Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Partial and incremental PCMH practice transformation: implications for quality and costs.

OBJECTIVE To examine the associations between partial and incremental implementation of the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model and measures of cost and quality of care. DATA SOURCE We combined validated, self-reported PCMH capabilities data with administrative claims data for a diverse statewide population of 2,432 primary care practices in Michigan. These data were supplemented with contextual data from the Area Resource File. STUDY DESIGN We measured medical home capabilities in place as of June 2009 and change in medical home capabilities implemented between July 2009 and June 2010. Generalized estimating equations were used to estimate the mean effect of these PCMH measures on total medical costs and quality of care delivered in physician practices between July 2009 and June 2010, while controlling for potential practice, patient cohort, physician organization, and practice environment confounders. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Based on the observed relationships for partial implementation, full implementation of the PCMH model is associated with a 3.5 percent higher quality composite score, a 5.1 percent higher preventive composite score, and $26.37 lower per member per month medical costs for adults. Full PCMH implementation is also associated with a 12.2 percent higher preventive composite score, but no reductions in costs for pediatric populations. Incremental improvements in PCMH model implementation yielded similar positive effects on quality of care for both adult and pediatric populations but were not associated with cost savings for either population. CONCLUSIONS Estimated effects of the PCMH model on quality and cost of care appear to improve with the degree of PCMH implementation achieved and with incremental improvements in implementation.
Thermal comfort in practice.

UNLABELLED Since the early twentieth century when air-conditioning began penetrating the market in a serious way, there has been a need for human factors research upon which HVAC engineering practice could be based. Now we have nearly a century of thermal comfort research from climate chambers and much has been learnt in that time. By stripping the research problem back to essential cause-and-effect variables, climate chamber methods have delivered results that are amenable to rigorous data analyses leading to unequivocal conclusions. However, in the minds of HVAC practitioners there are persistent doubts about the experiential realism of the chamber methodology, and the external validity of their findings, in particular, their relevance to building occupants going about their normal daily routines in fully-engineered indoor climatic environments. In response to this methodological concern in the 1990s, ASHRAE commissioned a series of thermal comfort studies aimed at field validating the findings of climate chamber research and the HVAC standards based upon them in a variety of climatic contexts around the world. This paper discusses the methodological benefits and constraints of conventional climate chamber research in comparison to the field-based alternative. In particular, issues such as sample size and demographics, research design, instrumentation and indoor climatic measurement procedures, questionnaires, clothing insulation and metabolic rate assessment techniques are analyzed. The discussion of methodology is then extended to the discipline of environmental psychology, which should have made a much more significant contribution to the topic of thermal comfort, and yet has remained relatively silent. The paper finishes by considering why engineers, most notably P.O. Fanger, have come to dominate a research topic that falls so clearly within the scope of psychology. HVAC engineering is the profession most directly occupied in the practice of thermal comfort, and therefore an engineer such as Fanger has been ideally qualified to design and conduct research, and even more important, presents its results in a way most directly useful to thermal comfort practitioners. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS The paper gives practical advice on evaluating and designing for thermal comfort.
Food insecurity among adults with severe mental illness.

Dr. Christina Mangurian, M.D., Ms Nina Sreshta, B.A., and Dr. Hilary Seligman, M.D., M.A.S. Dr. Mangurian and Dr. Seligman are affiliated with San Francisco General Hospital. Dr. Mangurian is also with the Department of Psychiatry and Dr. Seligman is also with the Division of General Internal Medicine, both at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Ms. Sreshta is a student at the School of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
Does labor–management partnership deprive union members of activism toward their unions? Evidence from union members in Korea

This study aims to analyze whether partnership ideology really deprives union members of the willingness and passion to act for their union, resulting in union decline, and whether militant unionism, which includes adversarial ideology against employers is more effective for igniting members' activism for their unions rather than labor–management partnership. The survey data were obtained from union members working in Mechanical and Metal Manufacturers Complex, Changwon, Republic of Korea. Judging from the overall results of the data analysis, Kelly's (1996) claim that moderate unionism based on partnership ideology would undermine members' activism for their unions was not supported; on the contrary, partnership ideology had positive effects on both members' activism for their unions and decision-making practices. The difference between partnership and militancy is that militancy had an intensive effect on the narrow focus of union activities, but the impact of partnership achieved a better balance between participation in union activities and in management decision making.
The Eect of Institutions on Primary Vote Choice

