bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Measuring pragmatic skills: early detection of infants at risk for communication problems
Authors: Cocquyt Mie , Mommaerts Maurice Yves , Dewart Hazel , Zink Inge 
Published: May 2015

AbstractBackgroundFor the early detection of children who are at risk of communication problems, we need appropriate assessment instruments. Two Dutch‐language standardised screening instruments are available: the Dutch version of the Non Speech Test (NNST) and the Dutch version of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories (N‐CDIs). These instruments gauge the precursors of language development, early vocabulary and early morphosyntactic skills. However, they do not adequately assess pragmatic skills.AimsTo develop a norm‐referenced instrument to examine the pragmatic skills of Dutch‐speaking infants that is translatable into other languages.Methods & ProceduresThe instrument ‘Lists for the Evaluation of Pragmatic Skills in Infants’ is based on ‘The Pragmatics Profile of Everyday Communication Skills in Children’ Dewart and Summers (1995). We translated the instrument into Dutch and transformed the structured interview format into a parent questionnaire. The parent questionnaire—Evaluatie van Pragmatische Vaardigheden (EPV)—was created following extensive research on item selection, norm table development, and reliability and validity studies. The EPV1 is applicable to children 6–15 months old; EPV2 is applicable to children 16–30 months old.Outcomes & ResultsWe developed norm tables for the number of pragmatic skills achieved by the child and also for how and to what extent the skills are exhibited. For the norming study of EPV1 and EPV2 we included 390 and 534 infants respectively. The reliability scores are high for both lists. Concept validity and criterion validity studies demonstrate adequate results for the overall lists, the subscale components and specific items.Conclusions & ImplicationsThe parent questionnaire is a valuable tool that specifically targets pragmatic skills in infants. The instrument can detect communication delays in infants. It is translatable into other languages and avoids having the infant examined directly by a stranger.
Optimal Income Tax for China
Authors: Li Chengjian , Li Jinlu , Lin Shuanglin 
Published: May 2015

AbstractThis paper develops a model of optimal income taxation, estimates China's skill distribution function based on the data from a recent survey, and finds the optimal marginal and average income tax rates for China. It shows that both the optimal marginal and average tax rates increase at decreasing rates, and become rather flat at high‐level skills. China's current marginal tax rate increases at a decreasing rate at low‐level skills and increases at an increasing rate at high‐level skills. To be optimal, the low income groups in China should be subsidized, the tax threshold should be raised, and the highest marginal tax rate should be reduced.
Relative Effects of Labour Taxes and Unemployment Benefits on Hours Worked Per Worker and Employment
Authors: Chen Been‐Lon , Hsu Mei , Lai Chih‐Fang 
Published: May 2015

AbstractOver the past 3 decades, labour supply in Europe has declined by approximately 30% relative to the USA. The decline comes from hours per worker and employment. The present paper uses a matching model to study the effects of labour taxes and unemployment benefits. Labour taxes decrease hours and employment, with overstated adverse effects on hours if extensive margins are not considered. Unemployment benefits decrease employment and increase hours, with understated adverse effects on employment if intensive margins are not considered. In the baseline parameterization, labour taxes and unemployment benefits together explain approximately 75% of the declining labour supply in Europe relative to the USA.
Environmental Impacts of Tariff and Tax Reforms Under Origin and Destination Principles
Authors: Chao Chi‐Chur , Yu Eden S. H. 
Published: May 2015

AbstractThe impacts of a point‐by‐point tariff/tax reform on the environment under the origin‐based or destination‐based tax principle are examined. The policy reform under the origin‐based principle can raise the optimal pollution tax and, hence, improve the environment when the consumption demand and pollution are strongly substitutable, whereas the reform under the destination‐based principle lowers the optimal pollution tax and, hence, worsens the environment. Nonetheless, when the consumption demand and pollution exhibit weak substitutes or even complements, the tariff/tax reform results in less environmental deterioration under the destination‐based principle.
An Overview on Nondestructive Spectroscopic Techniques for Lipid and Lipid Oxidation Analysis in Fish and Fish Products
Authors: Xu Jun‐Li , Riccioli Cecilia , Sun Da‐Wen 
Published: May 2015

