Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interconnectedness and Contagion in International Real Estate Investment Trusts

This paper investigates interconnectedness and contagion effects of the US global financial crisis and the European debt crisis across eight longest-established real estate investment trust markets in the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, Singapore, France, Belgium and Netherlands over the period from October 2003 to December 2016. Using the connectedness indexes developed by Diebold and Yilmaz (2012, 2014 and 2016) and supplementing with selected net directional pairwise network graphs, we find their volatility connectedness was less strong than that of stock markets. Additionally, the volatility connectedness experienced a decrease of over 10% over the full sample period, implying that their slower globalization progress and lower financial integration level, as well as have different patterns of volatility connectedness from the corresponding stock markets. Volatility market connectedness was mainly caused by the cross-market contagion during unstable periods. The rolling sample analysis confirms significant market contagion effects during crises, such as Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy (GFC) and looming financial crisis in Europe (EDC), though the effects varied widely among the REIT markets. Finally, the net directional connectedness was time varying and experienced a shit in terms of net volatility shock transmitters and receivers for the markets due to different nature of crises. Our study reveals fresh evidence of interconnectedness and contagion effects across international REIT markets and indicate the importance of policy countermeasure in reacting to economic and financial crisis.
Association between hyperglycemia and increased hospital mortality in a heterogeneous population of critically ill patients.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the relationship between hyperglycemia and hospital mortality in a heterogeneous group of critically ill patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS Retrospective data were reviewed for 1826 consecutive patients whose glucose values were obtained during their intensive care unit stay at The Stamford Hospital in Stamford, Conn, between October 1, 1999, and April 4, 2002. RESULTS Mean and maximum glucose values were significantly higher among nonsurvivors than among survivors for the entire group (P < .001) and for each subgroup except for patients with septic shock. The lowest hospital mortality, 9.6%, occurred among patients with mean glucose values between 80 and 99 mg/dL. Hospital mortality increased progressively as glucose values increased, reaching 42.5% among patients with mean glucose values exceeding 300 mg/dL. Within each of 3 groupings of Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) scores (0-14; 15-24; > or = 25), mean and maximum glucose values were higher among nonsurvivors than among survivors. CONCLUSION Even a modest degree of hyperglycemia occurring after intensive care unit admission was associated with a substantial increase in hospital mortality in patients with a wide range of medical and surgical diagnoses. Analysis of glucose values added predictive power above that achieved by APACHE II scores alone. These results have important implications for the glycemic management of critically ill patients.
Wagner’s Hypothesis: An Empirical Verification

This study explores the relationship between public expenditure (PE) and gross domestic product (GDP) to verify whether the Wagner’s hypothesis holds good in the Indian context. We cover the period from 1970 to 2013 and use econometric tools like Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model (ARDL) test to check the long-run and causal relationship among the variables. The results of the bounds test suggest that there exists cointegration between PE and GDP, but we found weak evidence for Wagner’s hypothesis as well.
Nanoscale computing architectures based on resistive switching devices

In this paper we have proposed a new discritized computation scheme, using memristive cross bar array structure. It implements basic logical and arithmetic operation scheme, in the discritized domain. The main advantage of the proposed structures, is the implementation of logical operations in a single step, with minimum complexity. These structures can be implemented in nano scale architectures, and serve as modules in building an ALU.
Combination systemic therapies in psoriatic arthritis

Abstract Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic, progressive, and debilitating disorder. When monotherapy fails, combination therapy is necessary for the long-term management of these patients. There is currently no review on this subject, and the purpose of this study was to investigate and describe the current literature on combination therapy in PsA. A PubMed MeSH search was performed for psoriatic arthritis and combination therapy, which yielded at total of 83 articles. After excluding reviews and commentaries, and pursuing relevant citations, a total of 21 articles on the subject were found: one study of NSAIDs and methotrexate, three studies of cyclosporine and methotrexate, three studies of non-TNF biologic inhibitors (alefacept, ustekinumab) and methotrexate, and 14 studies of anti-TNF-inhibitors (etanercept, adalimumab, infliximab, golimumab) and methotrexate. The combination of cyclosporine and methotrexate reduces the dosages and also the side effects of each agent, allowing better disease control with less toxicity. Methotrexate in combination with biologic agents, either non-TNF inhibitors or anti-TNF inhibitors, may have a role in decreasing side effects, but it does not appear to improve clinical symptoms beyond those attained by biologic monotherapy.
Vaccination against cutaneous leishmaniasis in a murine model. I. Induction of protective immunity with a soluble extract of promastigotes.

