Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Toxic neuropathy

Purpose of reviewThis paper examines recent research on toxic neuropathy and potential therapeutic developments. It also summarizes reports of new agents reported to cause peripheral neuropathy. Recent findingsGene therapy with vasoactive endothelial growth factor, neurotrophic substances such as nerve growth factor and neurotrophin-3 are reported to reverse or protect against neurotoxicity in animal models. The neuroprotective effects of more established therapeutic agents like vitamin E, tacrolimus (FK 506) and erythropoietin hold promise for the immediate future. Cisplatin and high-dose pyridoxine are used more frequently to produce robust models of peripheral neuropathy in animals. Statins do appear to cause peripheral neuropathy. The incidence is low, however, and compared to its benefits in terms of cardiovascular protection, relatively innocuous. The profile of thalidomide neuropathy is becoming clearer as the indications for this drug increases. The incidence of thalidomide neuropathy is high, up to three quarters in some series, and although the information on dose dependency is variable, lower cumulative doses appear to be less toxic. Like thalidomide bortezomib, a novel proteosome inhibitor, is reportedly effective in the treatment of multiple myeloma and is associated with peripheral neuropathy. Oxaliplatin and epothilone are emerging anticancer drugs with neurotoxic potential. Similarly, leflunomide, a new disease modifying-agent approved for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, is reported to cause neuropathy. SummaryThe study of toxic neuropathy is not only enhancing our knowledge of the mechanisms of neurotoxicity but also the neurobiology of peripheral neuropathy in general; and is likely to reveal avenues for therapeutics.
IS THE BUDGET DEFICIT “TOO LARGE?”

Yes, specifically, the authors find that recently spending and taxing policies of the government--if continued--violate the government's intertemporal budget constraint. As a result, government spending must be reduced and/or tax revenues must be increased. These conclusions are based on tests of whether government spending and revenue are cointegrated. In addition to examining real spending and revenue, the authors also normalize these variables by real GNP and population. For a growing economy, these normalized measures are perhaps more pertinent. The authors also test and find support for the hypothesis that deficits have become a problem only in recent years. Copyright 1991 by Oxford University Press.
The Rising Price of Husbands: A Hedonic Analysis of Dowry Increases in Rural India

Dowries in South Asia have steadily risen over the last 40 years and now often amount to over 50 percent of a household's assets. This paper attempts to investigate the reasons behind this increase. It adapts Rosen's implicit market model to the Indian marriage market and tests predictions from the model with data from six villages in South Central India and from the Indian census. It is found that a "marriage squeeze" caused by population growth, resulting in larger younger cohorts and hence a surplus of women in the marriage market, has played a significant role in the rise in dowries.
Study on potential field based motion planning and control for automated vehicle collision avoidance systems

This study presents the development of motion planning and control of an advanced driver assistance systems for vehicle collision avoidance. The motion planning for collision avoidance is formulated using artificial potential field approach based on risk perception of human driver. Then, the assistance systems is realized based on steering control system and longitudinal force distribution control to track the vehicle desired motion. Performance evaluation of motion planning generated based on difference vehicle speed is carried out in tracking the collision avoidance trajectory. The simulation results obtained show that the approached strategy was successfully leads to collision avoidance manoeuvre for the planning driving scenario.
The Effect of Management Buyouts on Firm-Level Technical Inefficiency: Evidence from a Panel of UK Machinery and Equipment Manufacturers

The longer-term technical efficiency effects of management buyouts (MBOs) are evaluated using a stochastic production frontier approach on a panel of UK manufacturing firms. The results, based on the period 1986-1997, indicate that firms with the MBO governance structure: (1) have higher efficiency in the two years before the transaction but not prior to that; (2) have efficiency 7%, 7.5%, 4%, and 7% higher in each of the first four years post-buyout; (3) do not have superior efficiency beyond the fifth year post-buyout. This is consistent with MBOs creating managerial incentives that improve firm-level performance.
Germanium Multiple-Gate Field-Effect Transistors Formed on Germanium-on-Insulator Substrate

We demonstrate the integration of high performance p-channel Germanium Multiple-Gate Field-Effect Transistors (MuGFETs) on a Germanium-on-Insulator substrate. Detailed process conditions are documented in this paper. The effects of Ge fin doping concentration on the electrical performance of Ge MuGFETs are discussed, and this could be useful for further device optimization. It is found that a higher fin doping leads to better control of short-channel efforts of Ge MuGFETs but degrades the on-state current and transconductance. High on-state current for Ge MuGFETs is reported in this paper.
Does Trade Credit Redistribution Thwart Monetary Policy? Evidence from Italy

