Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Managing Adverse Selection in Health Insurance Markets: Evidence from the California and Washington ACA Exchanges

Adverse selection in health insurance markets may reduce social welfare by leading some low-risk consumers to underinsure or too few consumers to purchase coverage, relative to the socially optimal level. I study the social welfare implications of policies that are designed to mitigate these effects of adverse selection, including (1) an individual mandate for purchasing insurance and (2) risk adjustment. The mandate addresses suboptimal enrollment in the market that results from adverse selection, while risk adjustment addresses underinsurance. I show that the welfare impact of the policies is theoretically ambiguous because there is a tradeoff in addressing the effects of adverse selection. I then assess how the mandate and risk adjustment affect social welfare in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurance exchanges. Using consumer-level data from the California and Washington exchanges, I estimate demand for insurance and obtain estimates of marginal cost that I relate to premiums to account for adverse selection. I compute equilibrium premiums under alternative scenarios and find that the mandate (relative to no mandate) modestly reduces premiums and risk adjustment (relative to no risk adjustment) increases premiums for less costly exchange plans. The mandate decreases consumer surplus by 2.6 percent because it makes underinsurance more prevalent and the ACA's price-linked subsidies limit consumer exposure to premium reductions. Conversely, risk adjustment increases consumer surplus by 3.9 percent because it addresses underinsurance and the ACA's price-linked subsidies limit consumer exposure to premium increases. I conduct simulations using the estimated model and find the impact of the two policies is sensitive to subsidy designs that expose consumers to premium changes. If ACA price-linked subsidies were converted to fixed subsidies or vouchers as proposed in some legislative alternatives to the ACA, the mandate would increase consumer surplus by 6.6 percent and risk adjustment would decrease consumer surplus by 4.2 percent. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Health Care Management & Economics First Advisor Aviv Nevo
Chaos controller for switching regulators aiming enhanced design-space towards miniaturization

This paper tackles the control of fast-scale instabilities in a buck switching power converter aiming to expand its design-space towards miniaturization. After briefly revisiting the working principle of existing chaos controllers, the paper explores an alternative approach based on amplifying the harmonic at the switching frequency. Numerical simulations show that the proposed controller can concurrently improve both fast-scale and slow-scale stability margins. Finally, the paper proposes a chaos controller combined with an output ripple reduction network and studies their interaction with the aim of achieving both low-ripple and improved stability.
Sleep Disordered Breathing and Arrhythmia Burden in Pacemaker Recipients

Background: Sleep disordered breathing (SDB), a common condition among patients with permanent pacemaker (PM), is associated with greater incidence of cardiac arrhythmias. Scarce availability of sleep laboratories and the high costs of nocturnal‐attended polysomnography limit the routine screening of patients with PM for SDB. We investigated whether a novel PM that utilizes variations in transthoracic impedance to record the fluctuations in breathing pattern and minute ventilation could be used to screen patients for SDB.
Quality of life in Coeliac Disease is determined by perceived degree of difficulty adhering to a gluten-free diet, not the level of dietary adherence ultimately achieved.