The 2008 presidential nomination process provides us with a unique opportunity to examine the effect of institutions on voting behavior. The varying length and competitiveness of the Democratic and Republican campaigns, and the variety of types of contests used, allow us to assess how institutions influenced individual voting behavior. Using a new panel data set that traces candidate preferences throughout the nomination process and general election campaigns, we examine the relationship between candidate preference rankings, open primary rules, and the timing and competitiveness of the race. Most notably, we find that open-primaries were related to increased support for John McCain when the Republican race was competitive, but decreased support for him later in the primary season, reflecting insincere voting in the still competitive Democratic contest by otherwise Republican primary voters. More generally, the nature and extent of insincere voting in primary elections appears to depend on institutional factors and campaign context. The 2008 primary season kicked off in Iowa with voters delivering a surprising victory to Mike Huckabee in the Republican caucus. John McCain, the eventual nominee, finished a distant fourth— more than 20 percentage points behind Huckabee.1 Yet just five days later McCain walked away with a resounding victory in the New Hampshire primary, claiming 37 percent of the vote, and propelling him back into the spotlight. As a Washington Post article explained, “After starting 2007 as the presumptive favorite, McCain saw his big-budget campaign fall apart.Donors stopped giving. Most of his advisors quit. Pundits declared him finished.McCain’s [New Hampshire] victory amounts to a dramatic resurrection for the 71-year-old veteran. ”2 This, of course, was not the first time McCain bounced back from a defeat in Iowa with a strong showing in New Hampshire. And like in 2000, the 2008 win was largely attributed to his support among Independents. As Phil Paulino and Daron Shaw explain, the conventional wisdom was that “independent-minded Granite Staters turned away from the favorite of the party leaders to a maverick outsider.McCain succeeded in New Hampshire and elsewhere because he was better able to win the votes of independents attracted to his reform agenda than the more traditional Republican candidates” (497). Indeed, the 2008 New Hampshire exit polls found that McCain beat Romney by 11 points among self-identified Independents, but he actually (just) lost to Romney among self-identified Republicans. Critically, the primary rules in New Hampshire allow Independents to vote in the Republican (or Democratic) primary—unaffiliated voters are able to Moreover, his fundraising numbers in the invisible primary ($41m) lagged behind both Romney ($88m) and Guiliani ($61), offering an additional challenge to the standard primary prediction models (Haynes et al. 1997). Michael Shear and Juliet Eilperin, “Romney 2nd in GOP Contest; Iowa Winner Huckabee is 3rd, The Washington Post, January 9, 2008.
Predictors of the progression of functional disability in patients with ankylosing spondylitis.

OBJECTIVE To identify patient characteristics that predict the short term (5 yr) rate of progression of functional disability in ankylosing spondylitis (AS). METHODS In a prospective longitudinal study, 212 patients with AS reported information on health status on biannual mailed questionnaires. The median duration of followup was 5 yrs (range 1-7.5 yrs). Functional disability was measured using the Health Assessment Questionnaire for the Spondyloarthropathies (HAQ-S; possible range 0-3). Predictors of the rate of change in the HAQ-S over time included demographic characteristics, number of comorbid conditions, age at onset of AS, peripheral arthritis, smoking, body mass index, social support (measured by the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List, ISEL), current and past physical activity at work, current and past recreational activity, severity of pain and stiffness, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug use, and frequency of back exercise. Associations between the predictors and the rate of progression of functional disability (HAQ-S units/yr) were tested using pooled time series regression analysis. RESULTS Patients were mostly middle-aged (mean 48 yrs), male (70%), white (86%), and well educated (mean 15.5 yrs), with an average duration of AS of 20 yrs and little functional disability at study entry (mean HAQ-S 0.66). Over a median of 5 yrs, the HAQ-S increased at an average rate of 0.0168 units/yr. In multivariate analyses, older age (change in slope +0.0007 units/yr of age; p = 0.0008) and smoking (change in slope +0.0313 units/yr; p < 0.0001) were associated with more rapid progression, while more frequent back exercise (change in slope -0.0019 units/yr per each additional day/week; p < 0.0001) and better social support (change in slope -0.003 units/yr per 10 point increase in ISEL score; p = 0.05) were associated with improvement in functional disability over time. Smoking and lack of social support were also associated with the progression of functional disability in the subgroup of 58 patients who had AS < 10 yrs at entry. CONCLUSION Functional disability in AS progresses more rapidly in older patients and smokers, and less rapidly in those who regularly do back exercises and have better social support.
10 years of innovation studies in Asia through the Asian Journal of Technology Innovation