Italy is an ideal candidate for testing the credit view of the transmission mechanism because of a bank-centred financial structure, a sizeable trade debt, and an economy titled towards small firms. An empirical analysis of trade credit and debt on averaged panel data shows that small firms act as financially constrained and cycle-sensitive, whereas large ones aim at smoothing sales, adopt an integrated management of inventories and receivables and have a higher trade debt to purchases elasticity. On balance, the net trade credit channel does not, as implied by the credit view, shield small firms from a monetary squeeze.
PTDOM: a schema‐aware XML database system for MPEG‐7 media descriptions

Current XML database systems largely neglect or make limited use of available schema definitions. But only with schema definitions at hand is it possible to ensure database consistency by document validation, to store, index, and access the content of elements and attribute values in an appropriately typed manner and not just as text, and to perform more sophisticated query optimizations. In this paper, we give an overview of our implementation of a schema‐aware XML database system: the Persistent Typed Document Object Model (PTDOM). Originally developed for the management of MPEG‐7 media descriptions in a database, the core of PTDOM is made up of a schema catalog capable of managing schema definitions written in MPEG‐7 DDL, a superset of XML schema. PTDOM exploits the schema information maintained by this catalog in a variety of contexts: for document validation, for typed storage of elements and attribute values, for structural indexing of XML documents providing additional efficient access paths to document contents, and for optimized construction of query execution plans for XPath expressions. This along with its profound extensibility with new datatypes, user‐defined functions, and value index structures makes PTDOM a flexible and effective database solution not only for the management of MPEG‐7 media descriptions but also for the management of any kind of XML documents for which schema definitions exist. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Multi-layer design of SWCNTs composites for X-Band

The purpose of the present work is the implementation of a four layer structure composed of mixtures with single-walled carbon nanotubes at different weight percentages (1, 3, 15, 20%) for minimizing the Reflection Coefficient of incident waves. The presence of a supporting PEC layer is also considered. A combination of epoxy resin and polyurethane as composite matrix is employed. The structure is excited by a plane wave incident from various elevation angles through X-Band. Comparison with reference results shows satisfactory agreement. A formal optimization technique is adopted to minimize Reflection Coefficient with respect to the optimum thickness of each layer. As shown, minimum values of Reflection Coefficient found in literature for PEC substrates, can also be achieved without the use of PEC substrates and for thinner substrates. Hence, lighter structures for EMC applications can be obtained.
Hospital Resource Utilization and Costs of Inappropriate Treatment of Candidemia

Study Objectives. To evaluate the impact of inappropriate therapy—defined as delayed antifungal therapy beyond 24 hours from culture collection, inadequate antifungal dosage, or administration of an antifungal to which an isolate was considered resistant—on postculture hospital length of stay and costs, and to evaluate the relationship between modifiable risk factors, including failure to remove a central venous catheter, antifungal delay, and inadequate dosage, for an additive effect on hospital length of stay and costs.
CT-based semi-automatic quantification of vertebral fracture restoration

Minimally invasive surgeries aiming to restore fractured vertebral body are increasing; therefore, our goals were to create a 3D vertebra reconstruction process and design clinical indices to assess the vertebral restoration in terms of heights, angles and volumes. Based on computed tomography (CT)-scan of the vertebral spine, a 3D reconstruction method as well as relevant clinical indices were developed. First, a vertebra initial solution requiring 5 min of manual adjustments is built. Then an image processing algorithm places this solution in the CT-scan images volume to adjust the model's nodes. On the vertebral body's anterior and posterior parts, nine robust heights, volume and endplate angle measurement methods were developed. These parameters were evaluated by reproducibility and accuracy studies. The vertebral body reconstruction accuracy was 1.0 mm; heights and volume accuracy were, respectively, 1.2 and 179 mm3. In conclusion, a 3D vertebra reconstruction process requiring little user time was proposed as well as 3D clinical indices assessing fractured and restored vertebra.
Fertility From a Couple Perspective: A Test of Competing Decision Rules on Proceptive Behaviour

Fertility decisions typically involve two persons. This raises the question of how individual desires or preferences for further children transform into joint action. Previous research has proposed different approaches to this question, emphasizing gender, joint utility, consensus, or bargaining power. We use data from the German Family Panel (pairfam) to test competing hypotheses found in the literature. Our results show symmetrical effects of both partners' desires and expected utilities for children on proceptive behaviour, indicating that neither women nor men dominate fertility decisions perse. Instead, it is joint utility that matters. One partner will exercise a 'veto' only if the expected loss of utility from a further child is very high. When partners have opposed desires, bargaining power due to advantageous partner market conditions can play a pivotal role for imposing one's will on the partner.
Influence of Sn Grain Size and Orientation on the Thermomechanical Response and Reliability of Pb-free Solder Joints

