Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ETHICS: ISSUES AND ANALYSIS

Unethical information technology behavior is estimated to cost billions of dollars of losses for businesses and corporations. This includes issues associated with information technology property. As an example, software piracy is resulting in extremely large costs for IT (information technology) firms. This paper examines current views of information technology property as measured by a series of six current information technology related property ethical issues. The study surveys a cross-section of students, faculty, and professionals and analyzes recognition of an ethical issue for each individual topic. First, the study confirms that all the studied information technology property issues are generally recognized as important ethical topics. Age and gender are studied to determine demographic influences. Significant differences were found by age and gender for some but not all property issues. A discussion and implications of this research are also presented.
Operational aspects of bednet impregnation for community‐based malaria control in Nicaragua, Ecuador, Peru and Colombia

Community intervention projects with pyrethroid (permethrin and lambdacyhalothrin) impregnated bednets and an accompanying community education programme were carried out in 6 malaria endemic areas on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua, Ecuador, Peru and Colombia as well as in the Peruvian Amazon basin. In this paper the operational aspects are analysed: bednet coverage, results of promotional activities for increased bednet use, the sale of low‐cost bednets, techniques and difficulties with impregnation, acceptance of the programme (including washing of impregnated nets), side‐effects, residual concentrations of the chemical in the nets, costs of the impregnation programme and insecticide resistance of the malaria vectors.
Postpartum depression symptoms: a case–control study on monoaminergic functional polymorphisms and environmental stressors

Objective Postpartum depression (PPD) is an under diagnosed and under treated mood disorder, with negative impact on both the mother and the infant's health. The aim of this study is to examine whether genetic variations in the monoaminergic neurotransmitter system, together with environmental stressors, contribute to the development of PPD symptoms. Methods This nested case–control study included 275 women from a population-based cohort of delivering women in Sweden. A questionnaire containing the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale was collected at 6 weeks and 6 months postpartum. Three functional polymorphisms were genotyped, catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT)-Val158Met, monoamine oxidase A (MAOA)-upstream variable number tandem repeat (uVNTR) and serotonin transporter linked polymorphic region (5HTT-LPR). Stressful life events, maternity stressors and previous psychiatric contact were considered as potential risk factors. Results COMT-Val158Met was significantly associated with PPD symptoms at 6 weeks, but not at 6 months postpartum. A significant gene–gene interaction effect was present between COMT-Val158Met and MAOA-uVNTR. In a gene–environment multivariate model, COMT-Val158Met, psychiatric contact and maternity stressors were significantly associated with PPD symptoms. Among those with history of psychiatric problems, the COMT-Val158Met and 5HTT-LPR risk variants were associated with PPD symptoms, whereas in the absence of previous psychiatric contact only maternity stressors were related to PPD symptoms. Conclusion The interaction effect between monoaminergic genes and environmental stressors is likely to contribute to vulnerability for PPD. The different patterns of association according to history of psychiatric problems, if replicated, might be helpful in screening strategies.
Leverage in real estate investments: an optimization approach

Real estate investments are frequently leveraged. Leverage is an important tool for any real estate investor whose target return exceeds the expected return on core, unleveraged assets since it increases potential returns -- although at the cost of increased risk. It therefore competes with other means of raising risk and returns -- in particular, buying riskier real estate assets -- as a method of improving the performance of a portfolio. This paper looks at the risk/return trade-off to leverage from a theoretical perspective, and the risk/return trade-off from in real estate asset space from an empirical perspective. A theoretical model of equilibrium leverage is developed. In this model leverage is preferred so long as the marginal increase in expected return per unit of extra risk from leverage exceeds that obtained from buying riskier assets. Since there are diminishing returns to leverage -- primarily because financing costs rise as borrowing levels rise relative to value -- this trade-off will become less attractive as leverage rises leading to an optimal level of leverage. If all investors face the same opportunity set, then one implication of the model is that all investors should leverage core investments up to either the optimal point or their target return, whichever is lower. This is clearly out of line with observed practice. However, it is difficult to calibrate the model accurately since, while it is relatively straightforward to calculate the trade-off between risk and return to leverage, little is known about the trade-off between risks and returns in real estate space.
The Cash Conversion Cycle and Liquidity Analysis of the Food Industry in Greece

This study examined the cash conversion cycle (CCC) as a liquidity indicator of the food industry Greek companies and tries to determine its relationship with the current and the quick ratios, with its component variables, and investigates the implications of the CCC in terms of profitability, indebtness and firm size. Therefore, five hypotheses are formed to investigate the contemporary liquidity measure of the CCC. The data are taken from the major companies in the food and beverage industry of Greece, which is a representative sector of the Greeek industry as a whole and a very crucial industry for the whole economy, with rapid growth and expansion domestically and internationally. The methodology that was followed included regression and correlation analysis, as well as t-tests of two independent sample means. The results indicated that there is a significant positive relationship between the cash conversion cycle and the traditional liquidity measures of current and quick ratios. The cash conversion cycle was positively related to the return on assets and the net profit margin but had no linear relationship with the leverage ratios. On the other hand, the current and quick ratios had negative relationship with the debt to equity ratio, and a positive one with the times interest earned ratio. Finally, there is no difference between the liquidity ratios of large and small firms.
The Proof of the Pudding: The Effects of Increased Trade Transparency in the London Stock Exchange

