Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relationship between duration of untreated psychosis and outcome in first-episode schizophrenia: a critical review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE The duration of untreated psychosis may influence response to treatment, reflecting a potentially malleable progressive pathological process. The authors reviewed the literature on the association of duration of untreated psychosis with symptom severity at first treatment contact and with treatment outcomes and conducted a meta-analysis examining these relationships. METHOD English-language articles on duration of untreated psychosis published in peer-reviewed journals through July 2004 were reviewed. Studies that quantitatively assessed the duration of untreated psychosis; identified study subjects who met the criteria for nonaffective psychotic disorders at or close to first treatment; employed cross-sectional analyses of duration of untreated psychosis and of baseline symptoms, neurocognition, brain morphology, or functional measures or prospectively analyzed symptom change, response, or relapse; assessed psychopathology with clinician-rated instruments; and reported subjects' diagnoses (a total of 43 publications from 28 sites) were included in the meta-analysis. RESULTS Shorter duration of untreated psychosis was associated with greater response to antipsychotic treatment, as measured by severity of global psychopathology, positive symptoms, negative symptoms, and functional outcomes. At the time of treatment initiation, duration of initially untreated psychosis was associated with the severity of negative symptoms but not with the severity of positive symptoms, general psychopathology, or neurocognitive function. CONCLUSIONS Duration of untreated psychosis may be a potentially modifiable prognostic factor. Understanding the mechanism by which duration of untreated psychosis influences prognosis may lead to better understanding of the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and to improved treatment strategies.
The Greater Middle East and the Cold War: US Foreign Policy Under Eisenhower and Kennedy

Roby C Barrett casts fresh light on US foreign policy under Eisenhower and Kennedy, illuminating the struggles of two American administrations to deal with massive social, economic, and political change in an area sharply divided by regional and Cold War rivalries. With a dramatic backdrop of revolutionary Arab nationalism, Zionism, indigenous communism, teetering colonial empires, unstable traditional monarchies, oil, territorial disputes and the threat of Soviet domination of the region, this book vividly highlights the fundamental similarities between the goals and application of foreign policy in the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations as well as the impact of British influence on the process.Drawing on extensive research in archives and document collections from Kansas to Canberra, as well as numerous interviews with key policy makers and observers from both the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations, Roby C Barrett explores the application of the Cold War containment policy through economic development and security assistance. Within the broader context of the global Cold War struggle, the Greater Middle East also held the potential as the flashpoint for nuclear war, and Barrett analyses fully the implications of this for international relations. In the process, this book draws some unexpected conclusions, arguing that Eisenhower's policies were ultimately more successful than Kennedy's, and offers an important and revisionist contribution to our understanding of the Cold War and the Middle East.
Valoración económica de los beneficios recreacionales proporcionados por el Parque de las Aguas en el Área Metropolitana del Valle de Aburrá

Estudios realizados por la Corporación Autónoma Regional del Centro de Antioquia (Corantioquia) concluyen que los bosques y páramos localizados en el noroccidente del departamento de Antioquia constituyen un ecosistema estratégico, al actuar como oferentes de bienes y servicios ambientales. Además, el sistema natural garantiza la provisión de agua para el desarrollo de actividades recreativas en el Parque de las Aguas, localizado en el Área Metropolitana del Valle de Aburrá (Antioquia, Colombia). Con el método del costo de viaje y modelos econométricos que corrigen los sesgos de truncación y estratificación endógena se valoraron económicamente los beneficios asociados con la recreación en el Parque.Palabras clave: demanda recreacional, método del costo de viaje, estratificación endogena, muestras truncadas, binomial negativa, conservación ambiental.
Is Input Mix Inefficiency Neglected in Agriculture? A Case Study of Pig-based Farming Systems in England and Wales

The principal concern of this article is the relative importance of input mix as a source of inefficiency. Emphasis in efficiency analysis studies in agricultural production has historically focused on technical inefficiency as a single concept until methodological advances enabled it to be decomposed into pure technical inefficiency and scale inefficiency. But, this advance was insufficient to identify what we consider to be the major source of inefficiency in agricultural production, namely mix inefficiency. We consider that farm enterprises may be particularly susceptible to input mix inefficiency because of restrictions on movement around the frontier isoquant; delays in the adoption of improved technologies embodied in new vintages of production processes; risk as a source of friction in input allocation decisions; and the potential for inconsistency in simultaneously attempting to reach points of allocative efficiency and mix efficiency in input use. We use non-parametric methods to calculate a Hicks–Moorsteen productivity index using panel data for a sample of specialised pig producers in England and Wales. This index is then decomposed into measures of technology, technical efficiency, scale efficiency and mix efficiency for an input orientation. Results of the analysis show that the estimated mean mix inefficiency (0.736) was substantially larger than mean technical inefficiency (0.975) and mean scale inefficiency (0.957) over the study period.
Large and entangled: Italian business groups in the long run

