Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relative Measurement Errors among Alternative Pension Asset and Liability Measures

SYNOPSIS: This study investigates the measures of pension assets and liabilities disclosed under SFAS 87 to determine which most closely reflect those that investors implicitly assess when they value the firm. Several measures considered to have conceptual merit are disclosed under SFAS 87, but no single method has been deemed most appropriate. The attributes of the three asset and five liability measurement alternatives disclosed and the controversies surrounding the FASB's deliberations on these alternatives are considered in the research design. Because the pension asset and liability issues in SFAS 87 relate to measurement and reflect a variety of unresolved questions, an approach directly comparing measurement error across alternatives is used. The research design utilizes relevance and reliability, two primary accounting choice characteristics advanced by the FASB. These two attributes are operationalized by the variances and levels of differences between alternative measures and the implied investors' assessment. In most prior studies using cross-sectional valuation to address a variety of research questions, a model is posited and then tested by using book values as substitutes for unobservable variables. The measurement error is considered an econometric problem. Although the valuation equation assumed here is also based on unobservable market values, the measurement error is modeled, and the impact of the measurement error
Significance of MUC1 and MUC2 mucin expression in colorectal cancer.

AIMS: To compare the lineage specific distribution of MUC1 and MUC2 mucins in normal colorectal mucosa and adenocarcinoma and to identify pathological correlations. METHODS: Paraffin wax sections from 51 colorectal cancers were examined for the expression of MUC1 and MUC2, non-O-acetyl sialic acid and the carbohydrate epitopes Lex, Ley, sialosyl-Lex, sialosyl-Tn, and Tn using standard histochemical methods. RESULTS: MUC1, Lex and Ley co-localised with columnar cell secretions, whereas MUC2, mild periodic acid Schiff and sialosyl-Tn co-localised with goblet cell mucin in both normal and malignant tissues. Sialosyl-Lex and Tn were associated with both lineages. In normal tissues MUC1, Lex and Ley showed only trace expression by crypt base columnar cells. Cancers could be classified into four phenotypes (MUC2+/MUC1-, MUC2+/MUC1+, MUC2-/MUC1+, MUC2-/MUC1-). Particular phenotypes showed significant correlations with cancer type, lymph node spread and peritumoral lymphocytic infiltration and trends falling short of significance in relation to grade of differentiation and contiguous adenoma. CONCLUSIONS: Classification of colorectal cancer by means of lineage specific function may be relevant to both pathogenesis and prognosis.
Market share competition in the Chinese online game industry

This study investigates the impacts of pricing innovations and other non-pricing dimensions on the market share competition of dominant Chinese online game companies. The empirical context of my research is the strategic behaviour of online game operators (i.e. the companies who operate online games) in the Chinese online game market – the most active market in the world with strong network effects. According to the literature review, previous pricing studies have focused mainly on the evaluation of traditional pricing theories and their limited validity for the information economy. Velu (2005) pointed out how dominant firms in a market with strong network effects adopt business innovations to sustain their market dominance. This study first investigates the validity of Velu‟s theory and then aims to develop and expand the theory of pricing practice by discussing how dominant companies integrate pricing and other non-pricing dimensions during market share competition. With the application of an analytical synthesis, this study covers large parts of the traditional economy and information economy literature by linking the concepts of „within‟ and „across‟ theories of pricing and competition. It finally brings together different theories and adopts Bouwman and MacInnes‟ virtual web idea as an original conceptual framework to give an insight into how the pricing process and other internal and external factors impact differently on the market share competition. The study adopts a descriptive multiple-case study strategy including five dominant Chinese online game companies and employs qualitative data collected from 64 interviewees and reliable secondary data from documentations and archival records.The findings suggest that, instead of devoting all their efforts to pricing innovation, the companies have turned to an exploration of their internal resources to enhance their competitiveness. Superficially, as an influential external factor, government regulations have constrained the operation of imported games. The study also discusses two internal themes that influence each company‟s competitive strength. They are: how to deal with the exodus of talent and how to handle strategic alliance management. There seems to be no previous research concerning the relationship between pricing innovation and market dominance within a new economy‟s service sector. As a consequence, this research should provide insights into this academic blind spot and rationalize the diversity of strategic theory within the specific industry.
Can Proliferation Signal Inhibitor-Induced Tregs Really Reflect Transplantation Tolerance in Clinical Solid Organ Transplantation?