The size and crystal orientation of Sn grains in Pb-free, near eutectic Sn-Ag-Cu solder joints were examined. A clear dependence of the thermomechanical fatigue response of these solder joints on Sn grain orientation was observed (Sn has a body centered tetragonal crystal structure). Fabricated joints tend to have three orientations in a cyclic twin relationship, but among the population of solder balls, this orientation triplet appears to be randomly oriented. In thermally cycled joints, solder balls with dominant Sn grains having the particular orientation with the c-axis nearly parallel to the plane of the substrate were observed to fail before neighboring balls with different orientations. This results from the fact that the coefficient of thermal expansion of Sn in the basal plane (along the alpha-axis) is half the value along the c-axis; joints observed to be damaged had the maximum coefficient of thermal expansion mismatch between solder and substrate at the joint interface, as well as a tensile stress modes during the hot part of the thermal cycle. Localized recrystallization was observed in regions of maximum strain caused by differential expansion conditions, and its connection with crack nucleation is discussed.
Comprehending Cognitive Radios [Book\Software Reviews]

This book provides an excellent overview of all aspects of cognitive radio. While the book draws most of its examples from work done at Virginia Tech, the scope of the book is comprehensive. Its eight chapters lead readers from the basic definition of a cognitive radio through cognitive radio hardware and software and finally into the performance evaluation and application of a cognitive radio. This book is primarily for practicing engineers and managers, as it surveys the broad area of cognitive radio and includes a substantial reference list for further research. For anyone interested in radio design, this book has much to recommend.
Merchant or Two-Sided Platform?

This paper provides a first pass at comparing two polar strategies for market intermediation: "merchant" mode  buying from sellers and reselling to buyers - and "two-sided platform" mode  enabling affiliated sellers to sell directly to affiliated buyers. The merchant mode is more profitable when the chicken-and-egg problem for the two-sided platform is more severe and when the degree of complementarity among sellers' products is higher. The platform mode is preferred when seller investment incentives are important or when there is asymmetric information regarding seller product quality. We discuss these tradeoffs in the context of several prominent digital intermediaries.
To What Extent Are Auditors’ Attitudes toward the Evidence Influenced by the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?

SUMMARY: We examined whether auditors’ attitudes toward the evidence in the going concern setting may be driven by their expectations of the self-fulfilling prophecy effect. Following previous research on motivated reasoning, we assumed that the self-fulfilling prophecy effect could be interpreted as a potential motivational/incentive factor supporting auditors’ reluctance to issue going concern opinions. The belief-adjustment model of Hogarth and Einhorn (1992) was used to estimate auditors’ attitudes toward confirming and disconfirming evidence by manipulating, in a laboratory experiment, order of evidence and framing (viability versus failure), and capturing auditors’ expectations of the self-fulfilling prophecy effect. Our results indicate that auditors’ expectations of the self-fulfilling prophecy affected their attitudes toward confirming and disconfirming evidence. Further, we specifically find that auditors with higher expectations of the self-fulfilling prophecy had a greater sensitivity to mitig.
Methodology, Ideology, and the Economics of Poticy: Why Resource Economists Disagree

It is evident that there is persistent disagreement among competent and articulate resource economists, disagreement not only about the appropriate analytical and prescriptive response to particular constellations of policy issues but also about the uses and limitations of economics as a thought system in the policy arena. ' This must be disquieting and disappointing to many among us who would regard the emergence of an integrated and cohesive (as opposed to diverse and fractious) resource economics as evidence of its maturation. It is my purpose here to argue that the disagreements among us go deeper than mere disputes about priorities and tactics for doing resource economics, where all participants share a common vision of what resource economics is and should be. Rather, these disagreements extend beyond alternative conceptions of resource economics to fundamentally opposing methodologies, i.e., conceptions of knowledge and how to get it. While the proximate foci of disagreement will shift over time, there is literally no good reason to expect an ultimate resolution of intradisciplinary conflict and convergence of viewpoints. Finally, I argue that persistent disagreement is not only a fact of life, it has its virtues!
An Exploratory Study into the Impact of Components of Brand Equity and Country of Origin Effects on Purchase Intention

ABSTRACT Due to rapid globalization of markets and products, it is necessary for managers and academics alike to understand the importance of the drivers of global brands. In this paper we extend Keller's (1998) conceptualization of brand equity to incorporate Country and Brand Origin (CBO) and Country of Origin (COO) effects on purchase intention. A structural equation modelling approach is used to test a conceptual model that hypothesizes relationships between these variables for the product category of watches. The results show that the components of brand equity through the effect of brand loyalty are three times more important than COO effects. A direct recommendation of this study is that for this product category, marketing managers can choose a country of manufacture for cost efficiencies regardless of the associations that consumers have with that country.
Corporate Hedging and Shareholder Value

