Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Universal Newborn Hearing Screening: Parental Reflections on Very Early Audiological Management

Objective: This article seeks to understand very early audiological management from a parental perspective, after the early identification of their child's hearing loss through universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS). Design: Data are taken from the national evaluation of the introduction of UNHS in England. Forty-five parents and caregivers participated in a qualitative, narrative study within which they identified key challenges generated by the audiological management of very young babies with hearing loss at home. Results: Concern centered on the virtual timetable constructed by parents after screening, the practical daily management issues and the need to establish infant rather than a child focus in audiological practice. In addition, specific challenges relating to moderate hearing loss were identified. Conclusions: Results are of particular relevance to pediatric audiologists, teachers of the deaf* and those offering early intervention services.
An Interactional Profile to Assist the Differential Diagnosis of Neurodegenerative and Functional Memory Disorders

Objective: Specialist services for dementia are seeing an increasing number of patients. We investigated whether interactional and linguistic features in the communication behavior of patients with memory problems could help distinguish between those with problems secondary to neurological disorders (ND) and those with functional memory disorder (FMD). Methods: In part 1 of this study, a diagnostic scoring aid (DSA) was developed encouraging linguists to provide quantitative ratings for 14 interactional features. An optimal cut-off differentiating ND and FMD was established by applying the DSA to 30 initial patient-doctor memory clinic encounters. In part 2, the DSA was tested prospectively in 10 additional cases analyzed independently by 2 conversation analysts blinded to medical information. Results: In part 1, the median score of the DSA was +5 in ND and −5 in FMD (P<0.001). The optimal numeric DSA cut-off (+1) identified patients with ND with a sensitivity of 86.7% and a specificity of 100%. In part 2, DSA scores of rater 1 correctly predicted 10/10 and those of rater 2 predicted 9/10 diagnoses. Conclusions: This study indicates that interactional and linguistic features can help distinguish between patients developing dementia and those with FMD and could aid the stratification of patients with memory problems.
Method for optimizing methylation-specific PCR.

The methylation of the CpG islands that are associated with the promoters of numerous genes can be associated with gene silencing. Therefore, it is an important area of research, and several techniques have been developed for the rapid and sensitive analysis of methylation. One of these methods is methylation-specific PCR (1). Most commonly, the PCR conditions are optimized using DNA prepared from cell lines that have a relatively homogeneous methylation pattern. However, in the typical tissue specimen, there will be a mixture of cells, with a number of patterns of methylation. We report that the optimization steps, which are appropriate when working with DNA prepared from cell populations with uniform methylation patterns, are not appropriate when analyzing DNA from tissues
The effect of perceived and structural neighborhood conditions on adolescents' physical activity and sedentary behaviors.

OBJECTIVE To test whether physical activity and sedentary behaviors are associated with perceived and structural neighborhood conditions. DESIGN Secondary analysis of data from wave I (1994-1995) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health in the United States. SETTING In-home interviews of adolescents and their parents. PARTICIPANTS Thirteen thousand six hundred sixty-eight adolescents (6794 adolescent boys and 6874 adolescent girls; grades 7-12). MAIN EXPOSURES Perceived neighborhood conditions (public nuisance, acquaintanceship, and informal control measured at both individual and census tract levels) and structural neighborhood characteristics (concentrated poverty, immigrant concentration, and residential stability at the census tract level). OUTCOME MEASURES Failure to meet moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) guidelines (<5 bouts of MVPA per week) and excessive screen time (>2 hours per day). RESULTS Individual-level perception of intermediate (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 0.76; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.68-0.84) or high (OR, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.50-0.61) acquaintanceship and high informal control (OR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.82-0.99) in the neighborhood were negatively associated with failure to meet the MVPA guidelines compared with lower levels. At the census tract level, high informal control (OR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.04-1.29) and intermediate (OR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.01-1.26) and high (OR, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.06-1.40) concentrated poverty compared with lower levels were also associated with failing to meet the MVPA guidelines (when adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics). Compared with the lowest levels, high public nuisance (OR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.04-1.36) and immigrant concentration (OR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.01-1.38) at the census tract level were associated with excessive screen time. CONCLUSION These findings suggest that both perceptual and structural neighborhood factors should be considered to understand adolescents' physical activity and sedentary behaviors.
Measuring Central Bank Independence for Vietnam