Exploring new immunosuppressive strategies inducing donor-specific hyporesponsiveness is a great challenge in transplantation. For this purpose, monitoring the alloimmune response is a critical step to carrying out protolerogenic immunosuppressive protocols. Regulatory T cells (Tregs), known as controlling various immune responses, were found to play an important part in allograft transplant tolerance. It is said that Rapamycin (RAPA), one of the proliferation signal inhibitors (PSIs), could achieve true tolerance through the induction of Tregs in clinical trials. Can PSI-induced Tregs in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) really reflect transplantation tolerance in clinical solid organ transplantation?
Gene-Smoking Interaction Associations for the ERCC1 Polymorphisms in the Risk of Lung Cancer

Cigarette smoking may induce DNA damage. Lower DNA repair capacities have been associated with higher risk of lung cancer. Excision repair cross-complementing group 1 (ERCC1) is the lead enzyme in the nucleotide excision repair process, and low expression of ERCC1 mRNA levels has been associated with higher risk of cancers. We examined the association between two polymorphisms of ERCC1, 8092C > A (rs3212986) and 19007T > C (codon 118, rs11615), which are associated with altered ERCC1 mRNA stability and mRNA levels, in 1,752 Caucasian lung cancer patients and 1,358 controls. The results were analyzed using logistic regression models, adjusting for relevant covariates. The two polymorphisms were in Hardy-Weinberg disequilibrium and in linkage disequilibrium. There was no overall association between ERCC1 polymorphisms and lung cancer risk, with the adjusted odds ratios (AOR) of 1.26 [95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.81-1.96] for the 8092C > A polymorphism (A/A versus C/C) and 0.93 (95% CI, 0.67-1.30) for the 19007T > C polymorphism (C/C versus T/T). Stratified analyses revealed that the AORs for the 8092C > A polymorphism (A/A versus C/C) decreased significantly as pack-years increased, with the AOR of 2.11 (95% CI, 1.03-4.31) in never smokers and 0.50 (95% CI, 0.25-1.01) in heavy smokers (≥56 pack-years), respectively. Consistent results were found when gene-smoking interaction was incorporated by joint effects and interactions models that considered both discrete and continuous variables for cumulative smoking exposure. The same direction for the gene-smoking interaction was found for the 19007T > C polymorphism, although the interaction was not statistically significant. In conclusion, ERCC1 8092C > A polymorphism may modify the associations between cumulative cigarette smoking and lung cancer risk.
Underweight in low socioeconomic status preschool children with severe early childhood caries.

BACKGROUND The prevalence of severe early childhood caries (sECC) is high in developing nations like India. It has local as well as systemic manifestations. AIMS This study evaluated the influence of sECC and its management on growth parameters and quality of life (QoL) of preschool children from low socioeconomic status families. MATERIALS AND METHODS 100 preschool children (50 with sECC and 50 with no dental caries; mean age 5.42 ± 0.74 years) from low socioeconomic status were studied. QoL; Decayed, extracted and filled teeth (def) index; Height (Ht); Weight (Wt); Head circumference (HC); Mid arm circumference (MAC); and, Body Mass Index (BMI) were recorded at baseline and compared after six months of dental rehabilitation. The test group included children with sECC having def > 6 and at least one pulpally involved tooth.The control group children did not have DC (def =0). Both the groups were age, gender and socioeconomic status matched. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS Statistical analysis was done using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) v.11. 0 computer software. Chi-square test, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Fisher's exact and paired t tests were performed for comparing the groups at baseline and six month recall visit. RESULTS Baseline measurements showed that 46% of children with sECC had Wt below 3rd percentile (underweight; mean 15.49 ± 1.87Kg) which was less than the controls (mean Wt 16.34 ± 1.46 kg). They also complained of pain (40%), avoidance of hard food (24%), noticed Wt loss (18%) and sleep disturbances (12%). After 6 months of dental rehabilitation, there was a significant improvement in their Wt (P= 0.002) and QoL. CONCLUSIONS sECC negatively influenced the Wt and QoL of children. Awareness, education of parents and facilitation of oral health services may help in improving their Wt and QoL.
Preliminary studies on the coupled antennas and feedlines using natural boundary conditions