Since Asian Journal of Technology Innovation (AJTI) was created in 2004, 10 years have passed and diverse professionals and business experts in the field of technology innovation have involved in the publication of the journal. This paper analyzes the evolution characteristics of AJTI authors and articles like research goals, methodologies, sample sizes and time horizons, innovation research fields and so on over the last 10 years. It was found that nationalities and affiliations of AJTI authors are rapidly being diversified and globalized. AJTI articles increasingly adopt sophisticated research. As result, the sample sizes of AJTI articles are becoming larger and larger including panel data and their time horizons also tend to be longitudinal. We also found that the relative importance of innovation issues in AJTI articles has changed over time following a scholarly trend among innovation studies.
What role does intestinal permeability have in IBD pathogenesis?

The single layer of epithelial cells lining the lumen of the gastrointestinal tract has a dual function. The first, and most well studied, is that of absorption. These cells are remarkably well adapted to absorb dietary nutrients from the lumen of the intestine. However, in addition to nutrient absorption, these cells must prevent the absorption of a large array of molecules from the intestinal lumen. These may represent dietary components or antigens as well as the end products of bacterial digestion and metabolism. This attribute is what is described as the barrier function of the intestine. Wherever we observe complicated physiological systems, we also observe that derangement of these systems often induce disease. Derangement of intestinal barrier function has been implicated in a variety of conditions and a 3-step model of disease pathogenesis makes sense. These 3 steps are:
The platelet-function analyzer (PFA-100 ® ) for evaluating primary hemostasis

Abstract The platelet-function analyzer, PFA-100 ®, is a relatively novel method for rapid in vitro global evaluation of primary hemostasis. The aim of this review is to summarize the published studies reporting on the utility of the PFA-100 ® device as a screening tool for primary hemostasis. Data were identified by searches of the published literature, including PubMed, references from reviews and abstracts from the most important meetings on this topic. The literature data support the use of the PFA-100 ® as a useful screening tool for the investigation of von Willebrand's disease and other acquired and congenital intrinsic platelet function disorders. Moreover, it is useful for evaluating primary hemostasis before surgical procedures and for monitoring desmopressin therapy in both von Willebrand's disease and platelet function disorders. Given its high sensitivity, speed and simplicity of use, we conclude that the PFA-100 ® could replace the in vivo bleeding time as a screening test for primary hemostasis in routine clinical practice.
Taiwan's financial holding companies: an empirical investigation based on Markov regime-switching model

Though the Financial Holding Company Act in Taiwan permits banks, securities firms and insurance companies to affiliate, identifying the influence on Taiwan's financial holding companies hasn’t been discussed rigorously yet. This paper presents a formal methodology, using two-state Markov regime switching approach, to allow for the uncertainty event-date of financial holding companies’ stock return and risk. This study serves as one of the first studies that adopt a Markov regime-switching model to estimate financial holding companies’ stock behaviour. The evidence shows that 12 of 13 financial holding companies have regime-switching and one has no regime-switching in Taiwan. Therefore, the stock behaviours of Taiwan's financial holding companies follow two regimes and the traditional linear model cannot be descriptive. However, the levels of 12 financial holding companies’ risk are significantly low of state 1 and stock returns are indifferent between two states. Hence, there are diversification benefits of Taiwan's financial holding companies. Summarily, to assess the influence on Taiwan's financial holding companies, it is recognized that this methodology developed by the model is meaningful for research.
Modelling the Impact of Demographic Change upon the Economy

Over the next few decades, there will be significant changes in the demographic structure of nearly all developed countries. Such dramatic demographic change could have a powerful impact upon saving behavior but estimates of how great the effects will be differ depending on what evidence is used. This paper argues that simulations based on calibrated general equilibrium models are likely to provide the most reliable evidence. A model is developed and is used to assess the impact of reforms to pension systems.
ASPECTS REGARDING THE ADVANTAGES OF INNOVATION FOR CORPORATE STRATEGIES

We are in the third millennium, millennium of development intuitive intelligence. Every man and every human group has in its own internal structure a law of evolution. Thus the world was made. Important is that as of personal maturity and / or collectively to realize that there are some natural laws that apply automatically, whether or not we want, whether or not we know about them. One of these laws says that everything is evolving, that it changes continuous, and that every entity is going through an infinite number of innovations - from all points of view. With this awareness we can ask many questions and find many answers within us or outside ourselves.
STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT AND EMPLOYMENT IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

