Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intertemporal Decision-Making and Loss Aversion

This thesis is devoted to a novel approach to intertemporal decision-making. Specifically, it applies the reference-dependent model to intertemporal choices and shows that one can model intertemporal choice even without the assumption of time discounting. In Chapter I , I present a brief review of the background literature, which could be of help for our understanding of intertemporal decision-making. Specifically, it focuses on three prominent economic theories, which are the most relevant for my work on intertemporal decision-making, namely, the exponential discounted utility theory, the hyperbolic discounting theory, the theory of reference-dependent preferences, and the similarity-based procedure. In Chapter II, I present the intertemporal reference-dependent model composed of an intrinsic consumption utility and a reference-dependent gain-loss utility which are additively separable over time. Three simple ways of reference point determination — choice-set dependent, choice-set independent, and hybrid reference points are also explored. In addition, I also argue that the intertemporal reference-dependent model may offer an alternative explanation of the experimental observations by Rubinstein (2003). Furthermore, in Chapter III, I extend the intertemporal reference-dependent model, where an individual is uncertain about her future circumstances, and her reference levels follow a random walk process. While the model does not explicitly include time discounting and return on saving, it nevertheless may offer an alternative explanation of present bias and negative time preference (future bias), and may also offer an alternative explanation of dynamically inconsistent preferences over time. Finally, in Chapter IV, using a survey-based within-subject choice experiment, I explore whether subjects' behaviour is consistent with a number of existing and emerging theories, namely hyperbolic discounting theory, Rubinstein's similarity procedure, and the novel intertemporal reference-dependent model. The main result of the survey-based within-subject choice experiment is that none of these three theories explain subjects' behaviour. However, I do find that, among these three theories, the novel intertemporal reference-dependent model performs no worse than Rubinstein's similarity procedure, and hyperbolic discounting theory performs the worst with subjects' behaviour on subset of questions. Moreover, I could reject the hypothesis that the subjects made their choices at random. Finally, I also found that their behaviour is not consistent with the Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives.
MONETARY POLICY AND FINANCIAL CONDITIONS IN INDONESIA

We develop a financial condition index (FCI) and examine the effects of monetarypolicy on financial conditions in Indonesia. We show that our FCI tracks financialconditions quite well because it captures key financial events (the Asian financialcrisis of 1997–1998, the Indonesian banking crisis, and the global financial crisis andits aftermath). A unique feature of our FCI is that it is quarterly and thus offers nearreal-time development in financial conditions. We also show that monetary policyshapes the FCI. A contractionary monetary policy leads to unfavourable financialconditions during the first two quarters, followed by favourable financial conditionsfor nearly three quarters. This finding is robust to an alternative identification strategy.Our findings highlight the critical role of the monetary authority in shaping financialconditions in Indonesia.
An important function of Nrf2 in combating oxidative stress: Detoxification of acetaminophen

Nrf2, a member of the “cap ‘n collar” group of transcription factors, is important for protecting cells against oxidative damage. We investigated its role in the detoxification of acetaminophen [N-acetyl-p-aminophenol (APAP)]-induced hepatotoxicity. When Nrf2 knockout (Nrf2−/−) and wild-type mice were given APAP by i.p. injection, the Nrf2−/− mice were highly susceptible to APAP treatment. With doses of APAP that were tolerated by wild-type mice, the Nrf2−/− mice died of liver failure. When hepatic glutathione was depleted after a dose of 400 mg/kg of APAP, the wild-type mice were able to compensate and regain the normal glutathione level. In contrast, the glutathione level in the Nrf2−/− mice was not compensated and remained low. This was because of the decrease in the gene expression of gcsH and gcsL as well as gss in the livers of the Nrf2−/− mice. In addition, the expression of ugt1a6 and gstpi that detoxify APAP by conjugation was also decreased. This increased susceptibility of the Nrf2−/− mice to APAP, because of an impaired capacity to replenish their glutathione stores, compounded with a decreased detoxification capability, highlights the importance of Nrf2 in the regulation of glutathione synthesis and cellular detoxification processes.
Venture Capital 20 years on: reflections on the evolution of a field

