Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Different malaria control activities in an area of Liberia--effects on malariometric parameters.

The epidemiology of malaria was studied in a West African mining town (Yekepa) and three surrounding zones defined as Close, Middle and Far areas. Malariometric parameters were investigated in children two to nine years of age at the end of the rainy season. In Yekepa, vector control measures and intense suppression of malaria with drugs had created an almost hypoendemic situation with a spleen rate of 11%. In Close area, vector control was applied to some extent and malaria drugs were frequently used for treatment; the spleen rate was 40%. In Middle area, a mobile clinic provided sporadic malaria treatment to small children, but the clinic did not reach out to Far area. The spleen rates were 95 and 99%, respectively. Three species of Plasmodium were found in all areas. The prevalences in Far area were P. falciparum 82%, P. malariae 39% and P. ovale 9%. The crude parasite rates increased from 13% in Yekepa to 92% in Far area, whereas haematocrit levels decreased from 37.6 to 35.2, respectively. Plasmodium falciparum seropositivity, as measured by indirect immunofluorescence, was 74% in Yekepa and 99% in Middle and Far areas. Total IgG concentrations ranged from 18 g1(-1) in Yekepa to 33 g1(-1) in Far area. Three main anopheline species were found in the zones outside Yekepa. Their relative frequencies in Far area were Anopheles funestus 45%, A. hancocki 37%, and A. gambiae 18%. The local inoculation rates gradually increased outwards from Yekepa from less than 0.01 to 0.17 inoculations per man and night at the beginning of the dry season. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Fiji's Tourism Demand: The ARDL Approach to Cointegration

This paper examines the short-run and long-run relationships between visitor arrivals in Fiji, real disposable incomes and relative hotel and substitute prices for the period 1970–2000, using cointegration techniques and error correction models. The paper uses a cointegration technique – the bounds testing approach developed within an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) framework – that has not previously been used to estimate tourism demand models. The main advantage of the approach is that, apart from providing robust results in small sample sizes, it needs no a priori knowledge about the integration properties of the variables. The long-run results indicate that growth in income in Fiji's main tourist source markets has a positive impact on visitor arrivals while relative hotel and substitute prices have negative impacts on visitor arrivals. The findings are consistent with economic theory and proffer important policy implications.
Trends in Inequality Using Consumption-Expenditures: The U.S. from 1960 to 1993

While much of the evidence suggests that there was an increase in inequality in the United States during the 1980s, the reasons are less evident. Using the U.S. Consumer Expenditure Survey data, the authors find that the inequality of consumption-expenditures, as well as the inequality of other measures of resources, widened considerably during the 1980s. While previous studies suggest that increasing inequality is mainly due to increases in within group inequality, they show that by decomposing inequality by the interaction of family type and education almost three-fourths of the increase in inequality is accounted for by changes in inequality between groups and by shifts in the population. Copyright 1997 by The International Association for Research in Income and Wealth.
Octreotide potentiates PKC-dependent vasoconstrictors in portal-hypertensive and control rats.

BACKGROUND & AIMS The effect of octreotide on vascular tone in the superior mesenteric artery (SMA) was studied in portal-hypertensive (portal vein-ligated) and sham-operated rats. METHODS In vitro-perfused SMA vascular beds were tested for the cumulative dose-response to octreotide at baseline conditions and after preconstriction with different vasoconstrictors (alpha1-agonist methoxamine, endothelin [ET-1], phorbol ester [PdBu], and potassium chloride [KCl]). RESULTS Octreotide did not affect baseline perfusion pressures (without preconstriction). alpha1-Adrenergic-, ET-1-, and PdBu-, but not KCl-, induced vasoconstriction was significantly potentiated by octreotide. This effect was dose-dependent and not different in portal vein-ligated and sham rats. Amplification of alpha1-adrenergic vasoconstriction by octreotide was significantly enhanced by nitric oxide inhibition (N(W)-nitro-L-arginine, 10(-4) mol/L) as well as by removal of the endothelium, and was completely suppressed by inhibition of protein kinase C (calphostin C, 1 micromol/L), phospholipase A2 (quinacrine, 5 micromol/L), and cyclooxygenase (indomethacin, 20 micromol/L). CONCLUSIONS Not directly, but in the presence of vasoconstrictors involving activation of protein kinase C, octreotide exerts a local vasoconstrictive effect on vascular smooth muscle of SMA. This potentiation is equipotent in portal vein-ligated and sham rats, immediate in onset, and mediated via phospholipase A2 and cyclooxygenase-derived prostanoids. This indicates that in preprandial conditions octreotide enhances the vasoconstrictive effect of dependent vasoconstrictors.
Immunocytochemical Demonstration of Proopiomelanocortin-derived Peptides in Pituitary Adenomas of the Pars Intermedia in Horses

