Identification and estimation of semiparametric two-step models

. Many models fit this framework, including latent index models with an endogenous regressor and nonlinear models with sample selection. We show that the vector ß0 and unknown function F0 are generally point identified without exclusion restrictions or instruments, in contrast to the usual assumption that identification without instruments requires fully specified functional forms. We propose an estimator with asymptotic properties allowing for data dependent bandwidths and random trimming. A Monte Carlo experiment and an empirical application to migration decisions are also included.Escanciano’s research was funded by the Spanish Plan Nacional de I+D+i, reference number ECO2012-33053

Strategies Required for Complying with North American Free Trade Agreement

The failure of U.S. small home textile business owners to comply with North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) regulations can have adverse business outcomes. Small U.S. textile owners must comply with NAFTA regulations to sustain business operations. Grounded in the resource-based view theory, the purpose of this qualitative, multiple case study was to explore strategies small home textile owners use to comply with North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) regulations when trading with Mexico. The participants were four owners of SMEs located in the greater New York City area who use successful strategies to export to Mexico. The data were collected using semistructured open-ended questions, a review of public documents and were analyzed using the six-step thematic process from which three themes emerged: (a) acquisition of proper machinery, equipment, and human resources; (b) improved understanding of Mexico’s culture; and (c) the use of understanding pertinent North American Free Trade Agreement regulations. A key recommendation is to hire an experienced export agent to help SME owners reduce export mistakes and improve export margins. The implications for positive social change include the potential to create jobs, reduce poverty; thus, improving the quality of community members’ lives

Implementación de un sistema experto con inteligencia artificial para la Gestión de incidencias informáticas en la empresa Datarop Soporte Integral S.A.C

El presente proyecto de investigación para la obtención del título de ingeniería de sistemas abarca la implementación del sistema experto con inteligencia artificial para mejorar el manejo de incidentes en Datarop Soporte Integral S.A.C. El objetivo de este trabajo de investigación fue aumentar de manera significativa el rendimiento a la hora de resolver los incidentes informáticos de la empresa desarrollando un sistema experto para la gestión de incidentes informáticos, el cual abarca medir los siguientes indicadores: Nivel de calidad de servicio Y tasa de solución. Para realizar el desarrollo del Sistema experto en entorno web se usó la metodología Commonkads que viene a ser una metodología para construir sistemas expertos y se seleccionó en base a la recomendación de expertos. Para desarrollar el sistema con inteligencia artificial utilizó los lenguajes de programación JavaScript y PHP, en conjunto a una base de datos MySQL. La investigación es aplicada ya que con el presente trabajo de investigación lo que se quiere es dar una solución a los problemas que presenta una empresa implementando un sistema experto, el diseño es pre experimental teniendo un enfoque cuantitativo. Como población se tuvo 500 incidencias consultadas y el tamaño de la muestra fue formada por 152 incidencias que se tomaron en cuenta de manera estratificada en días 20 fichas. El muestreo fue de tipo probabilístico aleatorio simple. Se tuvo en cuenta la técnica de recolección de información, el fichaje, la cual fue valida por los expertos. En el presente trabajo de investigación se tuvo como conclusión que se mejora de manera significativa con el sistema experto en la empresa Datarop soporte integral S.A.C como resultados que se mejoró el nivel de calidad de servicio en un 0.18 unid a un 0.02 unid. lo que muestra una mejora de 0.16 unid. De igual manera se mejoró la tasa de solución de los problemas en Datarop soporte integral S.A.C de 0.70 a un 1.00 unid

Effect of high up front charges on access to surgery for poor patients at a public hospital in New Mexico

BACKGROUND: A public hospital in New Mexico required collection of 50% of estimated costs prior to elective surgeries for self-pay patients. This study assesses the impact of this policy on access to elective surgical procedures. METHODS: Chi-square tests determined if there was a statistically significant difference between the number of self-pay and insured patient cancellations for financial reasons. A multivariate binomial regression model was used to calculate risk ratios and confidence limits for effects of race/ethnicity, and insurance status, controlling for gender, on these cancellations. RESULTS: Of the 667 cancellations, there were 99 self-pay and 568 insured patients. Cancellations for financial reasons occurred in 55.6% of self-pay and 9.3% of insured patients (p < 0.0001). Inability to pay 50% up front accounted for 76.4% of self-pay patient cancellations for financial reasons. Self-pay, non-Hispanic whites and minority race/ethnicities were 8.76 and 8.61 times more likely to cancel for financial reasons, respectively, than insured non-Hispanic whites. CONCLUSION: Self-pay patients, regardless of race/ethnicity, have elective surgical procedures cancelled for financial reasons significantly more often than insured patients. The hospital's 50% up-front payment policy represents a significant financial barrier to accessing elective surgical procedures for self-pay patients