According to financial theory, corporate hedging can increase shareholder value in the presence of capital market imperfections such as direct and indirect costs of financial distress, costly external financing, and taxes. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the extensive existing empirical literature that has tested these theories, documenting overall mixed empirical support for rationales of hedging with derivatives at the firm level. While various empirical challenges and limitations advise some caution with regard to the interpretation of the existing evidence, the results are, however, consistent with derivatives use being just one part of a broader financial strategy that considers the type and level of financial risks, the availability of risk-management tools, and the operating environment of the firm. In particular, recent evidence suggests that derivatives use is related to debt levels and maturity, dividend policy, holdings of liquid assets, and the degree of operating hedging. Moreover, corporations do not just use financial derivatives, but rely heavily on pass-through, operational hedging, and foreign currency debt to manage financial risk.
Public Policy and Human Capital Accumulation in an Endogenously Growing Economy with Labor-Market Frictions

We construct a dynamic model with endogenous human capital accumulation in the presence of labor-market frictions to study the effectiveness of education and labor-market policies. We assume that both vacancy creation and job search are costly and that vacancies and job seekers are brought together by a matching technology exhibiting constant returns. Our model departs from the prototypical labor search literature by allowing each firm to create multiple vacancies and each household to choose search intensity endogenously. We find that employment, education effort and output growth rise with an increase in the effectiveness of human capital accumulation or the degree of labor-market matching efficacy, or a decrease in the separation rate or the vacancy creation cost. Our calibration exercises suggest that output growth, employment, vacancy creation, and education and search effort are most responsive to changes in the discretionary education parameter. We also find that, among various education and labor-market policies, a discretionary education subsidy is most effective in promoting education and economic growth but need not be more beneficial in the welfare sense. Moreover, the effects of these public policy programs become larger as the severity of labor-market frictions rises, indicating that a quantitative evaluation of the effectiveness of public policy in a frictionless Walrasian world is expected to be downward biased.
Electoral Rules, Constituency Pressures, and Pork Barrel: Bases of Voting in the Brazilian Congress

Why is Brazil's legislature extraordinarily active in the distribution of pork barrel but largely inactive on national issues? This article explores the question by illuminating the motivations of congressional deputies. Emphasizing the effects of open-list proportional representation and executive dominance over resources, I develop a model of legislative voting based on the operation of Brazil's political institutions. The nature of deputies' electoral bases, especially the clustering of their support and their domination of local constituencies, constrain deputies' preferences. Ideological positions matter as well, but the socioeconomic characteristics of constituencies only weakly affect legislative voting. Pork-barrel programs controlled by the president also profoundly influence deputies' broader voting patterns. When the motivations of deputies favor deals maximizing local pork barrel and discourage strengthening parties and responding to broader constituency demands, it is no surprise that the legislature devotes little attention to national issues.
An accurate toponym-matching measure based on approximate string matching

Approximate string matching (ASM) is a challenging problem, which aims to match different string expressions representing the same object. In this paper, detailed experimental studies were conducted on the subject of toponym matching, which is a new domain where ASM can be performed, and the creation of a single string-matching measure that can perform toponym matching process regardless of the language was attempted. For this purpose, an ASM measure called DAS, which comprises name similarity, word similarity and sentence similarity phases, was created. Considering the experimental results, the retrieval performance and system accuracy of DAS were much better than those of other well-known five measures that were compared on toponym test datasets. In addition, DAS had the best metric values of mean average precision in six languages, and precision/recall graphs confirm this result.
Optimal Incentive Schemes for Altruistic Providers

We study the optimal design of incentive schemes in the presence of adverse selection and altruistic providers. We assume that providers differ in efficiency, are partially altruistic and have limited liability. Three types of separating equilibrium emerge. i) For low levels of altruism the quantity of the efficient and inefficient types is distorted upwards and downwards respectively; the inefficient type makes zero profits. ii) For moderate levels of altruism the first best is attained: no distortions and profits are zero. iii) For high levels of altruism the quantity of the inefficient type is distorted upwards, and the quantity of the efficient type is distorted either upwards or downwards; the efficient type makes zero profits. Our main result is that the first best can be obtained for some values of altruism, but not necessarily for the highest values. The purchaser is better off with providers with moderate rather than high altruism.
Evaluating the energy consumed for water use in the United States

This letter consists of a first-order analysis of the primary energy embedded in water in the United States. Using a combination of top-down sectoral assessments of energy use together with a bottom-up allocation of energy-for-water on a component-wise and service-specific level, our analysis concludes that energy use in the residential, commercial, industrial and power sectors for direct water and steam services was approximately 12.3 ± 0.3 quadrillion BTUs or 12.6% of the 2010 annual primary energy consumption in the United States. Additional energy was used to generate steam for indirect process heating, space heating and electricity generation.