Adenomas of the pars intermedia from 19 horses and normal pituitary glands from seven horses were evaluated histologically and immunocytochemically for adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), α-mela-nocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH), β-endorphin (β-END), proopiomelanocortin (POMC), prolactin, neuron specific enolase, and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). The 26 horses ranged in age from 7 to 31 years. Histologically, all adenomas had a uniform pattern characterized by cords of large columnar cells forming palisades and pseudoacini separated by a delicate fibrovascular stroma. Immunostaining of adenomas derived from the pars intermedia was similar to that of non-neoplastic equine pars intermedia. An immunocytochemical evaluation revealed a diffuse, strong cytoplasmic reaction for POMC, a moderate to strong reaction for α-MSH and β-END, a weak reaction for ACTH, and negative immunostaining for prolactin, GFAP, and neuron specific enolase in the adenomas. The unique clinicopathologic syndrome that develops in horses with pituitary adenomas appears to be the result of an over-production of POMC-derived peptides in addition to space-occupying effects resulting in dysfunction of the hypothalamus and neurohypophysis.
The contribution of tourism to employment in Germany - assessment within a TSA employment module and impact analysis.

Tourism activities of private households and industry lead on the demand side to numerous purchases of a wide variety of goods and services. Due to its cross-sectional economic character this demand is produced on the supply side by a wide, partially very heterogeneous range of industries with very different employment characteristics (e.g. qualification, type of employment). The employment module of the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) provides a consistent framework for estimating the direct employment within the tourism characteristic industries. For Germany such a TSA employment module has been compiled, some of its results are presented in this paper. Due to the fact that the employment module only specifies the direct employment within the tourism industries the full employment impact of private tourism consumption across the whole economy has been finally estimated within two macroeconomic model calculations.
An Exploratory Study of the Managerial Implications of Valuing Brands

SUMMARY This paper reports the results of interdisciplinary research extending the work of Mather and Peasnell (1991) reported in an earlier issue of this journal. Mather and Peasnell conducted an empirical analysis of the economic circumstances surrounding decisions to capitalize brands. This study investigates the managerial implications of periodically assessing and capitalizing the value of brands. Exploratory interviews were conducted with the key players in brand valuation activity, namely marketing and finance officials in brand-valuing companies and two senior personnel in the leading international brand-valuing agency. The recent inception of brand valuation in the accounts of several strong branded British companies provides an excellent research opportunity to explore a relatively novel managerial activity and its internal implications. These implications are reviewed under the headings: planning and control, the accounting/marketing interface, authorization of brand-related expenditure and brand-related decision making. An important finding of the study is that, while the original impetus for brand valuation came from balance sheet considerations, other unforseen managerial advantages are now widely perceived to accrue from brand valuation. The majority of current brand valuation activity appears to be driven more by management information needs, which are served by the evaluation phase of the exercise, than by a desire to capitalize brands in the published statements.
The Impact Of Tourism Development On Residents' Perceptions Of Community Life

Thepurpose of this study was to determine whether residents' perceptions of community life satisfaction vary with the levels of tourism development in theircommunity. Thestudy was conducted in 20 rural communities as part of the 1985 Colorado Rural Recreation Development Project administered by the University of Colorado-Boulder. A comprehen sive questionnaire investigating residents'perceptions of the importance of and their satis faction with seven dimensions of community life was distributed to one adult member of randomly selected households in each community. The seven dimensions ofcommunity life were public services, economics, environment, medical services, citizen involvement, for mal education, and recreation services. In order to determine which dimensions were most sensitive to changes in the level of tourism development, canonical analysis was conducted using tourism development ratings and community population as the set of independent variables and the seven importance and seven satisfaction ratings as the set ofdependent variables. Two significant canonical variates (p<.001) were found revealing that the relationship between tourism development and satisfaction or importance of community dimensions is generally nonlinear with citizen involvement, public services, and the environment being most sensitive to tourism development.
Semi-structural models of advertising competition

We propose a semi-structural discrete-choice model that can be used to estimate static or dynamic decision rules. It is particularly useful in strategic contexts when games involve a rich set of choices, when private information is correlated, and when one wants to uncover the effect of historic behavior (on, for example, prices, sales, and profits). We apply our discrete-choice estimator to study decision rules for a dynamic game of price and advertising competition, and we evaluate the long-run consequences of those rules. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
What Do We Know About the Profitability of Technical Analysis?

