Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tax policy, adult binge drinking, and youth alcohol consumption in the United States.

BACKGROUND Prior research attributed youth alcohol consumption to the attitudes and drinking patterns among adults. Yet at a population level, few have examined the relationship between state-level adult binge drinking prevalence and youth drinking behaviors, or whether tax policy plays a role in this relationship. METHODS We analyzed 6 biennial surveys (1999 to 2009) of individual-level youth alcohol use and related behaviors from state-based Youth Risk Behavior Surveys and corresponding years of state-level adult binge drinking prevalence from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. We employed logistic regression with generalized estimating equations method to assess the extent to which state adult binge drinking predicted individual-level youth drinking outcomes and examined the role of alcohol taxes in that relationship. RESULTS Population-aggregate analyses based on 194 state-year strata showed a positive correlation between state adult binge drinking and youth binge drinking (Pearson r = 0.40, p < 0.01). For individual-level youth drinking outcomes, a 5 percentage point increase in binge drinking prevalence among adults was associated with a 12% relative increase in the odds of alcohol use (adjusted OR = 1.12, 95% CI: 1.08, 1.16). Taxes were strongly inversely related with adult and youth drinking measures, and the effect of tax on youth drinking was attenuated after controlling for adult binge drinking. CONCLUSIONS Both tax and adult binge drinking are strong predictors of youth drinking. Tax may affect youth drinking through its effect on adult alcohol consumption. Implementing effective alcohol policies to reduce excessive drinking in the general population is an important strategy to reduce youth drinking.
Rural and Micro Finance Regulation in Ghana: Implications for Development and Performance of the Industry

The purpose of this paper is to assess how the policy, legal and regulatory framework has affected - and been influenced by - the development of rural and micro finance institutions1 (RMFIs) in Ghana, especially in terms of the range of institutions and products available, their financial performance and outreach (particularly to the rural and lower- income population). This review of Ghana's experience is intended to help guide other countries that are in the process of adopting legislation and regulations for RMFIs. The study also examines how the operation of RMFIs and their clients may be affected by the impact of business and commercial laws and institutions on contract enforcement and the operation of businesses. Ghana's experience shows the value of opening up (or leaving alone) different tiers of formal, semi- formal and informal RMFIs that provide different products and services to different market niches. However, it is also clear that taking too promotional an approach and allowing too easy entry in the early stages tends to foster a number of weak institutions, especially when they are using relatively new methodologies that are relatively untested in the local market. This can both undermine the credibility of that category of institutions and drain scarce supervision resources - or foster benign neglect until the problems become severe. Clearly, the biggest challenge in regulating RMFIs is finding the right balance between ease of entry for greater outreach, prudential regulations to promote sustainability, and supervision capacity.
Comparison of Noncoherent Linear Breast Cancer Detection Algorithms Applied to a 2-D Numerical Model

A comparative analysis of an imaging method based on a multifrequency Multiple Signal Classification (MUSIC) approach against two common linear detection algorithms based on noncoherent migration is made. The different techniques are tested using synthetic data generated through CST Microwave Studio and a phantom developed from MRI scans of a mostly fat breast. The multifrequency MUSIC approach shows an overall superior performance compared to the noncoherent techniques. This letter reports that this highly performing algorithm does not require any antenna calibration or phase response estimation and allows the use of efficient and complex antenna geometries without difficult algorithm redefinitions.
GOLD HULL AND INTERNODE2 Encodes a Primarily Multifunctional Cinnamyl-Alcohol Dehydrogenase in Rice1