BACKGROUND Coeliac Disease (CD) is an increasingly common autoimmune condition, the treatment of which is a gluten-free diet (GFD). Previous studies fail to reach consensus of the impact this restrictive diet has on an individual's quality of life (QoL). Furthermore, how patient characteristics, such as demographic and educational background, may predict GFD adherence is poorly understood. We aimed to assess which factors had an impact on Qol in patients with CD. METHODS Case-control postal survey (n=573). Biopsy-proven CD patients (n=225; mean disease duration 8yrs; range 0.5-52yrs; male 26%) and age and sex matched controls (n=348; male 36%) completed The Short-Form 36-Item (SF-36) QoL measure, The Hospital Anxiety & Depression Scale (HADS), GFD assessment, and demographic questionnaire. RESULTS We found a high proportion of GFD adherence: 'Full Adherence' 65%, 'Partial Adherence' 31%, 'None Adherence' 4%, accompanied however, by 80% of patients reporting difficulty adhering to the GFD: 'Impossible' 5%, 'Mostly difficult' 14%, 'Sometimes difficult' 61%, 'No difficulty' 20%. Negligible differences in QoL scores were observed when comparing full versus partial/none GFD patients (P=>0.05), however, stepwise reductions in QoL and increasing likelihood of anxiety/depression were found in association with increasing degree of difficulty adhering to the GFD (P=<0.0001). Demographic assessment suggests that an affluent background and a university education promote greater GFD adherence. CONCLUSIONS Most coeliac patients adhere to a GFD but encounter difficulty doing so (potentially influenced by social and educational background). The degree of GFD difficulty is associated with reductions in patient wellbeing and psychological distress that the dietician is critically placed to address.
INFLUÊNCIAS DA ADESÃO AO NOVO MERCADO NA RELAÇÃO ENTRE LIQUIDEZ CORRENTE E RETORNO CONTÁBIL DE EMPRESAS BRASILEIRAS

A gestao do ativo circulante tem sua importância na manutencao da situacao financeira da empresa, mantendo-a liquida, se necessario, e capaz de participar competitivamente no mercado em que atua. Alteracoes na estrutura de financiamentos e aplicacoes do ativo circulante levam a diferentes margens de lucratividade, gerando indices diferentes de liquidez. A eficiencia no uso dos recursos investidos pode ser garantida por meio de mecanismos elaborados com o proposito de mitigar os efeitos da separacao entre propriedade e controle das companhias, os mecanismos de governanca. O presente trabalho buscou evidenciar as influencias que a adesao ao Novo Mercado teve sobre a relacao entre Liquidez Corrente e ROE em empresas brasileiras. Procurou-se caracterizar essa relacao por meio do calculo do beta entre as variaveis analisadas. Como resultado, foi encontrado que a relacao entre liquidez e retorno tende a ser inversa apos a adesao ao Novo Mercado da Bovespa.
Estimating Disaggregated Employment Size from Points-of-Interest and Census Data: From Mining the Web to Model Implementation and Visualization

—The global spread of internet access and the ubiq-uity of internet capable devices has lead to an increased online presence on the behalf of companies and businesses, namely in collaborative platforms called local directories, where Points-of-Interest (POIs) are usually classiﬁed with a set of categories and tags. Such information can be extremely useful, especially if aggregated under a common (shared) taxonomy. This article proposes a complete framework for the urban planning task of disaggregated employment size estimation based on collaborative online POI data, collected using web mining techniques. In order to make the analysis possible, we present a machine learning approach to automatically classify POIs to a common taxonomy - the North American Industry Classiﬁcation System. This hierarchical taxonomy is applied in many areas, particularly in urban planning, since it allows for a proper analysis of the data at different levels of detail, depending on the practical application at hand. The classiﬁed POIs are then used to estimate disaggregated employment size, at a ﬁner level than previously possible, using a maximum likelihood estimator. We empirically show that the automatically-classiﬁed online POIs are competitive with proprietary gold-standard POI data. This fact is then supported through a set of new visualizations that allow us to understand the spatial distribution of the classiﬁcation error and its relation with employment
Treatment of multiple sclerosis with cyclophosphamide: critical review of clinical and immunologic effects