AbstractDue to the high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids, fish lipids are readily susceptible to oxidation, which leads to serious food deterioration during storage. However, it remains a major challenging task to develop proper and effective assessment of lipid oxidation because the process is complicated and relies on the type of the oxidation agents, lipid substrate, and the environmental factors. This fact, in association with the limitations of traditional methods, which are normally burdensome, time‐consuming, and destructive, highlights the great necessity of developing and spreading the use of convenient, cost‐effective, and noninvasive alternative methods, such as spectroscopic techniques. As spectroscopic techniques have provided interesting and promising results in the area of fish quality and safety inspection, the goal of this review is to give an overview of research advances in the application of various spectroscopic techniques, namely infrared (IR) spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and hyperspectral imaging (HSI), for constituent analysis of fish lipids and for oxidation evaluations. These spectroscopic techniques are described in terms of their basic principles and application advantages. Meanwhile, some perspectives on the current situation and future trends are also presented.
Long‐Term Outcomes of Total Parathyroidectomy With or Without Autoimplantation for Hyperparathyroidism in Chronic Kidney Disease: A Meta‐Analysis
Authors: Jia Xiaoyan , Wang Rong , Zhang Chengyin , Cui Meiyu , Xu Dongmei 
Published: May 2015

AbstractThe aim of the present study was to compare total parathyroidectomy without autotransplantation (TPTX) versus total parathyroidectomy with autotransplantation (TPTX + AT) for renal hyperparathyroidism (RHPT) with respect to long‐term outcomes. A literature search was undertaken using Medline and EMBASE from inception to December 2013. Data were analyzed using Review Manager version 5.0. A total of seven cohort studies comprising 931 patients were identified. Compared with TPTX + AT, patients in the TPTX group have lower “recurrence” (odds ratio (OR) 0.08, confidence interval (CI) 0.03 to 0.21; P < 0.00001), lower “recurrence or persistence”(OR 0.11, 95% CI 0.05 to 0.25; P < 0.00001), lower “requiring reoperation because of recurrence or persistence” (OR 0.17, CI 0.06 to 0.54; P = 0.002), and higher “hypoparathyroidism” (OR 2.97, CI 1.09 to 8.08; P = 0.03). None of the patients in these seven studies were recorded as having severe hypocalcemia or adynamic bone disease. Compared with TPTX + AT, TPTX is associated with lower “requiring reoperation because of recurrence or persistence” and without severe hypocalcemia or adynamic bone disease.
Uncultured Desulfobacteraceae and Crenarchaeotal group C3 incorporate 13C‐acetate in coastal marine sediment
Authors: Na Hyunsoo , Lever Mark Alexander , Kjeldsen Kasper Urup , Schulz Frederik , Jørgensen Bo Barker 
Published: May 2015

SummaryStable isotope probing (SIP) of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was used to identify microbes incorporating 13C‐labeled acetate in sulfate‐reducing sediment from Aarhus Bay, Denmark. Sediment was incubated in medium containing 10 mM sulfate and different 13C‐acetate (10, 1, 0.1 mM) concentrations. The resultant changes in microbial community composition were monitored in total and SIP‐fractionated DNA during long‐term incubations. Chemical analyses demonstrated metabolic activity in all sediment slurries, with sulfate‐reducing activity largely determined by initial acetate concentrations. Sequencing of 16S rRNA gene PCR amplicons showed that the incubations shifted the bacterial but not the archaeal community composition. After 3 months of incubation, only sediment slurries incubated with 10 mM 13C‐acetate showed detectable 13C‐DNA labeling. Based on 16S rRNA and dsrB gene PCR amplicon sequencing, the 13C‐labeled DNA pool was dominated by a single type of sulfate reducer representing a novel genus in the family Desulfobacteraceae. In addition, members of the uncultivated Crenarchaeotal group C3 were enriched in the 13C‐labeled DNA. Our results were reproducible across biological replicate experiments and provide new information about the identities of uncultured acetate‐consuming bacteria and archaea in marine sediments.
Arsenic rich Himalayan hot spring metagenomics reveal genetically novel predator–prey genotypes
Authors: Sangwan Naseer , Lambert Carey , Sharma Anukriti , Gupta Vipin , Khurana Paramjit , Khurana Jitendra P. , Sockett R. Elizabeth , Gilbert Jack A. , Lal Rup 
Published: May 2015