Lignin content and composition are two important agronomic traits for the utilization of agricultural residues. Rice (Oryza sativa) gold hull and internode phenotype is a classical morphological marker trait that has long been applied to breeding and genetics study. In this study, we have cloned the GOLD HULL AND INTERNODE2 (GH2) gene in rice using a map-based cloning approach. The result shows that the gh2 mutant is a lignin-deficient mutant, and GH2 encodes a cinnamyl-alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD). Consistent with this finding, extracts from roots, internodes, hulls, and panicles of the gh2 plants exhibited drastically reduced CAD activity and undetectable sinapyl alcohol dehydrogenase activity. When expressed in Escherichia coli, purified recombinant GH2 was found to exhibit strong catalytic ability toward coniferaldehyde and sinapaldehyde, while the mutant protein gh2 completely lost the corresponding CAD and sinapyl alcohol dehydrogenase activities. Further phenotypic analysis of the gh2 mutant plants revealed that the p-hydroxyphenyl, guaiacyl, and sinapyl monomers were reduced in almost the same ratio compared to the wild type. Our results suggest GH2 acts as a primarily multifunctional CAD to synthesize coniferyl and sinapyl alcohol precursors in rice lignin biosynthesis.
Abnormalities of the cortico‐geniculate pathway in siamese cats

The cortico‐geniculate pathways of normally‐pigmented and Siamese cats have been studied by autoradiography following injections of 3H proline into cortical area 17. Normal Siamese cats and Siamese cats that were raised with one eye sutured or removed have been compared with normally‐pigmented cats treated in the same manner. The cortico‐geniculate projection from area 17 passes to all parts of the lateral geniculate nucleus in normal cats and distributes to all geniculate layers (Updyke, '76). This distribution was essentially unaffected by an early monocular suture or enucleation. In Siamese cats, the cortico‐geniculate projection to lamina A and to the lateral normal segment of lamina A1 was normal, but little or no label was seen in the abnormal segment of lamina A1. The interlaminar zones adjacent to the abnormal segment of lamina A1 were densely filled with label, as though the cortico‐geniculate axons avoid this segment. Unilateral enucleation or lid‐suture did not affect this distribution, suggesting that it does not depend upon visual experience. These Siamese cats were all identified by electrophysiological studies as having a normal topography of the geniculo‐cortical pathways. That is, they were “Midwestern” cats.
Chlamydial Infection in Aborted and Stillborn Lambs

Chlamydia psittaci is a major cause of ovine abortion in the fourth to fifth months of gestation. During the lambing seasons of 1986, 1987, and 1988, fetuses from 52 cases of ovine abortion, stillbirth, or perinatal death were submitted to the laboratory for necropsy examination. Placenta or fetal tissues from 34 cases were cultured on mouse L cells for C. psittaci. Chlamydia psittaci was identified by immunofluorescence on cultures in 20 of these cases. The major gross lesion consistently associated with Chlamydial abortion was placentitis with multifocal cotyledonary necrosis and accumulation of red-brown exudate in the intercotyledonary placenta Chlamydiae appeared as spherical organisms, less than 1 μm in diameter, in the cytoplasm of tropho-blasts in impression smears of cotyledons. Histologically, placentitis was sometimes accompanied by pneumonia or encephalitis in the fetus. Chlamydia psittaci was considered the cause for fetal death when Chlamydial isolation was associated with placentitis or inflammation of other fetal tissues and when other abortifacient agents were not detected.
Interactions between Herbs used for Cardiovascular Disorders and Drugs

Alternative medicine is becoming popular worldwide and this is clearly evident from the rapidly escalating sales figures. The time tested and clinically proven herbal medicines like St. John’s wort, Ginkgo biloba, Garlic, Ephedra, Echinacea etc., make up most of the world’s market as for as alternative medicine is concerned. In spite of its increasing popularity, global criticism regarding the safety of herbal medicines is gaining importance. The surfacing of the adverse effects/adverse events due to concomitant use of herbs and prescription medicines undermine the safety of herbal medicines. The safety of herbal medicines still remains a daunting task. The herbs like St. John’s wort, Ginkgo biloba, Garlic, Ephedra, Echinacea etc., have been reported to interact pharmacokinetically and pharmacodynamically with several prescription medicines. The available literature also bolsters that concomitant use of herbs and drugs can lead to several adverse effects/adverse events. This article presents most of the significant herb – drug interactions reported till date along with a note on the predicted interactions which may/may not occur. There are certain herb – drug combinations which can produce therapeutic benefit and these beneficial herb – drug combinations are also detailed in this article. This review gives an insight into herb – drug interactions, stressing the need to carryout studies on herb – drug interactions at a faster pace, which can strengthen the concept of herbal medicine.
Audit Committee and Auditor Independence: Some Evidence from Malaysia