ABSTRACT This paper reviews the circumstances surrounding the launch of Venture Capital: An International Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance in 1999. It highlights a number of significant changes in the structure of the entrepreneurial finance market over the past 20 years, notably the decline of “classic” venture capital, the effective closure of the small-cap IPO market, the scale-up problem and the emergence of a second equity gap, the geographical dispersion of venture capital and the institutionalisation of the business angel market. A number of new players in the market – coinvestment schemes, equity crowdfunding platforms and blockchain technology-based Initial Coin Offerings – are discussed and the challenges and opportunities they pose for investors, entrepreneurs, policy makers, regulators and academic researchers are assessed. Against this background, a number of key features of the evolution of the content and focus of the Journal are discussed. The paper finishes with a summary of the papers included in this Special Issue.
The short-term electric load forecasting grid model based on MDRBR algorithm

In load forecasting of a bulk power system, the geographical scope of forecasting region is large, the main electrical load effecting factors in sub districts are different greatly. So it is very significance to establish different load forecasting model according to self-feature of each sub district of a large area, by which the forecasting load is closer to the fact load than establishing one model in whole to forecast electrical load. This paper presents a grid model in terms of geographical division for short-term load forecasting in a bulk power system. The subset model in each geographical grid, considering its own historical loads and meteorological conditions, is more effective and could lead to more accurate results. Therefore, every subnet model is established based on the mining default rules on rough sets (MDRBR) algorithm. First, the MDRBR algorithm is discussed, and the constructing process of the multi-layered rule-network of daily load forecasting is then analyzed in detail. Furthermore, the whole process of load forecasting based on the MDRBR algorithm is presented. Finally, an example using actual historical data shows that the grid forecasting model can yield high accurate results, reduce noises effectively, and is efficient in computation and rule searching
Postpartum interval in beef cows shortened by enclomiphene.

This study was designed to determine whether an anti-estrogen can block the negative effect of estrogens on luteinizing hormone (LH) release and therefore decrease the postpartum interval in suckled beef cows. In Exp. I, eight suckled postpartum beef cows were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Treatment cows received 1 g/d clomiphene citrate (im) from d 21 to 28 postpartum, while control cows were injected with saline. On d 28 postpartum, there was no difference (P greater than .05) in mean total and basal LH concentrations or LH pulse frequency between treatment and control cows. All control cows exhibited estrus on d 52 +/- 3; treatment cows exhibited estrus on d 134 +/- 12 (P less than .05). In Exp. II, 17 suckled cows were randomly assigned to three treatment groups: 1) control group (n = 6) receiving one empty implant, 2) 10-cm enclomiphene implant group (n = 5) and 3) 30-cm enclomiphene implant group (n = 6). The silastic implants were placed sc on d 20 and removed on d 29 postpartum. Mean total LH concentrations during d 24 to 29 postpartum in the 30-cm enclomiphene implant group were higher than the 10-cm implant (P less than .05) and control group (P less than .05). The postpartum period in the 30-cm enclomiphene group (45 +/- 6 d) was shorter than the 10-cm implant (94 +/- 24 d) and control (96 +/- 20 d) groups (P less than .05). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Effect of needle brand, needle bevel grind, and silicone lubrication on contamination of joints with tissue and hair debris after arthrocentesis.