Cyclophosphamide is an alkylating agent used to treat malignancies and immune-mediated inflammatory non-malignant processes such as lupus nephritis and immune-mediated neuropathies. It has been studied as a treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS) for the past 30 years and is used by physicians in selected cases of progressive or worsening MS. Review of published reports suggests that it is efficacious in cases of worsening MS that have an inflammatory component as evidenced by relapses and/or gadolinium (Gd)-enhancing lesions on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or in patients in earlier stages of disease where inflammation predominates over degenerative processes in the central nervous system (CNS). There is no evidence of efficacy in primary progressive MS or later stages of secondary progressive MS. Although a general immunosuppressant that affects both T- and B-cell function, cyclophosphamide has selective immune effects in MS by suppressing IL-12 and Th1-type responses and enhancing Th2/Th3 responses (IL-4, IL-10, TGF-beta; eosinophils in peripheral blood). Side effects include nausea, alopecia, infertility, bladder toxicity and risk of malignancy. The most commonly used regimens involve every 4- to 8-week outpatient IV pulse therapy given with or without corticosteroids and are usually well-tolerated by patients. Cyclophosphamide is currently used in patients whose disease is not controlled by beta-interferon or glatiramer acetate and those with rapidly worsening MS.
Condition‐dependent traits and the capture of genetic variance in male advertisement song

The occurrence of additive genetic variance (VA) for male sexual traits remains a major problem in evolutionary biology. Directional selection normally imposed by female choice is expected to reduce VA greatly, yet recent surveys indicate that a substantial amount remains in many species. We addressed this problem, also known as the ‘lek paradox’, in Achroia grisella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), an acoustic moth in which males advertise to females with a pulsed ultrasonic song. Using a standard half‐sib/full‐sib breeding design, we generated F1 progeny from whom we determined VA and genetic covariance (COVA) among seven traits: three song characters, an overall index of song attractiveness, nightly singing period, adult lifespan, and body mass at adult eclosion. Because A. grisella neither feed nor drink as adults, the last trait, eclosion body mass, is considered a measure of ‘condition’. We found significant levels of VA and narrow‐sense heritabilities (h2) for all seven traits and significant genetic correlations (= COVAi,j /√(VA i·VA j)) between most pairs of traits (i, j). Male attractiveness was positively correlated with body mass (condition), adult lifespan, and nightly singing period, which we interpret as an energy constraint preventing males in poor condition from singing attractively, from singing many hours per night, and from surviving an extended lifespan. The positive genetic correlation (r = 0.79) between condition and attractiveness, combined with significant levels of VA for both traits, indicates that much of the variation in male song can be explained by VA for condition. Finally, we discuss the morphological and physiological links between condition and song attractiveness, and the ultimate factors that may maintain VA for condition.
Design and W-CDMA Characterization of a Wideband AlGaN / GaN HEMT Power Amplifier for Future 3 G Multiband Base Station Applications

A single stage wideband amplifier based on an AlGaN/GaN HEMT power cell with a total gate-width of 16 mm matched to 50 Ohm has been successfully developed and characterized by use of a single-carrier W-CDMA signal. A very wide bandwidth of more than 1.7 GHz covering several mobile radio frequency bands within Land S-band with peak output power levels up to 44 dBm has been demonstrated with meeting 3GPP ACLR requirement in the complete measured frequency range. The maximum measured output power level was 45.8 dBm translating into a power density of 2.4 W/mm, which is superior compared to that of established technologies like LDMOS. The presented power amplifier shows the impressive potential of AlGaN/GaN HEMT technology regarding output power and bandwidth, supporting the development of future multiband/ multistandard capable base stations. Keywordsmultiband/multistandard, AlGaN/GaN HEMT technology, wideband amplifier, W-CDMA test signal
Long term survival of patient with invasive aspergillosis involving orbit, paranasal sinus, and central nervous system

Aspergillus infections of the paranasal sinuses are classified as invasive or non-invasive.1 The vast majority are non-invasive with a good prognosis; however, the invasive type behaves as a malignant neoplasm with bone destruction, orbital and intracranial extensions, and a high mortality rate.2–4 We present one patient with invasive paranasal aspergillosis that extended into the orbit and cranial cavities, and who has survived for 9 years and 1 month. Along with headaches and periorbital pain beginning in July 1993, a 64 year old woman noticed a decrease vision in her right eye and visited us on 7 September 1993. She had poorly controlled diabetes mellitus. Her corrected visual acuity was 20/30 right eye and 20/20 left eye, and her critical flicker fusion frequency was 25 Hz right eye and 32 Hz left eye. A central scotoma with a relative afferent pupillary defect was present in the right …
Analyzing inference robustness of RRAM synaptic array in low-precision neural network