This paper investigate the impact of five issues on audit committee such as active audit committee, compulsory audit committee reports, audit committee approves audit fees, audit committee reviews audit fees, audit committee comprised of majority independent and non-executive directors, to auditor independence. To achieve the research objective, this study was undertaken in two stages: the first stage involved the use of a postal questionnaire survey and the second stage employed interview survey. The population selected for this study consists of auditors, loan officers and senior managers of Malaysian public listed companies. The questionnaire survey revealed that the majority of the respondents agreed that auditor independence would be safeguarded by the presence of an active audit committee, if it was compulsory to include an audit committee report in the annual report, if the audit committee was responsible for approving and reviewing audit fees, and if the majority of audit committee members were independent and non-executive. It is found that the interview survey confirmed the questionnaire survey's findings. This indicates that the respondents have faith in the existence of audit committees in the Malaysian capital market, which would enhance communication between auditors and management.
A Study of the use of market mechanisms for the delivery of publicly funded employment services in Alberta

This thesis employs a multiple case study design to examine the challenges, benefits, and limitations associated with the contracting and procurement frameworks used by three Alberta ministries for the purchase of employment services, including services for people with disabilities. Each framework reflects a market emphasis to varying degrees, and one is seemingly at odds with a shared governance legacy and transformational vision. A literature review inventories a host of issues related to new public management era contracting and the more recent trend toward collaborative or horizontal governance. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore the impact of market mechanisms on inter-organizational dynamics and organizational mandate and autonomy, the use of performance contracting for services for disabled populations, and a governance framework that serves as a backdrop for contracting reforms. It is suggested that the market model begins to strain where services are designed for people with more complex needs and where the overarching goals are intended to bring about societal transformation. The province may be reaching the limits of where a market-inspired model can be expected to produce meaningful results. iv Table of
Best Practices in South African loyalty-based management: an exploratory study

Despite the fact that customer retention is widely supported as a business goal and an important component of business success, there seems to be a great deal of cynicism regarding the current state of business loyalty. This article reports on a survey among 217 South African business managers and finds that loyalty still has a place in business. It also reports specifically on best practices in loyalty-based management in South African companies.
Monoandry and polyandry in bumble bees (Hymenoptera; Bombinae) as evidenced by highly variable microsatellites

Highly variable microsatellites enabled a precise assessment of the number of queen matings in the colonies of five bumble bee species. Fifteen of the sixteen microsatellites initially cloned from B. terrestris had flanking regions similar enough to allow PCR amplification on the other Bombus species analysed. The microsatellites selected for intracolony study (four per species) were characterized by a high heterozygosity (0.58–0.93) and a large number of alleles (3–18) in the local populations from which the colonies originated. A single male appeared to have inseminated the queens in the colonies of four species, B. terrestris, B. lucorum, B. lapidarius and B. pratorum, which belong to three subgenera, whereas two of the three analysed colonies of B. hypnorum were polyandrous (minimum number of two and four patrilines, respectively).
Performance measurement methods in the public sector

The notion of performance measurement (PM) in the public sector emerged in the framework of the New Public Management paradigm and public management reforms in industrialised as well as in developing countries. The paper discusses the following issues regarding PM - the definition of performance and types of measures, purpose of the PM and possible threats while applying PM. Firstly, as regards the types of measures - it is argued that measures of efficiency and effectiveness should be preferred over output measures Secondly, the purposes of PM are: informing users in the budget cycle, better planning, improved management, increased transparency and last but not least PM can motivate future performance. Thirdly, concerning the threats to the performance measurement: gaming, imprecise objectives and unprepared transfer of the new management system can make PM unreliable. The purpose of this paper is to overview and assess the recent developments concerning performance measurement and its methodology. It is also meant to add to the discussion on performance budgeting at the moment of the evaluation of Poland's first performance budget in 2008. (original abstract)
STRATEGY OF TOURISM IN CROATIA FOR COMPETING ON THE EUROPEAN TOURISM MARKET

