusion among regressors of non strictly exogenous variables, which can be correlated with unobserved heterogeneity,(Honore and Kyriazidou, 2000, Honore and Lewbel, 2002, Arellano and Carrasco,2003, Wooldridge, 2003). JEL classi cation: L11, L65, C11, C23, C25. Keywords: Entry, Diversi cation, Bayesian Inference, Panel data, Probit model, random e¤ects. We thank all the participants at the International Industrial Organization Conference (IIOC), Chicago 23-24 April 2004, particularly Martino De Stefano, Paul Walsh and Franco Mariuzzo for very helpful suggestions. Moreover we thank for very precious comments Arthur Lewbel, Matthew Mitchell, Fabio Schiantarelli and Alessandro Sembenelli.
A new method for two-level logic minimization

This paper presents a new algorithm for two-level logic minimization. The new method is a bottom-up systematic methodology that produces a minimal function. It is especially useful for of logic functions with large number of variables. The complexity of this algorithm is in the order of m log m, where m is the number of minterms in the logic function. Experimental results show that the proposed method produces the minimum cover in almost 99% of the experiments for minimizing logic functions with less than 10 variables. Also, experimental results show that the proposed method produces the minimum cover in almost 83% of the experiments for minimizing logic functions with more than 10 variables. This method can be used in conjunction with the Quine's theorem to obtain the minimum cover with better time complexity.
Prevalence and correlates of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in older adults: results from the Well-being of the Singapore Elderly (WiSE) study

ABSTRACT Background: Older adults are among the most susceptible to sustain traumatic brain injury (TBI). The study aimed to determine the (1) prevalence of TBI among older adults in Singapore, and (2) socio-demographic, lifestyle, and clinical correlates of TBI. Methods: Data were extracted from the cross-sectional, Well-being of the Singapore Elderly (WiSE) study. The study included 2,565 participants aged 60 years and above (Mean = 72.75, SD = 9.54). Information on TBI, socio-demographic, and lifestyle factors were collected using participant self-report and verified with the informant report where necessary. Disability was measured using the World Health Organization – Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHO-DAS 2.0). Data were analyzed using logistic regression analysis. Results: The prevalence of TBI was 3.6%. Being female (vs. male) was found to be associated with decreased odds of having TBI. Having completed secondary education or lower (vs. tertiary education) was found to be associated with increased odds of having TBI. A history of fainting and diabetes were associated with the presence of TBI. Those with TBI were associated with higher disability scores on the WHO-DAS 2.0 than those without TBI. Conclusions: The current study provides information on the prevalence and associated factors of TBI in the older adult population in Singapore. Since TBI was associated with older adults with diabetes, they must be cautioned about fall risk. Also, given the association with disability, older adults with TBI are likely to require support and rehabilitative care to ensure good quality of life.
A Design-Time Method for Building Cost-Effective Run-Time Power Monitoring

The emergence of power as a first-class design constraint has fueled the proposal of a growing number of optimization techniques, seeking the best tradeoff to reach the maximum energy efficiency. Effective adaptation strategies depend critically on the monitoring method as an incorrect assessment of the system’s state will result in poor decision making. Yet it is indeed a fundamental issue: how to get a precise estimation of the system’s state, and especially in a cost-effective way? We address this question for the self-observation of the power consumption. We develop a method that combines several data mining algorithms to monitor the toggling activity on a few relevant signals selected at the register transfer-level. Our approach is based on a generic flow that is able to produce a power model for any register transfer level (RTL) circuit on any technology. This contribution is evaluated on a system on chip RTL model implemented on an field-programmable gate array technology. The experiments demonstrate that the proposed method achieves the accuracy of analog power sensors (error lower than 1%) at a finer granularity and in a cost-effective way.
Energy use–GDP deterministic cointegration: progress towards EU-15 Kyoto targets

This article examines whether the energy consumption–GDP relationship is in long-term equilibrium for EU-15 countries. Unlike many previous works, we apply a nonlinear unit root test introduced by Kapetanios et al. (2003a) and extended by Chong et al. (2008) that identifies not only deterministic cointegration, but also the stronger concept of stochastic cointegration. The results yield a clear pattern: Austria, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain must achieve greater emissions reductions between 2009 and 2012 to reach their respective Kyoto targets.
Partisanship, Political Polarization, and State Budget Outcomes:! The Case of Higher Education*

* Luciana Dar thanks the ASHE/Lumina Foundation Dissertation Fellowship and the UC ACCORD Dissertation Grant for supporting this research and Matthew Spence for his considerable contributions in earlier versions of this project. We thank William Jacoby and Saundra Schneider for generously sharing their data/code with us. Earlier versions of this project benefited greatly from comments by Robert Lowry, Ben Bishin, James DeNardo, Ronald Rogowski, Martin Johnson and State Politics & Policy Quarterly anonymous reviewers.
The effect of decreasing statin's dosage on LDL-C levels after target levels achieved.