BALB/c mice can be protected against a fatal Leishmania major infection by immunization with whole radio-attenuated promastigotes; however, neither the antigens responsible for protection nor the protective immunologic mechanisms have been defined. In this study, the ability of promastigote fractions to elicit similar immunity to that obtained with whole organisms, and the immune responses associated with such protection were analyzed. Intraperitoneal immunization with a soluble, membrane-free parasite extract was found to induce protection against L. major challenge equal to that obtained with whole organisms. Induction of immunity (89% protection in seven experiments) was most effective with 100 micrograms of the soluble leishmanial antigen (SLA) and required concomitant injection of the bacterial adjuvant, Corynebacterium parvum (CP), followed by an i.p. boost of SLA alone 1 wk later. Vaccinated animals exhibited Leishmania-specific cell-mediated immunity, as assessed both by lymphocyte transformation and the production of macrophage-activating factors (MAF). In addition, although SLA + CP-immunized mice failed to exhibit delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) before challenge, splenic lymphocytes from these mice could transfer a local DTH reaction to naive recipients. Immunization also induced the production of antibodies against two major metabolically labeled proteins of m.w. 30,000 and 53,000, but failed to stimulate a detectable humoral response against promastigote surface antigens. Thus, these experiments demonstrate that vaccine-induced immunity against cutaneous leishmaniasis is strongly associated with the induction of cell-mediated immunity, but does not require the development of an antibody response to promastigote surface antigens. In addition, these studies establish the feasibility of employing soluble, nonmembrane-derived parasite material as a source of protective immunogens.
The relation between management fees and the mutual funds` performance in Poland in 2015

Research background: The investor`s expectation of better performance in the case of more expensive mutual funds seems natural and fully justified. However, the rise of passive funds and their surprisingly good results, especially when taking into account their low fees, triggered the discussion. Recent years have brought more and more studies, conducted mostly for the American market, discrediting high-charging, aggressive funds. First analyses in Poland also indicate that the level of fees is not always linked with the fund’s performance. Purpose of the article: The purpose of the study is to investigate the relation be-tween the fees imposed by the mutual funds and the funds` performance. The idea is to verify, whether higher management fees are associated with top performance and whether it is rational to pay more for capital management. Methods: In the first step of the study, linearity and direction of the dependency was explored, using scatterplots and correlation analysis. In the second part, the linear regression was created to verify the strength of the relation. One-factor models have been built with the rate of return and standard deviation as independent variables for 1-, 3- and 5-year time horizons. Moreover, two-factor models, including both rate of return and risk has been created, to compare the significance of return and risk factor. Findings & Value added: The results indicated that more expensive Polish mutual funds in 2015 tended to perform worse in all tested time horizons — both in terms of lower rates of return and higher risk. Especially unexpected are the results of rates of return regression analysis — it turns out that within a sample 1% higher fee implied over 0.6% lower rate of return before fees (in yearly period). Nonetheless, the risk turned out to be more important, explaining the charges variability much better than the rate of return. Another interesting finding of the study is that merely two simple factors (return and risk) explain even as much as 60% of the management fee variability.
Known and unexpected constraints evoke different kinematic, muscle, and motor cortical neuron responses during locomotion

During navigation through complex natural environments, people and animals must adapt their movements when the environment changes. The neural mechanisms of such adaptations are poorly understood, especially with respect to constraints that are unexpected and must be adapted to quickly. In this study, we recorded forelimb‐related kinematics, muscle activity, and the activity of motor cortical neurons in cats walking along a raised horizontal ladder, a complex locomotion task requiring accurate limb placement. One of the crosspieces was motorized, and displaced before the cat stepped on the ladder or at different points along the cat's progression over the ladder, either towards or away from the cat. We found that, when the crosspiece was displaced before the cat stepped onto the ladder, the kinematic modifications were complex and involved all forelimb joints. When the crosspiece displaced unexpectedly while the cat was on the ladder, the kinematic modifications were minimalistic and primarily involved distal joints. The activity of M. triceps and M. extensor digitorum communis differed based on the direction of displacement. Out of 151 neurons tested, 69% responded to at least one condition; however, neurons were significantly more likely to respond when crosspiece displacement was unexpected. Most often they responded during the swing phase. These results suggest that different neural mechanisms and motor control strategies are used to overcome constraints for locomotor movements depending on whether they are known or emerge unexpectedly.
Prevalence of avian respiratory viruses in broiler flocks in Egypt