The purpose of this paper is to review the evidence on the profitability of technical analysis. The empirical literature is categorized into two groups, 'early' and 'modern' studies, according to the characteristics of testing procedures. Early studies indicate that technical trading strategies are profitable in foreign exchange markets and futures markets, but not in stock markets. Modern studies indicate that technical trading strategies consistently generate economic profits in a variety of speculative markets at least until the early 1990s. Among a total of 95 modern studies, 56 studies find positive results regarding technical trading strategies, 20 studies obtain negative results, and 19 studies indicate mixed results. Despite the positive evidence on the profitability of technical trading strategies, most empirical studies are subject to various problems in their testing procedures, e.g. data snooping, ex post selection of trading rules or search technologies, and difficulties in estimation of risk and transaction costs. Future research must address these deficiencies in testing in order to provide conclusive evidence on the profitability of technical trading strategies. Copyright 2007 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
One year follow up of macular translocation with 360 degree retinotomy in patients with age related macular degeneration

Aim: To evaluate the benefits of macular translocation with 360 degree retinotomy in patients with exudative age related macular degeneration (ARMD). Methods: A consecutive interventional case series was performed on patients who underwent macular translocation between June 1997 and January 2000 at the department of ophthalmology, University of Aachen, Germany. A retrospective pilot study was set up with a minimum follow up of 12 months in 39 consecutive patients with subfoveal choroidal neovascularisation secondary to ARMD. The surgical technique included pars plana vitrectomy, induction of retinal detachment, 360 degree retinotomy, removal of the choroidal neovascular membranes (CNVM), macular translocation, peripheral laser retinopexy, and silicone oil endotamponade. Results: 18 patients showed predominantly occult CNVM, six patients had predominantly classic CNVM, and 15 showed subretinal haemorrhage. At the 12 month follow up 13 patients (33%) showed an improvement in visual acuity of more than three lines (logMAR scale), 18 patients (46%) retained stable visual acuity with a change of equal or less than three lines (logMAR scale), and eight patients (21%) showed a decrease in visual acuity of more than three lines (logMAR scale). Recurrence of CNVM was observed in three (8%) eyes at 5–11 months postoperatively. Other complications included proliferative vitreoretinopathy with retinal detachment (n=10), peripheral epiretinal membranes (n=9), macular pucker (n=2), corneal decompensation (n=2), and hypotony (n=11). 18 patients (46%) complained about persistent diplopia. Conclusion: Macular translocation surgery is able to maintain or improve distant vision in the majority of patients with exudative ARMD. Proliferative vitreoretinopathy and diplopia are the two major complications. A prospective randomised controlled trial comparing macular translocation with observation for patients with the occult form of exudative ARMD may be justified.
The Role of Land Use in Travel Mode Choice: Evidence from Boston and Hong Kong

Abstract This article presents a study that analyzed the influence of land use on travel mode choice using survey data from Metropolitan Boston and Hong Kong. In Boston, the focus of inquiry was on whether land use would still matter for mode choice (and if so, to what extent) when mode attributes and traveler socioeconomic characteristics were taken into account. In Hong Kong, where the role of land use in mode choice is obvious due to the densely built environment, the focus was on whether land use completely explained the transit-dominated travel pattern. The empirical modeling confirmed that the role of land use in influencing travel was independent from travel time and monetary costs. Elasticity estimates show that the composite effect of land use on driving could be comparable in magnitude to that of driving cost. Yet being place specific, land use strategies are limited by the spatial extent to which they can be implemented. Land use strategies influence travel more effectively when complemented by pricing policies.
Liquidity Shocks and Asset Price Boom/Bust Cycles

We provide systematic evidence for the association of liquidity shocks and aggregate asset prices during mechanically identified asset price boom/bust episodes for 18 OECD countries since the 1970s, while taking care of the endogeneity of money and credit. Our derivation of liquidity shocks allows for frequent shifts in velocity as they are derived as structural shocks from VARs in growth rates. Residential property price developments and money growth shocks accumulated over the boom periods are able to well explain the depth of post-boom recessions. We further suggest that liquidity shocks are a driving factor for real estate prices during boom episodes. During normal times however, the relative predictive power of liquidity shocks seems to shift from asset price inflation to consumer price inflation. The results only hold for broad money growth based liquidity shocks and not for private credit growth shocks. JEL Classification: C33, E41, E51, E58
Tax policy and yardstick voting in Flemish municipal elections

Recent theoretical papers develop political agency models in which voters compare tax policy with that in neighbouring jurisdictions. In these yardstick competition models voters judge incumbents by comparing their policy with policy in neighbouring jurisdictions. This paper reports an analysis of municipal elections in Flanders during the period 1982 to 2000 and finds empirical evidence for yardstick voting. Incumbents are punished for higher tax rates. Importantly, the electoral punishment also depends on tax rates in neighbouring municipalities. Higher rates in neighbouring municipalities are favourable for the incumbents.
The Effect of Competition Intensity and Competition Type on the Use of Customer Satisfaction Measures in Executive Annual Bonus Contracts