OBJECTIVE Evidences from clinical trials had demonstrated that statins reduce the risk of cardio-cerebral vascular events. But lipid lowering therapy (LLT) was suboptimal in stroke patients and clinically, observation of reducing the dosage of statins is common when target low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level achieved. We aim to explore the changes in lipid profile after reducing statin's dosage when target LDL-C level achieved. METHODS One hundred and three consecutive stroke patients follow up at out-patient clinic (44 women, 59 men) were recruited. Twenty two patients had their statin's dosage decreased to half while eighty one patients had their initial statin's dosage maintained after target LDL-C (less than 100mg/dL) level achieved. Lipid profile before and after LLT adjustment were compared. RESULTS The follow-up LDL-C level was significant higher while the percentage of patients with LDL-C level less than 100 mg/dL was significant lower in patients with statin's dosage decreased. For all patients, regardless the adjustment of LLT, the percentage of patients with LDL-C level less than 100 mg/dL was significant lower in follow- up lipid profile comparing with the baseline, but only the follow-up total cholesterol and LDL-C level were significant higher in the patients group with reduced statin's dosage. No significant change was found in follow-up high density-lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride level in either group. CONCLUSION More patients had LDL-C level more than 100 mg/dL after dosage of statins decreased. We suggested that only for absolute contraindication or adverse effects of statins should we adjust LLT, it is better to maintain the dosage of statins after target level achieved. The impact of lipid profile changed after LLT adjustment on clinical outcomes needs further studied.
Clustering of T Cell Ligands on Artificial APC Membranes Influences T Cell Activation and Protein Kinase C θ Translocation to the T Cell Plasma Membrane1

T cell activation is associated with active clustering of relevant molecules in membrane microdomains defined as the supramolecular activation cluster. The contact area between these regions on the surface of T cells and APC is defined as the immunological synapse. It has been recently shown that preclustering of MHC-peptide complexes in membrane microdomains on the APC surface affects the efficiency of immune synapse formation and the related T cell activation. Disruption of such clusters may reduce the efficiency of stimulation. We describe here an entirely artificial system for Ag-specific, ex vivo stimulation of human polyclonal T cells (artificial APC (aAPC)). aAPC are based on artificial membrane bilayers containing discrete membrane microdomains encompassing T cell ligands (i.e., appropriate MHC-peptide complexes in association with costimulatory molecules). We show here that preclustering of T cell ligands triggered a degree of T cell activation significantly higher than the one achieved when we used either soluble tetramers or aAPC in which MHC-peptide complexes were uniformly distributed within artificial bilayer membranes. This increased efficiency in stimulation was mirrored by increased translocation from the cytoplasm to the membrane of protein kinase θ, a T cell signaling molecule that colocalizes with the TCR within the supramolecular activation cluster, thus indicating efficient engagement of T cell activation pathways. Engineered aAPC may have immediate application for basic and clinical immunology studies pertaining to modulation of T cells ex vivo.
Learning matte extraction in green screen images with MLP classifiers and the back-propagation algorithm

This paper considers the problem of automatically extracting a foreground element with its alpha matte in green screen images by training a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) with the back-propagation algorithm. The classifier learns to identify green backgrounds, foreground object contours, and the corresponding alpha values for subsequent digital compositing. We developed our own dataset to train and test the MLP for alpha matte extraction. To speed up the generation of the training set, a second method for semi-automatic alpha matte extraction is proposed. Different experiments show that automatic matte extraction, based on the MLP, generates high-quality matting visually and it is also shown that results depend on the training and the architecture of the classifier. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first effort that applies neural networks to the problem of alpha matte extraction.
The life cycle of a free newspaper business model in newspaper-rich markets

Free newspapers may offer different news contents to different audiences, when compared with traditional, paid-for newspapers, but they, nevertheless, concentrate on news, and thereby provide society with information on current affairs. These papers have seen circulation rise until 2008; after that, a decline set in, leading to closures and often a monopoly situation in the mature European newspaper markets covered in our research. Free newspapers seem to follow a typical life cycle pattern, moving from growth to maturity, and to saturation and decline. Diversification strategies – home-delivery, weekend, sports, afternoon, and financial – have been disappointing so far. There is no evidence, however, of total extinction, indicating that there is room for at least one title – possibly two – in every market. The situation in the surveyed markets also suggests that a free newspaper may be a ‘natural’ monopoly.
Observations on the Macroscopic Anatomy of the Intestinal Tract and its Mesenteric Folds in the Pampas Deer (Ozotoceros bezoarticus, Linnaeus 1758)