SummaryBdellovibrio bacteriovorus are small Deltaproteobacteria that invade, kill and assimilate their prey. Metagenomic assembly analysis of the microbial mats of an arsenic rich, hot spring was performed to describe the genotypes of the predator Bdellovibrio and the ecogenetically adapted taxa Enterobacter. The microbial mats were enriched with Bdellovibrio (1.3%) and several Gram‐negative bacteria including Bordetella (16%), Enterobacter (6.8%), Burkholderia (4.8%), Acinetobacter (2.3%) and Yersinia (1%). A high‐quality (47 contigs, 25X coverage; 3.5 Mbp) draft genome of Bdellovibrio (strain ArHS; Arsenic Hot Spring) was reassembled, which lacked the marker gene Bd0108 associated with the usual method of prey interaction and invasion for this genus, while maintaining genes coding for the hydrolytic enzymes necessary for prey assimilation. By filtering microbial mat samples (< 0.45 μm) to enrich for small predatory cell sizes, we observed Bdellovibrio‐like cells attached side‐on to E. coli through electron microscopy. Furthermore, a draft pan‐genome of the dominant potential host taxon, Enterobacter cloacae ArHS (4.8 Mb), along with three of its viral genotypes (n = 3; 42 kb, 49 kb and 50 kb), was assembled. These data were further used to analyse the population level evolutionary dynamics (taxonomical and functional) of reconstructed genotypes.
Geography of crop yield skewness
Authors: Du Xiaodong , Yu Cindy L. , Hennessy David A. , Miao Ruiqing 
Published: May 2015

AbstractAnalysis of crop yield distributions provides insights into better understanding how natural resources shape agricultural productivity. This study seeks to provide a rigorous theoretical and empirical understanding of the effects of exogenous geographic and climatic factors on the first three moments of crop yields with focus on the third moment. We hypothesize that exogenous factors having beneficial effects on crop production should make crop yield distributions less positively or more negatively skewed. We employ a large crop insurance data set for corn, soybean, and wheat to find general support for our natural‐resources‐determines‐skewness hypothesis. The proposed statistical method optimally uses correlations between the first three moments. It significantly improves estimation performance over existing methods, including the linear moment model which has been commonly applied in the literature.
Market imperfections, access to information and technology adoption in Uganda: challenges of overcoming multiple constraints
Authors: Shiferaw Bekele , Kebede Tewodros , Kassie Menale , Fisher Monica 
Published: May 2015

AbstractLimited empirical evidence exists on how multiple binding constraints influence the adoption of improved technologies by smallholder farmers. This article uses the case of groundnut variety adoption in Uganda to investigate the role of information, seed supply, and credit constraints in conditioning technology uptake. New data from a household survey in seven groundnut growing districts (n= 945) indicate that 8% of farmers lack information on new varieties, while 18% and 6% of farmers, respectively, cannot adopt mainly due to seed supply and capital constraints. A tobit‐type specification that considers all nonadopters as being uninterested in the technology (i.e., corner solutions) would lead to inconsistent parameter estimates and incorrect conclusions in this context. We therefore estimate a modified multi‐hurdle specification of demand for new varieties, taking into account how information, seed supply, and capital constraints jointly determine adoption probability and intensity. The study reveals new empirical insights on why agricultural technology adoption in Africa has lagged behind: slow uptake is not mainly due to a lack of economic incentives, but rather a reflection of information, seed supply, and credit constraints that prevent farmers from translating their desired demand into adoption of modern varieties. Policy implications are discussed.
Price volatility in Niger millet markets
Authors: Serra Teresa 
Published: May 2015