This article, by using both a qualitative and quantitative approach, focuses on large business groups (BGs) in Italy. It provides a methodology of analysis which aims at re-constructing the boundaries and the relevance of BGs in a national economy in the long-run, identifying a country-specific taxonomy of both their forms and the rationales (logics) for their existence. By adopting an original methodology, that is the network analysis, and by using a large and comprehensive dataset (Imita.db), this article also provides some proxy measures of the relevance of the largest BGs in the Italian economy, something which has never been done before in Italian business history research. The analysis clearly shows the persistence of large and entangled BGs in the Italian economy. It confirms that this particular form of business organisation is neither limited to the less developed countries, nor is simply a second best functional substitute of the multi-divisional form diffused in the liberal market economies. Finally, this article also suggests a research itinerary which can also be fruitfully applied in business history to other specific cases.
Image encryption for secure Internet multimedia applications

We present a novel scheme for secure Internet image transmission. The feature of the proposed scheme is joint application between image compression and image encryption. For source coding, we implement the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and for channel coding, we utilize the block cipher Data Encryption Standard (DES) algorithm. Simulation results show that our proposed method significantly enhances security for image transmission over Internet as well as improves the transmission rate.
Program analysis using interactive and visual querying

We propose an interactive querying approach for program analysis and comprehension tasks. In our approach, an analyst uses a set of basic filters (information retrieval, structural, quantitative, and user selection) to define complex queries. These queries are built following an interactive and iterative process where basic filters are selected and executed, and their results displayed, changed, and combined using predefined operators.
Firm-Level Consequences of Large Minimum-Wage Increases in the Czech and Slovak Republics

After an initial decline in the level of real minimum-wage rates, there were series of unusually large increases in their levels - 70 and 50 per cent - during the years 1999-2002 in the Czech and Slovak Republics, respectively. Using information from matched employee-employer data sets, we look at the impact of minimum-wage hikes on both wages and employment. Our results suggest that there are some, but not substantial, job losses in reaction to minimum-wage hikes and that the impact on firm wages is rather large, implying that further increases of similar magnitude might very well have negative consequences for employment. Copyright 2004, CEIS, Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
[Role of PI3K/Akt pathway in effect of paeoniflorin against Aβ25-35-induced PC12 cell injury].

OBJECTIVE To study the role of PI3K/Akt pathway in the neuroprotective effect of paeoniflorin on PC12 cells. METHOD The paeoniflorin group (5, 10, 20 μmol · L(-1)) was pretreated for 30 min, and then added with Aβ25-35 (20 μmol · L(-1)) for interaction for 24 h. Inhibitor LY294002 (10 μmol · L(-1)) was pretreated for 30 min before the action of paeoniflorin (10 μmol · L(-1)). The MTT colorimetric method was used to detect the cell viability. The apoptosis rate was tested by the FITC-Annexin V/PI staining. The protein expression of p-AKT, Bax, Bcl-2 and cleaved caspase-3 protein were detected by Western blot analysis. RESULT Paeoniflorin could significantly inhibit the Aβ25-35-induced PC12 cell toxicity and apoptosis. Its protection effect may be achieved by up- regulating AKT phosphorylation level, increasing Bcl-2 protein expression, reducing Bax protein expression, inhibiting the activation of caspase-3. Inhibitor LY294002 could weaken the above protective effects of paeoniflorin. CONCLUSION Paeoniflorin could activate PI3K/Akt signaling pathway to protect the PC12 cell injury induced by Aβ25-35.
Developing the AMD-K5 architecture

AMD engineers developed the K5 microarchitecture for AMD's first home grown x86-compatible microprocessor. We designed it to not only compete with Intel Pentium-class processors but, more importantly, to establish a baseline microarchitecture and implementation for ongoing development of a family of leading-edge x86-compatible microprocessors. The resulting AMD5K86 products can decode and issue up to four x86 instructions per cycle, with full out-of-order dependency-driven execution that takes place speculatively beyond unresolved branches. As a first-time, independent x86 implementation, the K5 microprocessor presented many unique challenges and constraints to its designers.
Playing with fire: an MNC’s inability to translate its market logic in a culturally complex exchange setting in rural India