Abstract In this study, respiratory viral pathogens were screened using real-time RT-PCR in 86 broiler chicken flocks suffering from respiratory diseases problems in 4 Egyptian governorates between January 2012 and February 2014. The mortality rates in the investigated flocks ranged from 1 to 47%. Results showed that mixed infection represented 66.3% of the examined flocks. Mixed infectious bronchitis (IBV) and avian influenza (AI)-H9N2 viruses were the most common infection (41.7%). Lack of AI-H9N2 vaccination and high rates of mixed infections in which AI-H9N2 is involved indicate an early AI-H9N2 infection with a potential immunosuppressive effect that predisposes for other viral infections. High pathogenic AI-H5N1 and virulent Newcastle disease virus (vNDV) infections were also detected (26.7% and 8.1%, respectively). Interestingly, co-infection of AI-H9N2 with either AIV-H5N1 or vNDV rarely resulted in high mortality. Partial cell-mediated immunity against similar internal AI genes, as well as virus interference between AI and vNDV, could be an explanation for this. Highly prevalent IBV and AI-H9N2 were isolated and were molecularly characterized based on S1 gene hypervariable region 3 (HVR3) and hemagglutinin gene (HA) sequences, respectively. IBV strains were related to the variant group of IBV with multiple mutations in HVR3. Though AI-H9N2 viruses showed low rate of evolution in comparison to recent strains, few amino acid substitutions indicative of antibody selection pressure were observed in the HA gene. In conclusion, mixed viral infections, especially with IBV and AI-H9N2 viruses, are the predominant etiology of respiratory disease problems in broiler chickens in Egypt. Further investigations of the role of AI, IBV, and ND viruses’ co-infections and interference in terms of altering the severity of clinical signs and lesions and/or generating novel reassortants within each virus are needed.
Ultrasound in the Diagnosis of Craniosynostosis

Diagnosis of craniosynostosis is based on clinical aspects but may be difficult in some cases where characteristic features are missing and radiographic imaging is necessary. In this context near-field high-frequency ultrasound has been used to evaluate the sonographic characteristics of synostotic sutures and its potential confirming the correct diagnosis. Sutures of 26 infants, aged 2-7 months, were investigated by ultrasound (Siemens Elegra, 7.5 MHz linear scanner). Sonographic features of synostotic sutures were correlated to CT imaging and compared to the sonographic and histopathological findings of normal cranial sutures. Hyperechogenic bridging of sutures with or without ridging were the characteristic aspects of synostotic sutures. All 26 patients could be reliable diagnosed showing partial (n = 21) or total fusion (n = 5) of one or more sutures consisting with craniosynostosis. Length of synostosis was identified exactly by sonography and imaging found to enable a classification of ultrastructural details of bony and soft tissue next to the synostotic suture. Ultrasound is a less expensive, nonradiating and easy-to-handle tool ensuring the diagnosis of craniosynostosis. Sonography offers the potential to be a standard investigation for infants with head deformities suspecting a suture pathology and has been therefore integrated in our craniofacial outpatient clinic as a daily routine method.
Economic aspects of the detection of occlusal dentine caries

Objective. To evaluate the cost of true-positive occlusal dentine caries detection in permanent molars assessed by: (I) visual–tactile examination, (II) visual–tactile examination combined with bitewing radiographs, and (III) selective radiographic examination of patients with lesions detected clinically. A second aim was to analyse the different strategies when the costs of the subsequent restorative care are considered. Methods. A model analysis was applied owing to the lack of original articles. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated from a systematic review and included in vitro and in vivo studies of medium and high quality. The direct costs for examinations and restorative care were extracted from the costs of the Public Dental Service in Sweden (2006). Results. The diagnostic costs per true-positive finding were dependent on the occurrence of occlusal caries and increased with decreasing prevalence. The strategy by which radiographs were exposed selectively on the basis of findings from visual–tactile examination resulted in higher initial costs compared with the first and second strategies. When the costs of the subsequent restorative care were added, the selective strategy was most beneficial by up to 26% savings per true-positive diagnosis. However, with this selective strategy, more cases of true-positive dentine caries were assumed would remain undetected as compared with the combined strategy with visual–tactile examination and radiographs for all. Conclusions. The cost for a true-positive caries diagnosis was inversely related to caries occurrence, and different diagnostic strategies may display contrasting outcomes when subsequent restorative care is taken into account.
Epoxyeicosatrienoic Acid Inhibition Alters Renal Hemodynamics During Pregnancy