AbstractPrice volatility of food staples is one of the most complex factors affecting food security. Recent food price crises have raised academic interest in improved volatility assessment. The widely held assumption in econometric volatility models that long‐run volatility is constant, has been recently questioned and partly blamed for these crises. A multiplicative MGARCH model recently proposed by Bauwens et al. is used in this article to model price volatility transmission along the Niger millet marketing chain. Results suggest important volatility links between consumer and producer prices, as well as noteworthy differences between short and long‐run price dynamics.
Ex post impacts of improved maize varieties on poverty in rural Ethiopia
Authors: Zeng Di , Alwang Jeffrey , Norton George W. , Shiferaw Bekele , Jaleta Moti , Yirga Chilot 
Published: May 2015

AbstractPublic agricultural research has been conducted in Africa for decades. While many studies have examined its aggregate impacts, few have investigated how it affects the poor. This paper helps fill this gap by applying a new procedure to explore the ex post impacts of improved maize varieties on poverty in rural Ethiopia. Plot‐level yield and cost changes due to adoption are first estimated using instrumental variable and marginal treatment effect techniques where possible heterogeneity is carefully accounted for. A backward derivation procedure is then developed to link treatment effect estimates with an economic surplus model to identify the counterfactual household income that would have existed without improved maize varieties. Poverty impacts are finally estimated by exploiting the differences between observed and counterfactual income distributions. Improved maize varieties have led to a 0.8–1.3 percentage drop of poverty headcount ratio and relative reductions of poverty depth and severity. However, poor producers benefit the least from adoption due to the smallness of their land holdings.
Conditional Volatility Spillover Effects Across Emerging Financial Markets
Authors: Liow Kim Hiang 
Published: May 2015

AbstractWe find that emerging markets were not spared from the 2007 global financial crisis and 2009 European debt crisis. Volatility spillovers are pronounced during these financial crises. Much of the strong volatility spillover effects were from high cross‐market volatility movements in response to external shocks since the existing interdependence levels were not high. The Lehman turmoil and the European debt crisis have affected the volatility interdependence and spillover dynamics in exhibiting different directions and patterns of volatility co‐movements. Finally, the southern European sovereign debt crisis has not increased the level of volatility spillover effects more than the periods following the Lehman Brothers collapse.
Debt and Taxes: Evidence from Foreign versus Domestic Subsidiaries in an Emerging Market
Authors: Kim Woojin , Lee Hyo‐Jeong 
Published: May 2015

AbstractForeign subsidiaries in Korea operate under a classical system where double taxation of corporate and personal income provides interest tax shields, while domestic subsidiaries are under an imputation system where preference for debt is largely eliminated. We find that foreign subsidiaries’ overall leverage is not higher than domestic subsidiaries, while the former's internal leverage is higher than the latter's. Moreover, foreign subsidiaries with excess foreign tax credit use more internal debt when home corporate tax rate is low. These findings suggest that taxes have a first order impact on internal debt when parent companies hold both debt and equity, but not on external debt.
Sensitive detection of major food allergens in breast milk: first gateway for allergenic contact during breastfeeding
Authors: Pastor‐Vargas C. , Maroto A. S. , Díaz‐Perales A. , Villaba M. , Casillas Diaz N. , Vivanco F. , Cuesta‐Herranz J. 
Published: May 2015

AbstractFood allergy is recognized as a major public health issue, especially in early childhood. It has been hypothesized that early sensitization to food allergens maybe due to their ingestion as components dissolved in the milk during the breastfeeding, explaining reaction to a food, which has never been taken before. Thus, the aim of this work has been to detect the presence of the food allergens in breast milk by microarray technology. We produced a homemade microarray with antibodies produced against major food allergens. The antibody microarray was incubated with breast milk from 14 women collected from Fundación Jiménez Díaz Hospital. In this way, we demonstrated the presence of major foods allergens in breast milk. The analysis of allergens presented in breast milk could be a useful tool in allergy prevention and could provide us a key data on the role of this feeding in tolerance induction or sensitization in children.
Hereditary angioedema with normal C1‐INH with versus without specific F12 gene mutations
Authors: Bork K. , Wulff K. , Witzke G. , Hardt J. 
Published: May 2015