In this paper, the coupling mechanism between antennas and feedlines are conceptually studied by analyzing the respective natural boundary condition of the antenna and the feedline. Different cases of the coupling between typical antennas and feedlines are discussed, analyzed and compared. When the natural boundary conditions of the antennas and the feedlines are less matched, the coupled antenna-feedline systems tend to exhibit more notable unbalanced effects. Preliminary simulated and experimental results are presented to validate the theoretic results. Finally, two remarks are drawn and expected to provide possible design guidelines in future novel antenna developments.
Short Note Constant Stress Drop from Small to Great Earthquakes in Magnitude-Area Scaling

Earthquakes span a tremendous range of scales, more than 5 orders of magnitude in length. Are earthquakes fundamentally the same across this huge range of scales, or are the great earthquakes somehow different from the small ones? We show that a robust scaling law seen in small earthquakes, with stress drops being in- dependent of earthquake size, indeed holds for great earthquakes as well. The simplest hypothesis, that earthquake stress drops are constant from the smallest to the largest events, combined with a more thorough treatment of the geometrical effects of the finite seismogenic layer depth gives a new magnitude-area scaling that matches the data well and matches the data better over the whole magnitude range than the currently used scaling laws, which have nonconstant stress-drop scaling. This has sig- nificant implications for earthquake physics and for seismic hazard estimates.
Transfer Of Performance Appraisal Practices From Mnc Parent To Subsidiaries In Serbia

This paper seeks to address one of central issues in the international human resource management literature regarding the extent to which foreign subsidiaries of multinational companies (MNCs) tend to implement performance appraisal practices and policies of the parent company versus those of local companies in the host country. The study conducted in 65 subsidiaries of foreign–owned multinational companies in Serbia found that performance appraisal practices in MNC subsidiaries in this transition country closely resemble parent company practices. The conclusion drawn from the study is that the transfer depends mainly on dependence on parent inputs, the degree of parental control, and subsidiary age, implying that MNCs need to take these variables into consideration when deciding whether to transfer their performance appraisal practices to their subsidiaries in this transition country or to accept local practices.
Neuroendocrine prediction of left ventricular function and heart failure after acute myocardial infarction

Objective To determine the relations of plasma levels of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), atrial natriuretic factor (ANF), N-terminal ANF (N-ANF), cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP; the cardiac peptide second messenger), and plasma catecholamines to left ventricular function and to prognosis in patients admitted with acute myocardial infarction. Design Plasma hormones and ventricular function (radionuclide ventriculography) were measured 1–4 days after myocardial infarction in 220 patients admitted to a single coronary care unit. Radionuclide scanning was repeated 3–5 months after infarction. Clinical events were recorded over a mean period of 14 months. Results Both early and late left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) were most closely related to plasma BNP (r = −0.60, n = 220, p < 0.001; andr = −0.53, n = 192, p < 0.001, respectively), followed by ANF, N-ANF, cGMP, and the plasma catecholamines. Early plasma BNP concentrations less than twofold the upper limit of normal (20 pmol/l) had 100% negative predictive value for LVEF < 40% at 3–5 months after infarction. In multivariate analysis incorporating all the neurohormonal factors, only BNP remained independently predictive of LVEF < 40% (p < 0.005). Survival analysis by median levels of candidate predictors identified BNP as the most powerful discriminator for death (p < 0.0001). No early deaths (within 4 months) occurred in patients with plasma BNP concentrations below the group median (27 pmol/l), and over follow up only three of 26 deaths occurred in this subgroup. Of all episodes of left ventricular failure, 85% occurred in patients with plasma BNP above the median (p < 0.001). In multivariate analyses, BNP alone gave additional predictive information beyond sex, age, clinical history, LVEF, and plasma noradrenaline for both subsequent onset of LVF and death. Conclusions Plasma BNP measured within 1–4 days of acute myocardial infarction is a powerful independent predictor of left ventricular function, heart failure, or death over the subsequent 14 months, and superior to ANF, N-ANF, cGMP, and plasma catecholamines.
CARDIOVASCULAR TOLERANCE AND AUTONOMIC NERVOUS RESPONSES IN UNSEDATED UPPER GASTROINTESTINAL SMALL‐CALIBER ENDOSCOPY: A COMPARISON BETWEEN TRANSNASAL AND PERORAL PROCEDURES WITH NEWLY DEVELOPED MOUTHPIECE