In this work, we investigate the robustness of 1-transistor-1-resistor (1T1R) synaptic array to implement a low-precision neural network. The experimental results on 1 kb HfOx-based RRAM array show a large on/off ratio (i.e. > 105×) and 5 stable resistance states can be reliably achieved with 10× window between adjacent two states. As the RRAM has the resistance drift over time under read voltage stress, the impact of read disturbance occurred in 1T1R synaptic array on the neural network classification accuracy is analyzed with the RRAM compact model fitted with experimental data. The simulation results of a single-layer perceptron with compressed MNIST dataset indicate that 1) more stable multi-level states are desired to have higher mapping capability of weights, thus achieving a higher initial classification accuracy; 2) good mapping strategies that avoid the read disturbance-induced sign change on the most significant weight levels are very important to mitigate the classification accuracy loss.
From reeds-shepp's paths to continuous curvature paths-Part I: Transition schemes & algorithms

This work considers real-time continuous curvature (CC) path planning for car-like robots. It is motivated by the fact that Reeds-Shepp's (RS) based path planning remains unmatched in terms of computation efficiency and reliability when compared with various CC path planning results. Similar to [1], this paper post-processes RS paths to enforce the CC property, while ensuring CC paths contained in a neighborhood of the RS paths to maintain obstacle clearance. Targeting to alleviate concerns about reliability and computational efficiency, we exploit the geometric insights casted by μ-tangency conditions [2] to post-process RS paths. Specifically, distinctive postprocessing scheme is devised offline for each type of discontinuous curvature junctions. The proposed schemes, though suboptimal, are straightforward, and result in CC path planning with guaranteed completeness at the negligible increase of computation. Effectiveness of proposed schemes and resultant algorithms is validated by numerical simulations.
Nonatherosclerotic Ostial Stenosis of Left Main Coronary Artery: Echocardiographic Assessment and Follow‐Up after Surgical Treatment

Nonatherosclerotic ostial stenosis of left main coronary artery is a rare cause of myocardial ischemia.1 When ostial coronary stenosis is an isolated lesion, surgical angioplasty may be a valid alternative to standard coronary artery bypass graft operation.2 We describe a 17-year-old girl with typical angina, hospitalized because of syncope during exercise preceded by chest pain with tight ostial stenosis of short main coronary artery. After a surgical angioplasty with patch of autologous pericardium, a completely noninvasive echocardiographic follow-up was performed, including the assessment of coronary flow reserve, which confirmed good long-term results of operation.
Use of whole grain and refined flour from tannin and non-tannin sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) varieties in frybread

Frybreads were prepared using wheat flour and wheat-sorghum composite flours (refined and whole grain; white, tannin-free and red, tannin-containing) at 0, 25, 50, and 75% sorghum flour. Hardness, volume, specific volume, color, and oil uptake were determined. Frybreads made with refined white, tannin-free sorghum were also evaluated in a sensory panel. Substitution of sorghum flour for wheat flour reduced the volume and increased the darkness of the fried dough pieces compared with wheat flour controls. Oil absorption was unaffected when using white, tannin-free sorghum. When using red, tannin-containing sorghum, oil absorption increased for refined flour and decreased for whole grain flour, suggesting that a component only present in the whole grain tannin-containing Sorghum—perhaps tannins themselves—may decrease oil uptake. Panelists rated frybreads containing up to 50% white, tannin-free sorghum flour as not significantly different from control frybreads made with refined wheat flour.
Square Designs on New Binary ( 3 n − 1 2 , 3 n − 1 2 , 2 . 3 n − 2 ) Codes