The paper deals with the problems that have arisen due to the rapid development of traveling motives in the world tourism market. Croatia, as Mediterranean tourism country still does not have a clear solution of alternative tourism offer. There are other problems that are generated by the growing number of tourists and changes in tourism consumption. In the paper author have demonstrated the results of influences of trends in the tourist demand side. The changes in the tourist demand have resulted in the change in the concept of mass type of tourism. Such trends have influenced the emergence of specialized producers and offers of typical Croatian products.
Corporate financing decisions : the role of managerial overconfidence

This thesis examines the effects of managerial overconfidence on corporate financing decisions. Overconfident managers tend to overestimate the mean of future cash flow and underestimate the volatility of future cash flow. We propose a novel time-varying measure of overconfidence, which is based on computational linguistic analysis of what the managers said (i.e. Chairman s Statement). The overconfidence of CEO and CFO is also constructed based on what the managers did (i.e. how they trade their own firms shares). We conduct three empirical studies that offer new insights into the roles of managerial overconfidence in the leverage decision (i.e. debt level), pecking order behaviour (i.e. the preference for debt over equity financing) and debt maturity decision (i.e. short-term debt vs. long-term debt). Study 1 documents a negative overconfidence-leverage relationship. This new finding suggests that debt conservatism associated with managerial overconfidence might be a potential explanation for the low leverage puzzle: some firms maintain low leverage, without taking tax benefits of debt, because overconfident managers believe that firm securities are undervalued by investors and thus are too costly (Malmendier, Tate and Yan, 2011). Study 2 finds managerial overconfidence leads to reverse pecking order preference especially in small firms, which sheds light on the pecking order puzzle that smaller firms with higher information costs surprisingly exhibit weaker pecking order preference. This new evidence is consistent with Hackbarth s (2008) theory that overconfident managers who underestimate the riskiness of earnings tend to prefer equity to debt financing. Study 3 finds managerial overconfidence leads to higher debt maturity. This evidence supports our proposition that overconfidence can mitigate the underinvestment problem (which is often the major concern of long-term debt investors) (Hackbarth, 2009), which in turn allows overconfident managers to use more and cheaper long-term debt. This evidence also implies that overconfidence may mitigate the agency cost of debt. Overall, our empirical analysis suggests that managerial overconfidence has significant incremental explanatory power for corporate financing decisions.
General Pathophysiology of Macular Edema

Macular edema represents a common final pathway for many ocular diseases. Related ocular disorders include diabetic retinopathy, vascular occlusions, postsurgical situations, and uveitic diseases. The key pathophysiologic process is a breakdown of the blood-retinal barrier, normally preventing water movement in the retina, thus allowing fluid to accumulate in the retinal tissue via special water fluxes. Inflammatory processes and an increase in vascular permeability play a central role. Different mechanisms, complicated by ischemic conditions, interact in a complex network. Key factors are angiotensin II, prostaglandins, and the vascular endothelial growth factor. The various pathogenetic mechanisms and their contribution to the edema process are described in detail in this article.
Ecological review of black-grass (Alopecurus myosuroides Huds.) propagation abilities in relationship with herbicide resistance