OBJECTIVE To assess contamination of joints with tissue and hair debris after arthrocentesis. STUDY DESIGN Experimental. ANIMALS Fetlock joint tissues (n = 6 horses). METHODS Soft tissue flaps including joint capsule were dissected from the dorsal aspect of fetlock joints of 6 anesthetized horses leaving an intact proximal base ("live" model) or with complete excision and immediate mounting to a wooden frame ("fresh" model). Needles were inserted through joint tissues and saline solution was flushed through them into tissue culture plate wells, and then examined for tissue and hair debris. Nine needle types were assessed; variables included needle brand, needle bevel grind, needle size, and silicone lubrication. RESULTS No significant difference was detected between "live" and "fresh" models for hair or tissue contamination. Compared to 20 g hypodermic needles, 19 g lubricated and 19 g non-lubricated needles had a significantly greater odds ratio (OR) for hair contamination. Nineteen-gauge non-lubricated needles had a significantly greater OR for hair contamination than 19 g lubricated needles. No significant differences in ORs were identified between type of needle bevel grind, brands of disposable hypodermic needles, or brands of spinal needles for hair or tissue contamination. CONCLUSIONS Nineteen-gauge needles significantly increase the risk of joint contamination with hair compared to 20 g needles; non-lubricated 19 g needles have the greatest risk. All other needle types tested in this study have similar risks for tissue and hair contamination after arthrocentesis.
Stroke/thromboembolism and intracranial hemorrhage in a real-world atrial fibrillation population: the Complications of Atrial Fibrillation in the Bologna Area (CAFBO) study.

BACKGROUND Ischemic events (IEs) and intracranial hemorrhages (ICHs) are feared complications of atrial fibrillation (AF) and of antithrombotic treatment in patients with these conditions. METHODS Patients with AF admitted to the EDs of the Bologna, Italy, area with acute IE or ICH were prospectively recorded over 6 months. RESULTS A total of 178 patients (60 male patients; median age: 85 years) presented with acute IE. Antithrombotic therapy was as follows: (1) vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) in 31 patients (17.4%), with international normalized ratio (INR) at admission of < 2.0 in 16 patients, 2.0 to 3.0 in 13 patients, and > 3.0 in two patients; (2) aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) (ASA) in 107 patients (60.1%); and (3) no treatment in 40 patients (22.5%), mainly because AF was not diagnosed. Twenty patients (eight male patients; median age: 82 years) presented with acute ICH: 13 (65%) received VKAs (INR, 2.0-3.0 in 11 patients and > 3.0 in two patients), while six (30%) received ASA. Most IEs (88%) and ICHs (95%) occurred in patients aged > 70 years. A modeling analysis of patients aged > 70 years was used to estimate annual incidence in subjects anticoagulated with VKAs in our Network of Anticoagulation Centers (NACs), or those expected to have AF but not included in NACs. The expected incidence of IE was 12.0%/y (95% CI, 10.7-13.3) in non-NACs and 0.57%/y (95% CI, 0.42-0.76) in NACs (absolute risk reduction [ARR], 11.4%/y; relative risk reduction [RRR], 95%; P < .0001). The incidence of ICH was 0.63%/y (95% CI, 0.34-1.04) and 0.30%/y (95% CI, 0.19-0.44), respectively (ARR, 0.33%/y; RRR, 52.4%/y; P = .04). CONCLUSIONS IEs occurred mainly in elderly patients who received ASA or no treatment. One-half of patients with IEs receiving anticoagulant treatment had subtherapeutic INRs. Therapeutic approaches to elderly subjects with AF require an effective anticoagulant treatment strategy.
Obstacles to needle exchange participation in Rhode Island.

OBJECTIVE This study explores obstacles to participation in needle exchange programs (NEPs) among injection drug users (IDUs) in the state of Rhode Island, U.S.A. METHODS A written questionnaire was administered at two Rhode Island drug detoxification sites in 1998. RESULTS 488 self-administered surveys were completed, 226 (46.3%) respondents had injected drugs in the past 6 months. 62.1% reported sharing syringes in the past 6 months, and each syringe was used a mean of 10.7 times. Major obstacles to NEP participation were a lack of awareness of the program (25.6%), inconvenient location or hours (15.9%), and fear of identification and/or police harassment (12.2%). Non-white race was a significant predictor of being unaware of the NEP (p = .01) and not participating in the NEP (p = .03). 13.1% of IDUs who used the NEP were referred to the detoxification program by the NEP. Among all IDUs surveyed, 51.0% had participated in a NEP. CONCLUSIONS NEPs are important in reducing the spread of bloodborne pathogens among IDUs and are effective referral sources for drug treatment. Surveys of IDUs at sites other than NEPs, such as detoxification facilities, can identify obstacles to the use of NEPs.
A kinect-based workplace postural analysis system using deep residual networks