Recent instabilities in conducting monetary policy in Vietnam’s macroeconomics demand instant preparations for adopting a new framework: Inflation targeting. In fact, the State bank of Vietnam has shown the International Monetary Fund its willingness to adopt this framework over the past 5 years since 2005. In order to prepare for successfully adopting this framework and reaching price stability, firstly, and most importantly, the central bank needs to have a certain degree of independence. In fact, the negative relationship between the degree of central bank independence (CBI) and inflation is found in both industrialised countries and developing countries. In this study, legal central bank independence indices are calculated for Vietnam according to the newest and most popular methods of Grilli, Masciandaro, and Tabellini (1991) and Cukierman (1992). We compare and conclude that the central bank independence index of Vietnam is lower than that of other emerging countries. In these countries, like Vietnam, the Central bank is a member of Government. Suggestions for the State bank of Vietnam in terms of improvements in lending regulations to government, thus, are provided.
IFRS Adoption Among Private Companies

EU gave the opportunity to each Member State to oblige/allow non-listed (i.e., private) companies to use international financial reporting standards (IFRS). Considering a sample of Italian private companies that switched to IFRS in the time span from 2005 to 2008, we compare financial reporting quality between IFRS adopters and a matched sample of companies still using local (Italian) generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). This should be of interest for the EU Commission in evaluating the impact of the current financial reporting regulation and for EU national regulators, who are left with a certain degree of flexibility in endorsing parts of the European legislation. Overall, our results show that IFRS adoption did not improve reporting quality among private companies but, on the contrary, decreased it. As companies can exploit the level of flexibility embedded in IFRS to pursue their own reporting interests, separate analyses were conducted taking into consideration firms’ incentives. In particular, assuming that entities controlled by listed companies might have switched to IFRS mainly for complying with parent company requirements and/or simplifying the financial reporting process, we run the analyses separately for this sub-sample and other firms. Findings reveal signs of earnings quality deterioration for both groups although the impact seems slightly worse for subsidiaries of listed companies.
Monetary Policy and Yield Curve Dynamics in an Emerging Market: Sri Lankan Perspectives

The monetary policy (MP) targets the short end of the yield curve (YC) although real economic activity is dependent upon the medium to long-term market interest rates. Conventional wisdom is that decrease in the MP target rate leads to an immediate decrease in market interest rates, and an increase in bond prices; yet evidence for this view is elusive. Therefore, the question of how does the MP translate across the YC remains at the forefront of many recent policy debates. Bringing the foundations of expectation hypothesis and empirical analysis of Sri Lanka market interest rates for the period 2000–2009 explains that MP impact monotonically decreases over the YC at the short end and become segmented towards long term of the YC. The impact appears to be weaker and increasingly segmented at times of financial and economic uncertainties. This invites policy attention on the part of MP effectiveness, structural impediments and market confidence in Sri Lanka.
A performance comparison study of continuous and discontinuous hybrid-PWM control for a 3-level neutral point clamped (NPC) traction inverter drive

This paper presents a performance comparison study between the proposed continuous- and discontinuous-hybrid-PWM (C-HPWM, D-HPWM) based techniques used for neutral point clamped (NPC) 3-level inverter. The H-PWM strategy uses both the advantages of carrier and space vector based PWM strategies. The duty cycles are generated using the carrier based strategy to reduce the computational complexity of the system and redundant vector states are used to keep the two DC-link capacitor voltages balanced. Detailed comparison studies are carried out in Matlab/ Simulink® and PLECS to shows the conduction and switching loss distribution with change in modulation index for IGBT and their antiparallel diodes, NPC diode with both control strategies. A 54.0 kW surface PMSM is used for this simulation studies. Moreover, the total inverter loss and torque ripples are also compared. Detailed experimental performances are also carried out with a scaled down prototype with a 6.0 kW surface PMSM, NPC inverter and real time emulator Dspace, to show the capacitor voltage deviation with both control strategies.
Multiuser MIMO in distributed antenna systems with limited feedback

Augmenting the central antennas of a cellular base station with remote radio units (RRUs) has the potential of providing more uniform coverage of the area served by the base station. In distributed antenna systems (DASs) these RRUs are connected to the base station via high bandwidth and low latency links, enabling coherent transmission from potentially all available antennas at the same time. Prior work has identified multiuser transmission over the entire distributed antenna array as a promising technique. In this work, we demonstrate the viability of zero forcing multiuser MIMO DASs with perfect channel state information (CSI) at the transmitter (CSIT) in an LTE simulation framework. Furthermore, the impact of imperfect CSIT, obtained via limited feedback, on the achievable transmission rates is investigated. Specifically, we modify previously derived feedback algorithms to exploit the large scale fading differences inherently existing in DASs.
Supervised Learning Models of fMRI Data for Inferring Brain Function and Predicting Behavior

ii Acknowledgments. iii List of Tables . vii List of Figures . viii Chapter 1: Introduction . 1 1.1 MRI . 1 1.2 Functional MRI . 2 1.3 Functional and Effective connectivity . 3 1.4 Supervised Learning . 4 1.4. 1 Granger causality and Effective connectivity . 5 1.4. 2 Support Vector Machine and Brain state classification . 6 1.5 Motivation and Organization . 8 Chapter 2: Experimental Validation of Dynamic Granger Causality for Inferring Stimulusevoked Sub-100ms Timing Differences from fMRI . 10 2.
The Role of Mid-Range Universities in Knowledge Transfer in Non-Metropolitan Regions in Central Eastern Europe