Revue de l'ecologie des capacites de propagation du vulpin des champs (Alopecurus myosuroides Huds.) en relation avec la resistance aux herbicides. Alopecurus myosuroides Huds. (vulpin des champs) a toujours ete une preoccupation majeure pour les cerealiculteurs et le developpement de la resistance aux herbicides n'ameliore pas la situation. Cet article de synthese resume les differents criteres impliques dans les modeles de dispersion d’individus de vulpin des champs au sein d’un champ ou d’une population sensible. Pour ce faire, le cycle complet du vulpin est decrit de la semence a la semence. Depuis le developpement vegetatif precoce jusqu’a la chute de la graine, chaque etape est decrite en prenant en compte comment la resistance aux herbicides peut influencer ou exercer un impact different par rapport a des plantes sensibles.
The network coding based on synchronization in wireless mesh networks self-similar traffic

The wireless mesh networks traffic is of self-similarity and the network performance is degraded by self-similar traffic. Network coding is a new technology which improves networks performance. In this paper, an algorithm was presented that used network coding to reduce the queue length and the delay time when self-similar traffic was occurred. The algorithm was based on synchronization after data packets are classified by destination address and lengths. Comprehensive simulations and results show that the delay time and queue length is shorter.
Costs and cost‐effectiveness of carotid stenting versus endarterectomy for patients at increased surgical risk: Results from the SAPPHIRE trial

Objectives: To evaluate the cost‐effectiveness of carotid stenting vs. carotid endarterectomy using data from the SAPPHIRE trial. Background: Carotid stenting with embolic protection has been introduced as an alternative to carotid endarterectomy for prevention of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular events among patients at increased surgical risk. Methods: Between August 2000 and July 2002, 310 patients with an accepted indication for carotid endarterectomy but at high risk of complications were randomized to and subsequently underwent either carotid stenting (n = 159) or endarterectomy (n = 151). Clinical outcomes, resource use, costs, and quality of life were assessed prospectively for all patients over a 1‐year period. Life expectancy, quality‐adjusted life expectancy, and health care costs beyond the follow‐up period were estimated for patients alive at 1 year, based on observed clinical events during the first year of follow‐up. Results: Although initial procedural costs were significantly higher for stenting than for endarterectomy (mean difference: $4,081/patient; 95% CI, $3,849–$4,355), mean post‐procedure length of stay was shorter for stenting (1.9 vs. 2.9 days; P < 0.001) with significant associated cost offsets. As a result, initial hospital costs were just $559/patient higher with stenting (95% CI, $3,470 less to $2,289 more). Neither follow‐up costs after discharge nor total 1‐year costs differed significantly. The incremental cost‐effectiveness ratio for stenting compared with endarterectomy was $6,555 per quality‐adjusted life year (QALY) gained, with over 98 percent of bootstrap estimates <$50,000/QALY gained. Conclusions: Although carotid stenting with embolic protection is more costly than carotid endarterectomy, by commonly accepted standards, stenting is an economically attractive alternative to endarterectomy for patients at high surgical risk. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Auditing: A Risk Analysis Approach

PART 1: THE AUDITING PROFESSION. 1. Auditing, Attestation and Assurance. 2. Defining Professional Responsibility: Quality Standards and Ethics. 3. Maintaining Professional Responsibility: Regulation and Legal Liability. PART 2: PLANNING THE AUDIT. 4. Audit Evidence and Audit Programs. 5. Audit Planning: Assessment of Inherent Risk and Materiality. 6. Internal Control: Concepts. 7. Audit Planning: Assessment of Control Risk. 8. Internal Control and Computer Based Information Systems (CBIS). PART 3: CONDUCTING THE AUDIT. 9. Statistical Sampling for Testing Control Procedures. 10. Statistical Sampling for Substantive Testing. 11. Substantive Audit Testing: Revenue Cycle. 12. Substantive Audit Testing: Expenditure Cycle. 13. Substantive Audit Testing: Financing and Investing Cycle and Completing the Audit. PART 4: REPORTING THE RESULTS OF THE AUDIT. 14. Audit Reports. PART 5: OTHER ATTESTATION AND ASSURANCE SERVICES. 15. Other Assurance Services. 16. Operational and Governmental Compliance Auditing. Biltrite Bicycles Inc.: A Computerized Practice Case.