We described the macroscopic anatomy of the intestines and their peritoneal folds of five adult pampas deer (Ozotoceros bezoarticus), a cervid species considered to ingest a high proportion of grass in its natural diet. The mean (±SD) body weight was 17 (±2) kg. The small intestine and the caecocolon measured 495 (±37) cm and 237 (±24) cm in length, respectively, with an average ratio (small intestine:caecocolon) of 1.9 (±0.1). The ascending colon had two and a half centripetal gyri, a central flexure and two centrifugal gyri. The spiral ansa, which was similar to an ellipse, was fixed to the whole left face of the mesenterium. Apart from the peritoneal folds described in the Nomina Anatomica Veterinaria, three additional, hitherto not described folds were found: a fold that fixed the caecum to the proximal ansa of the ascending colon, one that joined the terminal part of the proximal ansa to the last centrifugal gyrus of the spiral ansa of the ascending colon, and one that linked the ascending duodenum to the proximal ansa of the ascending colon. When compared with published data from other cervids of different feeding niches, it appears that, among cervids, the ratio of small intestine to the caecocolon length does not reflect the natural diet.
Do Economic Variables Follow Scale or Location‐Scale Distributions?

Economics researchers often assume that random variables are drawn from distributions that are members of scale or location-scale families of distributions. This article generalizes earlier results in the literature on the bias in least squares estimates of multiplicative error models, and uses those results to construct a test of the scale and location-scale hypotheses. A Monte Carlo simulation shows that the test is powerful in large samples. The empirical relevance of these findings is illustrated with estimates of a supply function for U.S. wheat production. Implications for applied economics research are discussed.
Expatriate Assignments: Enhancing Success and Minimizing Failure

A major U.S. food manufacturer was seeking someone from corporate staff to head its Japanese marketing division. Mr. X was selected because he was clearly one of the company's bright young talents; he had also demonstrated superior marketing skills in the home office. Those making the appointment did not assess his ability to relate to and work with Japanese because it was assumed that a good manager in the United States would be a good manager abroad. Prior to his 18-month assignment, Mr. X was given some literature pertaining to Japan's geography, climate, banking, and educational institutions and was asked to share this material with his family. However, during the initial six months in Japan, Mr. X was unable to devote much time to company activities because he was preoccupied with problems he and his family were having in adapting to the new environmental setting. Similarly, in the last six months, he often worried about his upcoming job change. He heard that a peer and rival at home had just been promoted to a position for which both men had aspirations. What must he do to get back into the race? While he was trying to strategize about this new assignment, his wife continually questioned him about their new West Coast relocation. The result: In the course of Mr. X's 18-month assignment to Japan, his company lost 98% of its existing market share to a major European competitor. What went wrong? Why was Mr. X, a person with a proven track record in corporate headquarters, such a dismal failure in his assignment to Japan? Mr. X's experience is not unique. In a questionnaire survey of expatriate assignments within 80 U.S. multinationals, it was found that more than half of the companies had failure rates of 10-20%. Some 7% of the respondent firms had recall rates of 30%. 1 ("Failure" in the survey was defined as the inability of an expatriate to perform effectively in a foreign country and, hence, the need for the employee to be fired or recalled home.) These statistics are consistent with the findings of others that approximately 30% of overseas assignments within U.S. multinationals are mistakes. These "casualties" not only represent substantial costs to the companies, but also constitute a human resource waste since most of those who failed had a noteworthy track record in the home office prior to overseas assignment. Such failures often constitute a heavy personal blow to the expatriates' self-esteem and ego. Hence, even if they are accepted back by corporate headquarters, it may take some time before they regain confidence in their own abilities. The unsettling experience for the person's family, both emotionally and physically, represents yet another consequence.
Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma: MDCT Versus MRI in the Detection and Assessment of Locoregional Extension

Purpose: To compare dynamic-contrast enhanced multirow detector computed tomography (MDCT) including multiplanar reformatted images (MPR) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) including magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography images for the detection and assessment of locoregional extension of pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Materials and Methods: Twenty-four patients with and 21 patients without pancreatic adenocarcinoma underwent triple-phase MDCT and MRI. Three radiologists independently attempted to detect pancreatic adenocarcinoma and assess locoregional extension in 3 sessions. First session involved MDCT images. In the second session, radiologists had access to coronal and sagittal MPR images together with the axial images (MDCT + MPR). Third session involved MR images. Results were compared with surgical findings using receiver operating characteristic analysis and kappa statistics. Results: Regarding tumor detection, MDCT + MPR had a significantly higher value for areas under the curve (0.96 ± 0.02) at receiver operating characteristic analysis compared with those of MRI (0.90 ± 0.03) and MDCT (0.85 ± 0.04). MDCT + MPR had the highest mean sensitivity (96%), and MRI had the highest mean specificity (98%). For locoregional extension, MDCT + MPR showed the highest kappa values of the study for all factors evaluated (range, 0.63-0.86). Conclusions: In conclusion, multiphasic MDCT imaging with MPR images was superior to multiphasic MDCT imaging without MPR images and to comprehensive MRI employing 2-D sequences and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography for both the detection and assessment of locoregional extension of pancreatic adenocarcinomas. MRI might be used for further lesion characterization regarding its high specificity.