C is an (n,M, d)q code over Fq of length n with M codewords and minimum distance d. The code C can be either linear or nonlinear. A t − (v, k, λ) design D is a set X of v points together with a collection of k−subsets of X (called block) such that every t−subset of X is contained in exactly λ blocks. In this paper a new binary code ( n−1 2 , 3n−1 2 , 2.3 n−2), n ≥ 3 is developed. Some properties of this code are stated. It is also shown that this code holds 2− (3−1 2 , 3n−1, 2.3n−2) design.
Microstrip patch miniaturization by slots loading

The effect of slot loading on microstrip patch antennas is investigated. Initially, Koch island fractal and H-shape slots are introduced to microstrip patch antennas and their effect on reduction of the resonant frequency is determined. Then, additional slots of more complex geometry are implemented on the H-shaped patch to further reduce its resonance frequency. Their effects on the impedance bandwidth are also investigated
The Christchurch Health and Development Study: Review of Findings on Child and Adolescent Mental Health

Objective: This paper provides an overview of the Christchurch Health and Development Study (CHDS) and a summary of findings relating to child and adolescent mental health. Method: The CHDS is a longitudinal study of a birth cohort of 1265 children born in the Christchurch (New Zealand) urban region during mid 1977. This cohort has now been studied from birth to age 21. Results: The paper examines the ways in which the study has been able to examine a wide range of issues. Key issues examined include: (i) measurement of disorder (respondent effects; dimensionality; scales vs categories); (ii) prevalence and treatment of disorder; (iii) stability and continuity of disorders; (iv) the contribution of risk and aetiological factors (e.g. lead exposure, parental divorce, child abuse, family adversity, sexual orientation) to psychosocial adjustment; and (v) the psychosocial consequences of mental health problems in adolescence. Conclusions: The study findings illustrate the many advantages of a longitudinal study, such as the CHDS, in providing methodologically sound, theoretically relevant and cost effective research that caters for the interests of multiple end-users including the scientific community, clinicians and applied policy makers.
Housing Wealth in Retirement Strategies

What is the current role of housing wealth in household retirement strategies across the European Union member states? And could this role be extended? This question is often raised by researchers and policymakers, since governments search for ways to cut pensions expenditure in response to ageing populations and the global financial crisis. Housing wealth could potentially be part of a solution as the retired are often rich in terms of housing wealth. The existing theory shows that owner-occupation can be regarded as a form of pension: once the mortgage has been repaid, housing expenses are substantially lower and also housing wealth can be cashed in either by selling or using equity release schemes. However, converting housing assets into cash appears a much less common strategy than expected. This thesis contributes to the existing knowledge by relating household strategies to broader national contexts. The countries included in the study are Belgium, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden and United Kingdom, while the Netherlands is the subject of particular attention. The study suggests that owner-occupation will become more relevant in the near future when pension systems become less generous. At the same time it shows that owner-occupation is not the clear-cut solution that governments might have hoped for. Generally, European households appear averse against cashing in housing wealth: they distrust complex financial products and their providers. Moreover, in some countries it would seriously undermine family solidarity; and households who are most likely to need extra pension income are least likely to be owner-occupiers. Additionally, an ageing society has a negative effect on the affordability of a pension system, yet at the same time it has an impact on housing markets. Shrinking populations typically coincide with decreasing house prices and hence reduce the options of cashing in housing wealth.
From Financial Innovation to Brand Innovation: How Option Trading Affects the Launch and Success of New Brands

This study examines the impact of option trading on brand innovation measured by trademark data. We find that firms with higher option trading volume tend to launch more new trademarks; however, these trademarks result in fewer citations and lower cited rates, which suggests lower success probability of these new brands that hurts firm value and operating performance. The negative effect of option trading volume on trademark citations is more pronounced when managerial entrenchment or pay-risk sensitivity is stronger, supporting a manager’s risk-taking channel. Finally, we address endogeneity concerns using two quasi-natural experiments of option listing standards and the Penny Pilot Program. Overall, our findings suggest a positive effect of option trading on brand innovation through enhancing managers’ risk-taking behaviors.