This paper focuses on the specific role of mid-range universities in knowledge transfer and explores the knowledge flows from these mid-range universities which face a number of additional constraints in transitional Central Eastern European (CEE) regions. The first part focuses on the theoretical framework of knowledge transfers and on the types of university–industry linkages involving knowledge transfer in the case of mid-range universities. The next section examines the development path and specific trajectories of universities in post-communist countries. The following sections draw on the findings of the ERAWATCH research and focus on cases from the non-metropolitan regions of Hungary and the Czech Republic in order to examine the specific barriers to knowledge transfer and explain the reasons behind the traditionally weaker role of mid-range universities. The paper argues that ambitious university-based developmental models have to be revised in CEE regions and the future development role of universities has to be reconsidered from a more realistic perspective.
Protein Z/Z‐dependent protease inhibitor (PZ/ZPI) anticoagulant system and thrombosis

A new anticoagulant system involving a serpin has been recently characterised. The protein Z/Z‐dependent protease inhibitor (PZ/ZPI) system inhibits activated factors X, XI and IX by different mechanisms. By homology with other anticoagulant systems (antithrombin or the protein C/protein S), deficiency of the serpin (ZPI) or its cofactor (PZ) might imbalance the haemostatic system with thrombotic consequences. Evidence supports the in vivo anticoagulant role of this complex and the thrombotic consequences of its deficiency. Non‐sense variations of the ZPI (W303X and R67X) have been associated with increased risk of venous thrombosis. Moreover, PZ deficient mice carrying the FV Leiden have a thrombotic phenotype. Finally, some reports suggest that PZ deficiency might increase the risk of thrombosis. However, other studies question the thrombotic relevance of both ZPI and PZ deficiencies. This system could play a redundant role in haemostasis that explains the conflicting results on its thrombotic potential, which might be exacerbated in combination with other prothrombotic factors.
Testing Onion Market Integration in Pakistan

This paper analyses spatial market integration using monthly wholesale real price of onion in four regional markets located in each of the four provinces of Pakistan. Unit root test indicates that the price series in each location are stationary, and the series are represented as autoregressive model for eachlocation. The error correction model results show that the regional markets of onion have strong price linkages, and thus are spatially integrated.
Relationship Between Native and Recombinant Cholecystokinin Receptors: Role of Differential Glycosylation

&NA; In an attempt to establish the relationship between the protein encoded by the recently cloned type A cholecystokinin (CCK) receptor cDNA and the two distinct plasmalemmal proteins on the rat pancreatic acinar cell that were previously described as candidates to represent this receptor, we have established a Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line stably expressing large amounts of this recombinant protein and have used biochemical methods to characterize it directly. Upon affinity labeling, this protein migrated faster on a sodium do-decyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel than the Mr 85,000–95,000 molecule previously felt to represent the best candidate. However, deglycosylation with endoglycosi-dase F demonstrated that it had the same size core protein as that candidate, and this identification was further supported by protease peptide mapping. We postulated that the structural differences between the recombinant and the native proteins related to differences in glycosylation. Consistent with this, lectin-binding experiments demonstrated that both represented complex glycoproteins but that only the native receptor-bound Ulex europeus agglutinin I. Since this lectin binds to fucose residues that are added late in glycoprotein biosynthesis, it is possible that the distinct processing observed affected only that step. In spite of this structural difference, the type A CCK receptor-bearing CHO cell CCK receptor was functionally indistinguishable from the native acinar cell receptor. This included its ability to initiate signaling cascades, its sensitivity to stable GTP analogues, and its binding affinities for agonists and antagonists. The fidelity of this receptor expression system, while representing a 25-fold increase in receptor density over the native pancreatic acinar cell, should provide an ideal substrate for the examination of structure-function relationships within this molecule.
Appropriation of Technology as a Creative Process