The trade publication rules of the London Stock Exchange were changed on 1 January, 1996, to increase transparency. This paper investigates whether these changes affected market behaviour by examining data on 60 firms from the FTSE 100, FTSE Mid 250 and the FTSE Small Cap indices before and after this rule change. This study finds there has been a major increase in transparency, with no detrimental effects on the quality of the market. In particular, neither the volume nor the traded bid-ask spread has been adversely affected. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2000.
Pattern-Driven Automatic Parallelization

This article describes a knowledge-based system for automatic parallelization of a wide class of sequential numerical codes operating on vectors and dense matrices, and for execution on distributed memory message-passing multiprocessors. Its main feature is a fast and powerful pattern recognition tool that locally identifies frequently occurring computations and programming concepts in the source code. This tool also works for dusty deck codes that have been "encrypted" by former machine-specific code transformations. Successful pattern recognition guides sophisticated code transformations including local algorithm replacement such that the parallelized code need not emerge from the sequential program structure by just parallelizing the loops. It allows access to an expert's knowledge on useful parallel algorithms, available machine-specific library routines, and powerful program transformations. The partially restored program semantics also supports local array alignment, distribution, and redistribution, and allows for faster and more exact prediction of the performance of the parallelized target code than is usually possible.
Proximity-Structured Multivariate Volatility Models

In many multivariate volatility models, the number of parameters increases faster than the cross-section dimension, hence creating a curse of dimensionality problem. This paper discusses specification and identification of structured parameterizations based on weight matrices induced by economic proximity. It is shown that structured specifications can mitigate or even solve the curse of dimensionality problem. Identification and estimation of structured specifications are analyzed, rank and order conditions for identification are given and the specification of weight matrices is discussed. Several structured specifications compare well with alternatives in modelling conditional covariances of six returns from the New York Stock Exchange.
Dietary magnesium intake in relation to plasma insulin levels and risk of type 2 diabetes in women.

OBJECTIVE Higher intake of magnesium appears to improve glucose and insulin homeostasis; however, there are sparse prospective data on the association between magnesium intake and incidence of type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS In the Women's Health Study, a cohort of 39,345 U.S. women aged >/=45 years with no previous history of cardiovascular disease, cancer, or type 2 diabetes completed validated semiquantitative food frequency questionnaires in 1993 and were followed for an average of 6 years. We used Cox proportional hazard models to estimate multivariate relative risks (RRs) of type 2 diabetes across quintiles of magnesium intake compared with the lowest quintile. In a sample of 349 apparently healthy women from this study, we measured plasma fasting insulin levels to examine their relation to magnesium intake. RESULTS During 222,523 person-years of follow-up, we documented 918 confirmed incident cases of type 2 diabetes. There was a significant inverse association between magnesium intake and risk of type 2 diabetes, independent of age and BMI (P = 0.007 for trend). After further adjustment for physical activity, alcohol intake, smoking, family history of diabetes, and total calorie intake, the multivariate-adjusted RRs of diabetes from the lowest to highest quintiles of magnesium intake were attenuated at 1.0, 1.06, 0.81, 0.86, and 0.89 (P = 0.05 for trend). Among women with BMI >/=25 kg/m2, the inverse trend was significant; multivariate-adjusted RRs were 1.0, 0.96, 0.76, 0.84, and 0.78 (P = 0.02 for trend). Multivariate-adjusted geometric mean insulin levels for overweight women in the lowest quartile of magnesium intake was 53.5 compared with 41.5 pmol/l among those at the highest quartile (P = 0.03 for trend). CONCLUSIONS These findings support a protective role of higher intake of magnesium in reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, especially in overweight women.
The location of economic activity: the relationship between theory and government guidance and the application of both in the United Kingdom

Land suitable for economic development has, until recently, suffered from a lack of theoretical examination and detailed study by “both the research and policy communities” (Breheny, 1999, p. 2). Turok & Edge have identified a policy drift away from demand side economics to more detailed supply side questions of social exclusion, employability and training (Turok & Edge, 1999). In order to redress this imbalance the objectives underlying this paper have been set as: to consider the most recent theories, post-1990, concerning the location of economic activity including the new location factors associated with the knowledge economy; to identify the lack of clear policy guidance on the location of economic activity emanating from UK central government; and to illustrate what is happening in practice through a case study centred on a business park in Oxfordshire. Finally, in conclusion, the UK Government’s ability to influence the location of economic activity is assessed and possible means of enactment are put forward.
A Theory of Career Mobility