Background: Transnasal esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) with small‐caliber endoscopy appears to be less stressful to the cardiovascular system and has good patient tolerance. ENDO LEADER, a newly developed mouthpiece for peroral EGD with small‐caliber endoscopy, is expected to reduce patient stress. We compared the patient acceptance, cardiovascular tolerance and autonomic nervous responses between transnasal EGD and peroral EGD with ENDO LEADER.
Meshing Roundtable , IMR 26 , 18-21 September 2017 , Barcelona , Spain Toward a paver replacement

In recent years, cross field guided quad meshing algorithms have found success in computer graphics applications. These methods have the capability of producing high quality block structured surface meshes. As most of these algorithms have not been designed for meshing on CAD surfaces for solid mechanics and other finite element applications, little attention has been paid to common requirements in these applications such as strict boundary alignment on all geometric curves and conformation to prescribed boundary node placement. We seek to design an algorithm capable of producing high quality block structured meshes on arbitrary surfaces such that the mesh conforms to a predetermined boundary interval assignment and follows a sizing function on the interior of the domain. Such an algorithm would be an ideal replacement for unstructured methods commonly used for finite element meshing such as the paving algorithm and its variants. In this note we outline a strategy that we expect will be able to meet these requirements. For each step in the pipeline, we discuss solutions which are currently available as well as open problems that will need to be resolved. c © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 26th International Meshing Roundtable.
Unsupervised latent concept modeling to identify query facets

Translating an information need into a keyword query can be a complex cognitive process which often results in under-specification. Retrieving documents based solely on keywords can lead the user to browse documents that do not address the specific query facets she was looking for. We introduce an unsupervised method for mining and modeling latent search concepts in order to increase the coverage of these facets. We use Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), a generative probabilistic topic model, to exhibit highly-specific query-related topics from pseudo-relevant feedback documents. We define these topics as the latent concepts of the user query. The main strength of our approach is that it automatically estimates the number of latent concepts as well as the needed amount of feedback documents, without any prior training step. We evaluate our approach over two large ad-hoc TREC collections, and results show that our approach significantly improves document retrieval effectiveness and even provides a better representation of the information need than the original query.
Electronic Communication Channels in Franchise Organizations.

The virtual organization has emerged as a result of the availability of information technology. One business model well suited to the virtual form is franchising. Since the success of franchise organizations is highly dependent on communication effectiveness, these organizations are beginning to adopt technology namely, private corporate networks called intranets and extranets to support electronic communication. This research study examines the effects of electronic communication channels on communication patterns within franchise organizations. First, the study addresses how electronic communication channels affect communication frequency within the franchise organization. Second, the effect of electronic communication channels on strategic outcomes, specifically, innovation, franchisee satisfaction, and franchisee compliance, is explored. Finally, the moderating effects of the franchisor-franchisee relationship on communication frequency are assessed. Data were collected via a mail survey of franchisees and interviews of both franchisor and franchisee personnel. All respondents were members of franchise organizations in the food service industry. Electronic communication channels do affect communication frequency in franchise organizations. Channel convenience was found to increase downward (franchisor to franchisee) and lateral (franchisee to franchisee) communication frequency, which results in increases in organizational efficiency. Upward (franchisee to franchisor) communication frequency did not increase with the existence of an upward electronic communication channel. Upward frequency may depend on the longevity of the franchisee in the organization, and upon the existence of an
TO MERGE AND ACQUIRE WHEN THE TIMES ARE GOOD? THE INFLUENCE OF MACRO FACTORS ON THE JAPANESE M&A PATTERN