AbstractBackgroundHereditary angioedema with normal C1‐INH may be linked to specific mutations in the coagulation factor 12 (FXII) gene (HAE‐FXII) or mutations in genes that are still unknown (HAE‐unknown). To assess the differences in transmission and inheritance, clinical features, and laboratory parameters between patients with HAE‐FXII and HAE‐unknown.MethodsSixty‐nine patients with HAE‐FXII from 23 unrelated families and 196 patients with HAE‐unknown from 65 unrelated families were studied.ResultsBoth HAE‐FXII and HAE‐unknown are inherited as autosomal‐dominant traits with incomplete penetrance. The male to female ratio was 1 : 68 in HAE‐FXII and 1 : 6.3 in HAE‐unknown. The maternal to paternal transmission ratio was 35 : 14 for HAE‐FXII and 109 : 12 for HAE‐unknown. Mean age at onset of clinical symptoms was 20.3 years in patients with HAE‐FXII and 29.6 years in patients with HAE‐unknown. The incidence of asphyxiation due to angioedema was similar for HAE‐FXII and HAE‐unknown. Oral contraceptives and pregnancies had a significantly higher impact on HAE‐FXII than on HAE‐unknown. Slightly decreased C1‐INH activity and C4 concentration were observed in more patients with HAE‐FXII than HAE‐unknown. Tests for FXI and FXII activity, plasminogen activator inhibitor 1, and activated partial thromboplastin time showed variability but no significant differences between the groups. No abnormalities were found for C1‐INH protein, C1q, alpha2‐macroglobulin, antithrombin III, and angiotensin‐converting enzyme. In families with HAE‐FXII, the number of female offspring with F12 mutations was significantly increased and that of male offspring was significantly decreased.ConclusionsHAE‐FXII and HAE‐unknown differ in various respects, including gender distribution, genetics, symptoms, and estrogen impact.
Laparoscopy‐assisted transduodenal excision of superficial non‐ampullary duodenal epithelial tumors
Authors: Abe Nobutsugu , Takeuchi Hirohisa , Hashimoto Yoshikazu , Yoshimoto Eri , Kojima Youhei , Ohki Atsuko , Nagao Gen , Suzuki Yutaka , Horiai Shinichi , Mizuno Hideaki , Masaki Tadahiko , Mori Toshiyuki , Sugiyama Masanori 
Published: May 2015

AbstractIntroductionTransduodenal excision (transduodenal submucosal dissection) is an alternative to pancreaticoduodenectomy for the treatment of benign and low‐grade malignant tumors of the duodenum. However, laparoscopic transduodenal excision or laparoscopy‐assisted transduodenal excision (LATDE) of such tumors has been rarely reported. In this paper, we present the preliminary results of LATDE in patients with superficial non‐ampullary duodenal epithelial tumors.MethodsThree patients with superficial non‐ampullary duodenal epithelial tumors (mucosal adenocarcinoma, n = 1; tubular adenoma, n = 2) underwent LATDE. LATDE consists of four major procedures: (i) laparoscopic wide Kocher maneuver (mobilization of the pancreaticoduodenum); (ii) extracorporeal approach to the fully mobilized duodenum through the upper median longitudinal incision (4 cm in length); (iii) tumor excision by submucosal dissection under direct vision through longitudinal duodenotomy (4 cm in length); and (iv) hand‐sewn closure of the mucosal defect and duodenotomy.ResultsLATDE was successfully carried out without any intraoperative or postoperative adverse events. The mean operating time and estimated blood loss were 155 min and 17 mL, respectively. Contrast roentgenography on postoperative day 4 showed neither duodenal deformity nor disturbance of gastroduodenal emptying in any of the patients.ConclusionsLATDE could eliminate the possibility of peritoneal or port‐site seeding of tumor cells because the duodenotomy and tumor excision are performed extracorporeally. The meticulously hand‐sewn closures of the mucosal defect and duodenotomy can minimize the possibility of postoperative hemorrhage and/or anastomotic leakage. LATDE is a feasible, safe, and minimally invasive treatment for patients with superficial non‐ampullary duodenal epithelial tumors that have no risk of lymph node metastasis in the first and second portions of the duodenum.