This dissertation describes the manner by which a multinational corporation (MNC) enacts a market-based logic with a locally embedded partner in a complex and unfamiliar operating setting to fulfil both business and social objectives. It examines a hybrid partnership between BP, an MNC, and SSP, a rural Indian non-governmental organisation (NGO). Together, the organisations trained rural women, who were affiliated with SSP, as agents to distribute and sell BP’s ‘smokeless’ cookstoves and fuel pellets to households who cook on smoky firewood stoves. The research draws on two theories—neo-institutional organizational theory and real markets theory—to examine the process by which logics are aligned across partners and projected and translated into the rural Indian exchange setting. It constructs a four-actor model (MNC, NGO, agent, customer) to explore the exchange relationships between the actors at the meso- and micro-levels. At the meso-level, it explains how the MNC and NGO’s non-aligned logics, asymmetric power dynamics, and lack of mutual trust contribute to the venture’s failure. In addition, the NGO was so determined to succeed as a professional, market-driven, channel partner that it shed part of its identity as a civil advocacy organisation and adopted mainstream commercial practices that were not sensitive to the needs of its local stakeholders. At the micro-level, the partners did not come to a common understanding with the agents regarding the cultural challenges they faced marketing the stove. Moreover, the marketing strategy glossed over the multi-layered social relationships and culinary, behavioural, and religious practices that needed to be translated for the technology to meet the needs of consumers. Using gritty ethnographic data, the dissertation highlights a challenge that large, foreign companies face when entering ‘Base of the Pyramid’ markets, namely the inconsistency between the MNC’s market logic and the wider associational logics that motivate village agents and customers.
Investor Protection and the Value of Shares: Evidence from Statutory Rules Governing Variations of Shareholders' Class Rights in an Emerging Market

This article uses a quasi-experimental framework provided by recent changes in Russian corporate law to study the effect of investor protection on the value of shares. The legal change analyzed involves the empowerment of nonvoting shareholders to veto unfavorable changes to their class rights. We take advantage of the presence of well-defined treatment and control groups and use the voting premium, a traditional measure of private benefits of control and shareholder expropriation, as the outcome variable. Based on a novel hand-collected dataset of dual-class stock companies in Russia and using a difference-in-difference regression analysis as well as an event study, we find a statistically and economically significant effect of improved protection of preferred shareholders on the value of their shares. The result is robust to several changes in the empirical specification. (JEL G30, G38, K22) The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Yale University. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com, Oxford University Press.
Le devenir de l'économie paysanne en Chine

While the population actively involved in agriculture has become a minority in China, it is now the entire future of the peasant economy which is being questioned. However, this latter, based on « minifundias » consisting of multiple activities, is quite lively and involved in the economic growth of the whole country through the temporary migrations to the cities. The source of the Chinese economy's sustenance therefore seems to lie in its « self-exploitation. » It is however valid to question the long term viability of this situation which tends, once again, to favour urban interests at the expense of the peasantry.
Gaussian Estimation of a Two-factor Continuous Time Model of the Short-term Interest Rate

type="main" xml:lang="en"> This paper considers the econometric estimation of a two-factor model of the short-term interest rate. We develop a procedure for the time series estimation of its parameters, based on recently developed Gaussian estimation methods which are extended to handle unobservable state variables. The main methodological contribution is the derivation of an exact discrete model and the exact Gaussian likelihood function in terms of the discrete observations and structural parameters of the two-factor model. The model is estimated on one month euro-currency interest rate data for seven currencies – the Belgium franc, Canadian dollar, Dutch guilder, French franc, German mark, Italian lira, and the US dollar over the period February 1981 to December 1995 – and our results indicate that the method works well in practice. The empirical estimates reported in this study can be used to compare estimates from the calibration of an arbitrage-free analogue of the model to market prices of interest rate caps and swaptions for use in the financial markets. (J.E.L.: C13, E43).
Complications Associated With the Use of Autologous Costal Cartilage in Rhinoplasty: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND Autologous costal cartilage grafts are common in rhinoplasty. To date, no formal systematic review of complications associated with autologous costal cartilage grafting in rhinoplasty exists. OBJECTIVES The authors review current literature to examine the rates of donor and recipient site complications associated with autologous costal cartilage in rhinoplasty. METHODS Databases (EMBASE, PubMed, MEDLINE, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews) and references of pertinent articles were searched between January 1980 to July 2014 to find studies evaluating rates of complications with autologous costal cartilage grafting in rhinoplasty. These studies were then screened with specific inclusion/exclusion criteria, and data were extracted from included studies and pooled for analysis. RESULTS A total of 21 eligible studies were included. Pooled donor site complication incidence was pneumothorax (0.1%), pleural tear (0.6%), infection (0.6%), seroma (0.6%), scar-related problems (2.9%), and severe donor site pain (0.2%). Pooled recipient site complications were as follows: warping (5.2%), infection (2.5%), displacement/extrusion (0.6%), graft fracture (0.2%), and graft resorption (0.9%). CONCLUSIONS Autologous costal rhinoplasty remains a safe procedure, but is associated with not insignificant rates of minor recipient site complications, such as warping. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE 4 Therapeutic.
Selected Sleep Disturbances in School Children Reported by Parents: Prevalence, Interrelationships, Behavioral Correlates and Parental Attributions