This paper analyzes theoretically and empirically the role and significance of occupational mobility in the labor market focusing on individuals' careers. It provides additional dimensions to the analysis of investment in human capital, wage differences across individuals, and the relationships among promotions, quits, and interfirm occupational mobility. It is shown that part of the returns to education is in the form of higher probabilities of occupational upgrading, within or across firms. Given an origin occupation, schooling increases the likelihood of occupational upgrading. Furthermore, workers who are not promoted despite a high probability of promotion are more likely to quit.
[Usefulness of urgent combined carotid/transcranial ultrasound testing in early prognosis of TIA patients].

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Although patients with ischemic attacks (TIA) experience cardiovascular events frequently within the first 90 days after symptoms onset, strong clinical predictors of early recurrence are lacking. We investigate the value of combined carotid/transcranial ultrasound testing (UST) on the prognosis of TIA patients. PATIENTS AND METHOD UST was performed < 24 h after symptoms onset among 311 consecutive TIA patients. Stroke recurrence, myocardial infarction, or any vascular event was recorded at 7 and 90 days of follow-up. RESULTS A total of 20 patients suffered an stroke within 7 days of symptoms onset. During the next 90 days after index TIA, 58 (18.6%) patients experienced an endpoint: 51 cerebral ischemic events, one peripheral arterial disease, 5 myocardial infarctions and one cerebellum hemorrhage. Cox proportional hazards multivariate analyses identified the presence of intracranial stenoses (HR = 3.05; 95% CI, 1.21-7.70; p = 0.018) and carotid territory implication (HR = 15.91; 95% CI, 2.11-120.04; p = 0.007) as independent predictors of stroke within the first 7 days after index TIA. Moreover, at 90 days of follow-up, large-artery occlusive disease was an independent predictor of stroke (HR = 3.07; 95% CI, 1.76-5.38; p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS TIA patients with moderate to severe intracranial or extracranial stenoses have a higher risk of stroke recurrence. The routine use of UST within the first 24 h after index TIA can be useful for identifying those patients at high risk in order to plan aggressive prevention therapies.
Cellular Hypertrophy and Calcification of Embryonal Carcinoma‐Derived Chondrogenic Cell Line ATDC5 In Vitro

During the process of endochondral bone formation, proliferating chondrocytes give rise to hypertrophic cells, which then deposit a mineralized matrix to form calcified cartilage prior to replacement by bone. Previously, we reported that a clonal cell line, ATDC5, undergoes efficient chondrogenic differentiation through a cellular condensation stage. Here we report that the differentiated ATDC5 cells became hypertrophic at the center of cartilage nodules, when the cells ceased to grow. Formation of hypertrophic chondrocytes took place in association with type X collagen gene expression and a dramatic elevation of alkaline phosphate (ALPase) activity. After 5 weeks of culture, mineralization of the culture could be discerned as Alizarin red‐positive spots, which spread throughout the nodules even in the absence of β‐glycerophosphate. Electron microscopy and electron probe microanalysis revealed that calcification was first initiated at matrix vesicles in the territorial matrix and that it advanced progressively along the collagen fibers in a manner similar to that which occurs in vivo. The infrared spectrum of the mineralized nodules indicated two absorption doublets around 1030 cm−1 and 600 cm−1, which are characteristic of apatitic mineral. Calcifying cultures of ATDC5 cells retained responsiveness to parathyroid hormone (PTH): PTH markedly inhibited elevation of ALPase activity and calcification in the culture in a dose‐dependent manner. Thus, we demonstrated that ATDC5 cells keep track of the multistep differentiation process encompassing the stages from mesenchymal condensation to calcification in vitro. ATDC5 cells provide an excellent model to study the molecular mechanism underlying regulation of cartilage differentiation during endochondral bone formation.
Indexing method for effective web service retrieval

This paper addresses the problem of web service retrieval by presenting a new approach to indexing of both SOAP and RESTful web services. The approach uses index structure called parametric index that allows users to retrieve ranked results in accordance with specific parameters. The parameters refer to service's integral components and are covered in presented formal definition of a web service. Secondly, the services are modelled in vector space that allows the evaluation of their mutual relevance and enables obtaining ranked search results. In order to reduce the index size and to decrease the search time, presented approach uses the method of conceptual indexing which groups relevant service components into concepts. For further search performance improvement, this paper also introduces the concept of merged weight vector. The research is supported by novel indexing algorithm and implementation of proposed approach. Experimental results confirm that the presented approach significantly reduces the index size. It also improves search performance in contrast to standard indexing algorithm and compared to k-means and self-organising maps clustering algorithms.
Customary vs Private Property Rights? Dynamics and Trajectories of Vernacular Land Markets in Sub-Saharan Africa