Human behavior understanding is a well-known area of interest for computer vision researchers. This discipline aims at evaluating several aspects of interactions among humans and system components to ensure long term human well-being. The robust human posture analysis is a crucial step towards achieving this target. In this paper, the deep representation learning paradigm is used to analyze the articulated human posture and assess the risk of having work-related musculoskeletal discomfort in manufacturing industries. Particularly, we train a deep residual convolutional neural network model to predict body joint angles from a single depth image. Estimated joint angles are essential for ergonomists to evaluate ergonomic assessment metrics. The proposed method applies the deep residual learning framework that has demonstrated impressive convergence speed and generalization capabilities in addressing different vision tasks such as object recognition, localization and detection. Moreover, we extend the state-of-the-art data generation pipeline to synthesize a dataset that features simulations of manual tasks performed by different workers. An inverse kinematics stage is proposed to generate the corresponding ground truth joint angles. Experimental results demonstrate the generalization performance of the proposed method.
Apparent Diffusion Coefficient Mapping for Sinonasal Diseases: Differentiation of Benign and Malignant Lesions

Because CT and conventional MR imaging findings of sinonasal lesions overlap considerably, these authors decided to evaluate the utility of diffusion-weighted imaging in differentiating these lesions. They obtained apparent diffusion coefficient values in 61 proved lesions (19 benign, 28 malignant, and 14 inflammatory). As expected, ADC values of malignant lesions were much lower than those of the other 2 types. Additionally, the higher the percentage area of the tumor that had low ADC, the greater was the chance of it being malignant. If 78% of lesion area had low ADC, the ability to differentiate between malignant and benign reached a 94% specificity. ADCs could also differentiate lymphoma from other malignant tumors. Conclusions: ADC mapping may be an effective MR imaging tool for the differentiation of benign/inflammatory lesions from malignant tumors in the sinonasal area. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: CT and MR imaging features of benign and malignant sinonasal lesions are often nonspecific. Therefore, we evaluated the ADC-based differentiation of these lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively assessed ADCs of 61 patients with histologically proved sinonasal tumors and tumorlike lesions: 19 benign lesions, 28 malignant tumors, and 14 inflammatory lesions. Overall ADCs and percentages of total tumor area with extremely low, low, intermediate, or high ADCs (ADC mapping) were determined by using 2 b-values (500 and 1000 s/mm2). RESULTS: ADCs of malignant tumors (0.87 ± 0.32 × 10−3 mm2/s) were significantly lower than those of benign (1.35 ± 0.29 × 10−3 mm2/s, P < .0001) and inflammatory (1.50 ± 0.50 × 10−3 mm2/s, P = .0002) lesions. On ADC mapping, percentages of total tumor area within malignant tumors having extremely low or low ADCs were significantly (P < .0001) greater than those within benign and inflammatory lesions. Cutoff points for ADC mapping (≥78% of tumor areas having extremely low or low ADCs) effectively differentiated benign or inflammatory lesions and malignant tumors with 75% sensitivity, 94% specificity, 85% accuracy, and 91% positive and 82% negative predictive values, respectively. ADCs also effectively discriminated lymphomas and SCCs from other malignant tumors. CONCLUSIONS: ADC mapping may be an effective MR imaging tool for the differentiation of benign/inflammatory lesions from malignant tumors in the sinonasal area.
The management of hepatocellular carcinoma around the world: a comparison of guidelines from 2001 to 2011