After the burst of the "bubble" economy and the subsequent recession of the 1990's, a new era of M&A started in Japan. Following the deregulation in a number of non-tradable sectors, a relatively large number of foreign firms have entered the Japanese market, using M&As as a tool for market entry. In many sectors, the sudden exposure to international competition forced the Japanese firms in the formerly protected industries to restructure and streamline their operations in order to survive the new order. For the foreign firms, the opened-up economy has offered new business opportunities, and a chance to compete on more equal terms with the Japanese firms in their home market. Furthermore, foreign firms have now also discovered M&As as a cost-efficient tool to enter the Japanese market and achieve market-specific knowledge, instead of making expensive greenfield investments and joint ventures. For Japanese firms, international M&As have become a viable alternative to domestic ones due to market liberalization and the economic realities of the 1990s. Here, it is interesting to ask to what extent macro factors have influenced the pattern of M&As in Japan. Can macroeconomic variables explain the Japanese M&A activities, or do other factors explain them? What are the effects of institutional changes on the M&A pattern during the 1990's? In this paper, the short-run pattern of Japanese post-bubble inward (cross-border) and domestic M&As is analyzed econometrically, using Japanese macroeconomic and M&A data. The conclusions are that the post-reform pattern represents a significant shift from the previously low levels of M&As, and that domestic and inward M&As are influenced differently by macro factors, suggesting differing rationale for doing M&As. The estimation results also suggest some support for the "fire sale" argument as a driving force for Japanese M&As during the period of post-bubble recession.
Effect of Ondansetron on QT Interval in Patients Cared for in the PICU

Objectives: There is no evidence regarding the effect of ondansetron on the QT interval in pediatric patients in the ICU. This study aimed to describe the effect of ondansetron on the corrected QT interval in patients cared for in the PICU. Design: Retrospective cohort, consecutive enrollment study. Setting: Single-center, tertiary-level, medical/surgical PICU. Patients: All patients less than 8 years old who received ondansetron over an 11-month period were included. Exclusion criteria were atrial arrhythmia, bundle-branch block, known congenital long QT syndrome, and concomitant administration of proarrhythmic antiarrhythmic agents. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: Overall, 210 doses of ondansetron were administered to 107 patients, with a mean age 10.5 ± 4.8 years; 49% were men. Corrected QT interval increased to 460–500 ms in 29% and to more than 500 ms in 11% of events of ondansetron administration. The mean baseline corrected QT interval even before ondansetron administration was higher for these groups (460–500 and > 500 ms; 457 ± 33 and 469 ± 45, respectively; p ⩽ 0.05). In multivariate analysis, both groups were associated significantly with underlying electrolyte abnormalities (odds ratio, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.1–4.4 and odds ratio, 5.1; 95% CI, 1.8–15.7, respectively); the group with corrected QT interval more than 500 ms was also significantly associated with organ dysfunction (odds ratio, 3.2; 95% CI, 1.1–9.4). As the numbers of risk factors increased from only ondansetron to three additional QT aggravating factors (electrolyte abnormalities, administration of other QT-prolonging drugs, and organ dysfunction), the likelihood of being associated with corrected QT interval more than 500 ms increased. Conclusions: Prolonged QT interval is observed commonly in PICUs following the administration of ondansetron. Underlying risk factors, such as electrolyte abnormalities and organ dysfunction, seem to pose the highest risk of prolongation of QT interval in these patients. The awareness of prevalent risk factors for increased corrected QT interval may help identify patients at high risk for arrhythmias.