ABSTRACT: This paper empirically examines the interactive effect of competition intensity and competition type on the use of customer satisfaction measures in executives' annual bonus contracts. Specifically, we predict a stronger association between competition intensity in an industry and the use of customer satisfaction measures in executives' annual bonus contracts when the competition is non-price-based than when the competition is price-based. Using hand-collected data from Standard & Poor's (S&P) 1500 firms' disclosures of the use of customer satisfaction measures in executive bonus contracts in 2006 and 2010 proxy statements, we find results consistent with our prediction. Our results are robust to alternative measures of competition type and competition intensity. We also find similar results when we use the weight on customer satisfaction measures in executive bonus contracts as the dependent variable. Our study extends the literature on the effect of competition on the design of managerial ince.
An Exploratory Study on Assessing the Impact of Environment Variations on the Results of Load Tests

Large-scale software systems like Amazon and healthcare.gov are used by thousands or millions of people every day. To ensure the quality of these systems, load testing is a required testing procedure in addition to the conventional functional testing techniques like unit and system integration testing. One of the important requirements of load testing is to create a field-like test environment. Unfortunately, this task is often very challenging due to reasons like security and rapid field updates. In this paper, we have conducted an exploratory study on the impact of environment variations on the results of load tests. We have run over 110 hours load tests, which examine the system's behavior under load with various changes (e.g., installing an antivirus program) to the targeted deployment environment. We call such load tests as environment-variation-based load tests. Case studies in three open source systems have shown that there is a clear performance impact on the system's performance due to these environment changes. Different scenarios react differently to the changes in the underlying computing resources. When predicting the performance of the system under environment changes that are not previously load tested, our ensemble models out-perform (24% - 94% better) the baseline models.
Income Disparities and Employment and Occupational Changes in New York

PRESTON V. And MCLAFFERTY S. (1993) Income disparities and employment and occupational changes in New York, Reg. Studies 27, 223–235. To determine how deindustrialization and the growth of service employment have affected geographic disparities in income within urban areas, we examined empirically the spatial distribution of household income in the New York CMSA between 1960 and 1980 and the associations between income growth and employment and occupational change. Geographic disparities in median household income increased as wealth dispersed to the periphery and income grew slowly in counties adjacent to Manhattan. Despite the loss of 400,000 manufacturing jobs, total employment increased, albeit unevenly. On the periphery, employment in all sectors grew rapidly, while the inner counties lost manufacturing jobs. Loss of blue-collar workers did not alter occupational segregation substantially. Correlation analysis revealed that income growth was associated significantly with employment growth in all sect.
Balance of payments consistent unreported flows

The paper develops a Balance of Payments (BOP)-consistent procedure for estimating unreported flows. Using data between 1990 and 2007, total unreported flows of selected Asian countries is estimated at $4.7 trillion, or more than 80% of the countries’ 2007 total gross domestic product. Results reveal that unreported flows increase with reported and accumulated unreported flows. Financial depth and governance of the real sector decrease unreported flows, whereas economic growth and weakness in the governance of reported flows increase unreported flows. Results also reveal that unbalanced financial and real sector development contributes to the unreported flows. Lastly, the paper argues that there is an opportunity to reverse the situation through a judicious application of capital flow and trade flow management techniques and development and improvement in capacity, including governance, to internalize resources and converting them into desired outcomes.
SteganoPIN: Two-Faced Human–Machine Interface for Practical Enforcement of PIN Entry Security

Users typically reuse the same personalized identification number (PIN) for multiple systems and in numerous sessions. Direct PIN entries are highly susceptible to shoulder-surfing attacks as attackers can effectively observe PIN entry with concealed cameras. Indirect PIN entry methods proposed as countermeasures are rarely deployed because they demand a heavier cognitive workload for users. To achieve security and usability, we present a practical indirect PIN entry method called SteganoPIN. The human-machine interface of SteganoPIN is two numeric keypads, one covered and the other open, designed to physically block shoulder-surfing attacks. After locating a long-term PIN in the more typical layout, through the covered permuted keypad, a user generates a one-time PIN that can safely be entered in plain view of attackers. Forty-eight participants were involved in investigating the PIN entry time and error rate of SteganoPIN. Our experimental manipulation used a within-subject factorial design with two independent variables: PIN entry system (standard PIN, SteganoPIN) and PIN type (system-chosen PIN, user-chosen PIN). The PIN entry time in SteganoPIN (5.4-5.7 s) was slower but acceptable, and the error rate (0-2.1%) was not significantly different from that of the standard PIN. SteganoPIN is resilient to camera-based shoulder-surfing attacks over multiple authentication sessions. It remains limited to PIN-based authentication.