In the past 10 years, many guidelines for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have been published worldwide. To promote standard care for HCC, we systematically evaluated 17 current guidelines for HCC around the world, including 5 guidelines from the USA, 7 from Asia and 5 from Europe, according to the selection criteria of credibility influence and multi‐faceted. After a systematic evaluation, we found that these guidelines have both similarities and differences in terms of what organizations or bodies drafted the guidelines and the approach, applicability, content and recent updates of the guidelines as well as in terms of diagnostic and treatment algorithms. The differences could be attributed to various aetiological factors, high‐risk patients, health systems, health resources, medical technology, treatment choices and income levels in different countries. Besides, although the full implementation of guidelines could benefit clinicians, patients and authorities, there is still a gap between projected goals and implementation. The factors potentially influencing implementation are what organizations or bodies are drafting guidelines, content and emphasis, modification and consistency of guidelines. Comparative analysis suggested that countries pay close attention to targeted audiences, a basis in evidence, a basis in available resources, applicable patients and systematic evaluation when establishing and implementing domestic guidelines for HCC.
Pilot Testing of a Multicomponent Home Care Intervention for Older Adults With Heart Failure: An Academic Clinical Partnership

Background: Heart failure (HF) has clinically significant psychological and physical consequences for older persons, and hospitalization for HF is frequent and costly to the Medicare program. As HF is the most common primary Medicare home care diagnosis, there is a critical need to develop home care services that improve heath-related outcomes for this population. The primary aim of this pilot study was to develop, implement, and test the initial feasibility and potential efficacy of the Home-Care Education, Assessment, Remote-Monitoring, and Therapeutic Activities (HEART) trial, a nurse-directed multicomponent home care intervention. Observed outcomes were quality of life (QOL), depressive symptoms, and 90-day hospitalization. Methods: Twenty-four patients with a primary diagnosis of HF were assigned to the intervention (n = 12) or control group (n = 12) according to geographical location in a large multibranch Medicare-certified home health agency. Intervention group patients received 8 structured nurse education visits using evidence-based protocols designed in previous trials to teach HF self-management and to prevent/reduce depression, as well as a telemonitoring system. Control group patients received usual care and telemonitoring. Quality of life was assessed using the Minnesota Living With Heart Failure questionnaire. Depressive symptoms were assed using the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 at baseline and 90-day study end point. Results: Study protocols and instrumentation were found to be feasible and effective. Examination of enrollment data led to a reevaluation of eligibility criteria. Patients participating in the HEART intervention demonstrated significantly improved QOL (F = 8.99, P = .007) and significantly reduced depressive symptoms (F = 35.10, P = .001) in comparison to control group patients at the study end point. There was a trend toward lower hospital readmission rates in the intervention group (16% vs 25%), but this was not statistically significant. Conclusion: This pilot study suggests that a full-scale trial of the HEART intervention is feasible.
Surface‐layer protein extracts from Lactobacillus helveticus inhibit enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 adhesion to epithelial cells

Adherence of intestinal pathogens, including Escherichia coli O157:H7, to human intestinal epithelial cells is a key step in pathogenesis. Probiotic bacteria, including Lactobacillus helveticus R0052 inhibit the adhesion of E. coli O157:H7 to epithelial cells, a process which may be related to specific components of the bacterial surface. Surface‐layer proteins (Slps) are located in a paracrystalline layer outside the bacterial cell wall and are thought to play a role in tissue adherence. However, the ability of S‐layer protein extract derived from probiotic bacteria to block adherence of enteric pathogens has not been investigated. Human epithelial (HEp‐2 and T84) cells were treated with S‐layer protein extract alone, infected with E. coli O157:H7, or pretreated with S‐layer protein extract prior to infection to determine their importance in the inhibition of pathogen adherence. The effects of S‐layer protein extracts were characterized by phase‐contrast and immunofluorescence microscopy and measurement of the transepithelial electrical resistance of polarized monolayers. Pre‐treatment of host epithelial cells with S‐layer protein extracts prior to E. coli O157:H7 infection decreased pathogen adherence and attaching‐effacing lesions in addition to preserving the barrier function of monolayers. These in vitro studies indicate that a non‐viable constituent derived from a probiotic strain may prove effective in interrupting the infectious process of an intestinal pathogen.