Since the 1980s, the majority of countries in the MENA region facing severe exchange shortages have had to adopt policies directed towards stabilization and structural adjustment of their economies. Employment expansion and the structure and function of labor markets in these economies has been closely tied to the nature of the adjustment programs pursued. The paper provides a country classification of the economies of the MENA region on the basis of size, economic structure and resource endowment to expose the timing of and interlinkages between growth cycles. Current unemployment problems are shown to be clearly related to the slowdown of the rate of investment and growth caused by serious internal and external imbalances in the post oil boom era, with Egypt taken as an example of the problems adjustment programs face in addressing adverse external shocks and labor market behavior since the late 1980s. Turkey and Morocco, with the longest regional experience of adjustment, are also examined in some detail, and the implications of their experience for employment expansion are explored, with lessons drawn for other countries of the region.
Evolutionary analysis of a novel zinc ribbon in the N-terminal region of threonine synthase

ABSTRACT Threonine synthase (TS) catalyzes the terminal reaction in the biosynthetic pathway of threonine and requires pyridoxal phosphate as a cofactor. TSs share a common catalytic domain with other fold type II PALP dependent enzymes. TSs are broadly grouped into two classes based on their sequence, quaternary structure, and enzyme regulation. We report the presence of a novel zinc ribbon domain in the N-terminal region preceding the catalytic core in TS. The zinc ribbon domain is present in TSs belonging to both classes. Our sequence analysis reveals that archaeal TSs possess all zinc chelating residues to bind a metal ion that are lacking in the structurally characterized homologs. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that TSs with an N-terminal zinc ribbon likely represents the ancestral state of the enzyme while TSs without a zinc ribbon must have diverged later in specific lineages. The zinc ribbon and its N- and C-terminal extensions are important for enzyme stability, activity and regulation. It is likely that the zinc ribbon domain is involved in higher order oligomerization or mediating interactions with other biomolecules leading to formation of larger metabolic complexes.
Classical radiation biology, the bystander effect and paradigms: a reply

Although, in retrospect, it can be seen that the bystander effect and the related effect of genomic instability were observed well before they were recognized as such, they have not been able to be accommodated within the existing understanding of how radiation causes late effects, which provides the basis for radiological protection standards. It is argued here that before these effects can be fully researched and there can be full confidence in radiological protection, a paradigm shift that provides a framework in which these effects can be considered alongside the well established effects of radiation is needed. In particular this framework will encompass the epigenetic as well as genetic aspects of radiation biology. Examples of how this might be achieved are given.
Exporting or Abandoning the `German Model'?: Labour Policies of German Manufacturing Firms in Central Europe

There are empirical and theoretical reasons to doubt whether German firms wholly transfer their `high-road' employment practices and industrial relations when shifting production to countries in central and eastern Europe. Yet neither are they likely radically to abandon these patterns. This article examines German subsidiaries in Poland and the Czech Republic, highlighting three important labour practices (working-time accounts, vocational training and approaches to industrial relations). The empirical findings reveal that highly internationalized firms, namely the large multinational corporations, appear most inclined to retain the German pattern, since they are still firmly embedded in the German institutional system of industrial relations.
Graph-Density-based visual word vocabulary for image retrieval

Descriptive visual word vocabulary serves as the foundation of large scale image retrieval systems. However, the visual word descriptive power is limited by the construction mechanisms based on either cluster center or partitioned feature space, since such mechanisms may merge the sparsely distributed features and split the densely distributed features. Besides, there are a large number of outlier features that are not similar with any visual word. Quantizing such features into visual words inevitably decreases the visual word descriptive power. In this paper, we propose a novel Graph-Density-based visual word Vocabulary (GDV), which constructs the visual word by dense feature subgraph and directly measures the intra-word similarity by the corresponding graph density. Our method remarkably enhances the visual word descriptive power from the following three aspects: 1) GDV guarantees the high intra-word similarity by constructing visual words under the criterion of large graph density; 2) GDV improves the inter-word dissimilarity by alleviating the unexpected effect of subgraph splitting; 3) GDV suppresses the influence of outlier features by selectively quantizing only the features that are similar enough with the visual words. Extensive experiments demonstrate GDV's advanced descriptive power over traditional visual word vocabularies in enhancing both the retrieval accuracy and efficiency, which provides a higher level starting point for most image retrieval systems.