In this study we examined the expression of cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2C and CYP2J Isoforms in renal proximal tubules and microvessels isolated from rats at different stages of pregnancy. We also selectively inhibited epoxyeicosatrienoic acid (EET) production by the administration of N-methanesulfonyl-6-(2-proparyloxyphenyl)hexanamide (MSPPOH 20 mg/kg/day iv) to rats during Days 14–17 of gestation and to age-matched virgin rats and determined the consequent effects on renal function. Western blot analysis showed that CYP2C11, CYP2C23, and CYP2J2 expression was significantly increased in the renal microvessels of pregnant rats on Day 12 of gestation. In the proximal tubules, CYP2C23 expression was significantly increased throughout pregnancy, while the expression of CYP2C11 was increased in early and late pregnancy and the expression of CYP2J2 was increased in middle and late pregnancy. MSPPOH treatment significantly Increased pregnant rats’ mean arterial pressure, renal vascular resistance, and sodium balance but significantly decreased renal blood flow, glomerular filtration rate, and urinary sodium excretion, as well as fetal pups’ body weight and length. In contrast, MSPPOH treatment had no effect on renal hemodynamics or urinary sodium excretion in age-matched virgin rats. In pregnant rats, MSPPOH treatment also caused selective inhibition of renal cortical EET production and significantly decreased the expression of CYP2C11, CYP2C23, and CYP2J2 in the renal cortex, renal microvessels, and proximal tubules. These results suggest that upregulation of renal vascular and tubular EETs contributes to the control of blood pressure and renal function during pregnancy.
FAIR VALUE ACCOUNTING-PROS AND CONS

Fair value accounting continues to be a topic of significant interest and debate among the preparers and users of financial information. Fair value continues to be an important measurement basis in financial reporting. It provides information about what an entity might realize if it sold an asset or might pay to transfer a liability. In recent years, the use of fair value as a measurement basis for financial reporting has been expanded, even as the debate over its usefulness to stakeholders continues. Determining fair value often requires a variety of assumptions, as well as significant judgment. Thus, investors desire timely and transparent information about how fair value is measured, its impact on current financial statements, and its potential to impact future periods. There are numerous items for which fair value measurements are required or permitted. ASC 820 and IFRS 13 (“the fair value standards”) provide authoritative guidance on fair value measurement. The increased use of fair value requires companies to refresh measurement policies and procedures. Companies should analyze how fair value is determined when no active market exists, and establish procedures to develop the appropriate disclosures. Valuation professionals may need to be involved early in the process. Appropriate and robust disclosures in the financial statements are necessary to inform investors about measurement methods and uncertainty. The increasing needs for disclosures may require the establishment new processes and databases to record and report the information. Key words: fair value, accounting, measurement, policiesdisclosure
Adaptive Increase and Adaptive Decrease Algorithm for Wireless TCP

This paper proposes a new error and congestion control scheme using corruption-aware adaptive increase and adaptive decrease algorithm to improve TCP performance over wireless/heterogeneous networks. In the proposed scheme, the slow start threshold is estimated based on the amount of the received integral data as well as the amount of the received corrupted data as per round trip time interval, and only updated when the lost but not the corrupted segment is detected by the sender, since the corrupted packets also still arrive at TCP receiver. On the other hand, the duplicated ACKs can be processed differently by the sender depending on whether there are any unrecovered lost but not corrupted segments. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme could significantly improve TCP throughput performance over the heterogeneous networks with a high bit error rate, compared to the existing TCP and its variants.
Digital Social Money Implementation by Grassroots Organizations: Combining Bottom-Up and Top-Down Strategies for Social Innovations

The purpose of this paper is to explain the dynamics entailed in the implementation of digital social money by Instituto Palmas - a social technological endeavor created by a grassroots organization located in a poor neighborhood in the Northeast of Brazil. We conjecture that the capacity to promote social change in this particular project, and thus producing conditions to generate social innovation, is related to the combination between bottom-up and top-down strategies taken. With this study we expect to contribute for a better understanding of the processes involved in the emergence, institutionalization and replication of innovative social organizations focused on the diffusion of financial services to fight poverty.
The Effects of Family-Friendly Policies on Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment

The aim of this research is to analyze the effects of family-friendly policies on job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Using the Korean Labor & Income Panel Study (KLIPS) from 2006 to 2013, this study finds significant positive relationships between the number of family-friendly policies and both job satisfaction and organizational commitment. More specifically, receiving maternity leave and child care leave benefits is positively associated with job satisfaction, whereas child care subsidy does not show a significant effect on job satisfaction. Furthermore, organizational commitment has a positive relationship with child care leave, maternity leave, and child care subsidy.
Scale Changing Technique for the Electromagnetic Modeling of Planar Self-Similar Structures

A scale changing approach is proposed for analyzing the electromagnetic scattering from discrete self-similar (e.g., log-periodic or pre-fractal) planar structures. Such structures present metallic patterns at multiple scale levels and are viewed here as the superposition of multiple domains enclosed with appropriate boundary conditions. In each domain higher-order modes provide the accurate local description of the electromagnetic fields while lower-order modes are used to model the electromagnetic coupling between the various domains at large scales. The scale changing technique is applied here to the electromagnetic modeling of multifrequency selective surfaces and discrete self-similar (pre-fractal) scatterers. Experimental data are given for validation purpose. It is seen that the proposed technique is much better than the method of moments in time costing