Contemporary discourse on land in Africa is polarized between advocates of tenure reform through state registration of individual titles to land and others who claim that customary or ‘communal’ tenure is the only check against landlessness among the poor in the African countryside, and that ‘pro-poor’ land policy should therefore strengthen customary rights to land. This paper draws on a growing body of evidence on the emergence of vernacular rural land sales and rental markets to question assumptions that underlie the non-market ‘ideal type’ communal tenure model that has historically dominated policy thinking in Africa, and continues to be shared by both sides of the current land tenure reform debate. The paper argues that recognition of the specific characteristics of ‘vernacular land markets’– commoditized transfers of land within the framework of customary tenure – is essential if state land policies are to succeed in promoting the interests of the poor.
Some Evidence on the Efficiency of the Forward Market for Foreign Exchange from Monte-Carlo Experiments

A Monte Carlo approach is used to provide new insights into tests of the forward foreign exchange market efficiency hypothesis. A whole range of alternative hypotheses regarding price determination in the forward market is examined for the $/DM case, including different expectations schemes, a risk premium model derived from international asset pricing theory, and the novel idea that the empirical evidence on the forward foreign exchange market efficiency hypothesis is the result of intervention by monetary authorities. The latter hypothesis as well as the hypothesis that expectations are formed in a static manner rather than rational appear to work the best. Copyright 1995 by Royal Economic Society.
Neuropsychiatric symptoms in systemic lupus erythematosus: impact on quality of life

Objective Assess quality of life in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) presenting with neuropsychiatric symptoms (neuropsychiatric SLE, NPSLE). Methods Quality of life was assessed using the Short-Form 36 item Health Survey (SF-36) in patients visiting the Leiden NPSLE clinic at baseline and at follow-up. SF-36 subscales and summary scores were calculated and compared with quality of life of the general Dutch population and patients with other chronic diseases. Results At baseline, quality of life was assessed in 248 SLE patients, of whom 98 had NPSLE (39.7%). Follow-up data were available for 104 patients (42%), of whom 64 had NPSLE (61.5%). SLE patients presenting neuropsychiatric symptoms showed a significantly reduced quality of life in all subscales of the SF-36. Quality of life at follow-up showed a significant improvement in physical functioning role (p = 0.001), social functioning (p = 0.007), vitality (p = 0.023), mental health (p = 0.014) and mental component score (p = 0.042) in patients with neuropsychiatric symptoms not attributed to SLE, but no significant improvement was seen in patients with NPSLE. Conclusion Quality of life is significantly reduced in patients with SLE presenting neuropsychiatric symptoms compared with the general population and patients with other chronic diseases. Quality of life remains considerably impaired at follow-up. Our results illustrate the need for biopsychosocial care in patients with SLE and neuropsychiatric symptoms.
Fast online adaptivity with policy gradient: example of the BCI "P300"-speller

We tackle the problem of reward-based online learning of multiclass classi ers and consider a policy gradient ascent to solve this problem in the linear case. We apply it to the online adaptation of an EEG-based P300 -speller. When applied from scratch, a robust classi er is obtained in few steps.
The Impact of Mass Customisation on Manufacturing Trade‐offs

Management literature has suggested that the advent of mass customisation marks the end for trade‐offs between customisation and other competitive priorities (Pine et al. 1993; Westbrook and Williamson 1993; Tu et al. 2001). However, evidence supporting this proposition is anecdotal. This paper examines the impact of product customisation on four competitive priorities, drawing upon the results of a recent survey of 102 U.K. manufacturing firms from eight industry sectors. The study indicates significant compatibility between customisation and quality, volume flexibility, delivery reliability and non‐manufacturing costs. On the other hand, trade‐offs remain between customisation and manufacturing costs and delivery lead times. The results contradict the initial proposition that customisation can be “free,” and have important implications for firms embarking upon a mass customisation strategy.
Development and Preliminary Validation of a Simplified-Wording Form of the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire

The Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) assesses a range of personality characteristics pertaining to affective and interpersonal style, behavioral restraint versus disinhibition, and capacity for sensory and imaginal engagement. Its 11 lower order trait scales map onto 3 higher order factors that reflect temperament dimensions. Its content and measurement properties have made the MPQ useful for elucidating constructs relevant to normal and abnormal behavior and investigating their neurobiological underpinnings. However, a barrier to its use in certain populations is the reading difficulty of some MPQ items. We describe efforts to develop a simplified-wording form, the MPQ-SF, composed of items readable at or below the seventh grade level (with most below sixth grade). Simplified-wording items demonstrated high convergence with original-wording items, and resulting trait scales showed adequate internal consistencies and appropriate higher order structure. The availability of a simplified version expands the potential utility of the MPQ to a wider range of samples.