Epidemiological, behavioral and etiological variables related to sleep disturbances were investigated in a survey of 1695 children in Grades 1 to 12 from 11 randomly selected schools. Sleep-walking, nightmares and sleep-talking were strongly associated with each other as well as to a family history of sleep-walking. Enuresis, however, was not related to the other sleep variables. Socioeconomic status of father was weakly related to enuresis and sleep-talking but not to sleep-walking or nightmares. Gender was not related to any of the sleep disturbances. The behavioral variables, physical activity, attention, emotional excitability, and feelings easily hurt showed a small association with the sleep disturbances. Parents most frequently attributed causes of sleep-walking and nightmares to over-tiredness and over-excitement. As well, parents' comments indicated that they tend to associate specific events such as illness or more often, frightening TV content with nightmares, but not sleepwalking.
Acoustic features for robust classification of Mandarin tones

For applications such as tone modeling and automatic tone recognition, smoothed F 0 (pitch) all-voiced pitch tracks are desirable. Three pitch trackers that have been shown to give good accuracy for pitch tracking are YAAPT, YIN, and PRAAT. On tests with English and Japanese databases, for which ground truth pitch tracks are available by other means, we show that YAAPT has lower errors than YIN and PRAAT. We also experimentally compare the effectiveness of the three trackers for automatic classification of Mandarin tones. In addition to F 0 tracks, a compact set of low-frequency spectral shape trajectories are used as additional features for automatic tone classification. A combination of pitch trajectories computed with YAAPT and spectral shape trajectories extracted from 800ms intervals for each tone results in tone classification accuracy of nearly 77%, a rate higher than human listeners achieve for isolated tonal syllables, and also higher than that obtained with the other two trackers.
Metabolism and function of 3-D-phosphorylated phosphoinositides in C5a-stimulated eosinophils.

Eosinophils play a central role in the pathogenesis of parasitic infections, atopic diseases, and bullous dermatoses. To understand the regulative function of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinases in cell responses of eosinophils, phospholipid metabolism and production of reactive oxygen metabolites were followed after stimulation with C5a. Measurements of phosphatidylinositol lipids and analysis of deacylated products of separated lipid extracts showed fast and transient formation of phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate (PIP(3)). Cell studies in the presence of the tyrosine kinase blocker genistein indicated that C5a-stimulated PIP(3) formation occurred independently of tyrosine kinase activity. To analyze the function of PI4,5P(2)-3-kinase in eosinophils, the influence of wortmannin and LY294002 on production of reactive oxygen metabolites was studied. Both compounds inhibited with similar concentration dependency C5a-induced formation of PIP(3) and production of reactive oxygen metabolites. In summary, these data showed for the first time the involvement of PI4,5P(2)-3-kinase in the production of reactive oxygen metabolites in eosinophils.
Short-Term Effects of Particulate Matter: An Inflammatory Mechanism?

“Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here,” asked Alice. “That depends a good deal on where you want to go to,” said the cat. (Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) A large number of epidemiological studies show positive correlations between increasing levels of particulate matter (PM) in urban air and short-term morbidity and mortality for diverse acute cardiopulmonary diseases. Brought about by PM increments, inflammation is thought to exacerbate preexisting inflammatory diseases. Experimental evidence suggests a hierarchical oxidative stress model, in which a weakened antioxidant defense, as observed in disease or induced by inhaled particles, increases the PM ability to cause lung inflammation, accounting for exacerbations that occur in asthmatics and in patients with chronic obstructive lung disease. The role of PM-induced inflammation leading to acute cardiovascular events such as arrhythmia, heart failure, and myocardial infarction is more speculative. There is neither clear-cut evidence in humans that inhaled PM could get as far as blood circulation nor that proinflammatory mediators are significantly released from inflamed lung tissues, nor that blood coagulability is critically altered. As a whole, data in humans indicate that short-term inflammatory responses to PM are not always detected; they are usually mild and loosely correlated with functional changes. Among these studies, the diversity of PM characteristics, dose metrics, and endpoints hampers a clear discerning of inflammatory mechanism(s). Thus, the question arises as to whether inflammation represents the mechanism of acute cardiopulmonary PM toxicities in susceptible individuals, or rather an event that may coexist with other relevant mechanism(s). This review article discusses the evidence in humans linking short-term PM increments to inflammation and to exacerbations of cardiopulmonary diseases. Although there is a large amount of data available, there still remains a gulf between the number of epidemiological and panel studies and that of controlled exposures. Research on controlled exposure needs expanding, so that the results of time-series and panel studies will be better understood and short-term standards for human exposure may be more confidently allocated.