The developers of software create software, and the users of software engage in a process of its appropriation. This article describes how these processes can be analyzed within a framework based on systems theory. At least three areas are worthy of attention: The distinction between use of software and use of “hard” technology; the appropriation of software at managerial level and creativity as a recursive process in multi-level systems. It is hoped that this framework might provide a useful research tool in furthering understanding of the creative process occurring in software applications.
Fine mapping by linkage and association in nuclear family and case‐control designs

This report summarizes the Genetic Analysis Workshop 14 contributions related to fine‐mapping strategies, in which examining smaller regions by association with single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) can yield savings in genotyping and multiple‐testing penalties. The aim of the analyses conducted in Group 7 contributions was to localize disease susceptibility loci from either the simulated or the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) data within identified regions of linkage. Among the 10 contributions, most groups analyzed the simulated data, one group analyzed the COGA data only, and one group analyzed both data sets. The research questions included evaluation of new methods of analysis, as well as comparisons among alternative methods, analytic strategies, and study designs. Methods of interest included an algorithm for SNP marker ordering, a locally weighted transmission disequilibrium test statistic, a likelihood‐ratio test statistic for family‐based association in nuclear families, a robust test statistic for case‐control association studies, and Bayesian spatial modeling methods for haplotype clustering and association. Evaluations included comparisons among confidence intervals for loci detected via linkage, effects of multiple testing adjustments and trade‐offs between type I error and power, comparisons among haplotype‐based (multilocus) and genotype‐based (multilocus and single‐locus) association analyses, and design of fine‐mapping and replication studies. While several promising new approaches were identified, further development and evaluation of methods for multiple testing, regression modeling of association with multiple markers and haplotypes, and combined treatment of linkage and association data are necessary if we are to identify many of the genes that contribute to complex traits. Genet. Epidemiol. 29(Suppl. 1):S48–S58, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
THE INFLUENCE OF GROWTH DURATION ON SHARE PRICES

THE SPECTACULAR INVESTMENT performance of "growth stocks" in recent years has focused attention on the problem of evaluating the securities of fast-growing companies. Unfortunately, methods for placing valuations on such securities are not yet adequately developed, and investors make their buy-and-sell decisions as best they can. That a company's high rate of "growth" may come to an end is an important, but little-emphasized, investment consideration in the evaluation of growth stocks. To call attention to this point, we present in this paper an exploratory analysis of the relationship between price-earnings ratio, rate of growth, and the duration of growth. In omitting risk from the present analysis, we are explicitly neglecting the fact that investments in growth stocks are often riskier than in non-growth stocks. Consistent with this, the capitalization rates for both kinds of securities are assumed to be the same, and hence any differences in their price-earnings ratios are attributable to differences in their growth of earnings. The obvious investment success of growth stocks has led investors to seek out these securities for purchase, with the result that their prices have been driven up so that growth stocks now generally carry high price-earnings ratios. But just how high it is wise for investors to drive price-earnings ratios is not clear. If a growth stock is evaluated by discounting future growing dividends back to the present, the paradoxical result is obtained that an infinite price-earnings ratio is justified for a stock whose dividends per share are expected to grow at a (per cent per annum) rate that is higher than the discount rate. This clearly untenable result comes from the implicit assumption of an indefinite continuation of exponential growth and may be
Mapping the surface regions of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAK pilin: the importance of the C‐terminal region for adherence to human buccal epithelial cells

The adherence of non‐mucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains is believed to be mediated by the pilus, which consists of a single protein subunit of 15000 Oaltons called pilin. Ten antipeptide antisera were raised to map the surface regions of pilin from P. aeruginosa strain K (PAK). Only one of the antipeptide antisera to the eight predicted surface regions failed to react with PAK pili in direct ELISA. Five out of eight synthetic peptides representing the eight predicted surface regions reacted with anti‐PAK pilus anti‐serum, indicating their surface exposure. Combining the antipeptide and antipilus antisera results, all eight predicted surface regions were demonstrated to be surface‐exposed. The PAK 128‐144‐OH peptide produced the best binding antiserum to PAK pili. Only antipeptide Fab fragments directed against the disulphide bridged C‐terminal region of PAK piiin blocked the adherence of pili to human buccal epithelial cells, which suggests that this region contains the receptor‐binding domain of the PAK pilus.
Do political budget cycles really exist?

Most recent cross-country studies on election-motivated fiscal policy assume that the data can be pooled. As various tests suggest that our data for some 70 democratic countries for the period 1970–2007 cannot be pooled, we use the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) estimator to test whether Political Budget Cycles (PBCs) exist in our sample. We find that fiscal policy is only affected by upcoming elections in the short run. Our results suggest that the occurrence of a PBC is conditional on the level of development and democracy, government transparency, the country's political system, its membership of a monetary union and its degree of political polarization.