Plataforma web de búsqueda de prácticas preprofesionales

Es de suma necesidad, en el ámbito universitario, el desarrollo de las prácticas pre profesionales porque permite al joven estudiante desarrollar sus conocimientos y habilidades en un ámbito netamente laboral y empresarial los diferentes conocimientos adquiridos en sus años de formación tanto en Universidades como Institutos Técnicos. No obstante, durante los últimos años muchas empresas han elevado las exigencias para contratar un practicante tales como tener experiencia previa, disponibilidad mayor a las horas requeridas para un practicante, etc. Debido a esto, muchos estudiantes tienen dificultades en conseguir prácticas laborales por la falta de experiencia y conflictividad con sus horarios universitarios. El desempleo profesional y el subempleo son problemas que aquejan a miles de jóvenes peruanos y su incidencia generalmente se atribuye a un desajuste entre la demanda y la oferta de trabajo. Además, de los pocos recursos de información que cuentan los jóvenes a la hora de encontrar practicas tales como sitios web de ofertas laborales, convocatorias de puesto de trabajo que hacen las empresas o simplemente que su propia casa de estudio no lo ofrezca herramientas para encontrar trabajo como una “bolsa de trabajo” Finalmente, por lo ya mencionado nuestro siguiente proyecto de negocio va dirigido a los estudiantes universitarios y de Institutos técnicos que tienen problemas de conseguir prácticas laborales y ofrecerle una solución mediante una plataforma dirigido especialmente a este grupo de jóvenes en donde encontraran diferentes herramientas que le ayudaran a encontrar sus primeras prácticas de una forma rápida y sencilla.The development of pre-professional internships is of utmost necessity in the university environment because it allows young students to develop their knowledge and skills in a purely work and business environment, the different knowledge acquired in their formative years in both Universities and Technical Institutes. However, during the last years many companies have raised the requirements to hire an intern such as having previous experience, availability more than the hours required for an intern, etc. Because of this, many students have difficulties in obtaining internships due to lack of experience and conflicts with their university schedules. Professional unemployment and underemployment are problems that afflict thousands of young Peruvians and their incidence is generally attributed to a mismatch between labor demand and supply. In addition, the lack of information resources that young people have when it comes to finding internships such as job offer websites, job announcements made by companies or simply that their own house of study does not offer them tools to find work such as a "job bank". Finally, as mentioned above, our next business project is aimed at university and technical institute students who have problems finding internships and offer them a solution through a platform aimed especially at this group of young people where they will find different tools that will help them find their first internships quickly and easily.Trabajo de investigació

Student Employment: Linking College and the Workplace

The focus of National Student Employment Association (formerly the National Association of Student Employment Administrators, or NASEA) publications has always been on students in transition. From the freshman moving from high school to higher education, to the senior attempting the transition to professional employment and financial independence, we always have explored how students can better accomplish these linking experiences. Student employment is a hybrid, serving as a bridge between work and school, and ultimately, a link between school and full-time work. Student employment links elements of financial aid, career development, academic learning, experiential education, and personal development. Student employment, in all of these ways, is a bridge, moving the student from point A to point B. Because of this variety, any publication on student employment must necessarily speak to diverse themes. We have organized this publication in four sections: an introduction followed by three themed sections.https://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/bookshelf/1000/thumbnail.jp

Depleting Components of the THO Complex Causes Increased Telomere Length by Reducing the Expression of the Telomere-Associated Protein Rif1p

Telomere length is regulated mostly by proteins directly associated with telomeres. However, genome-wide analysis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutants has revealed that deletion of Hpr1p, a component of the THO complex, also affects telomere length. The THO complex comprises four protein subunits, namely, Tho2p, Hpr1p, Mft1p, and Thp2p. These subunits interplay between transcription elongation and co-transcriptional assembly of export-competent mRNPs. Here we found that the deletion of tho2 or hpr1 caused telomere lengthening by ∼50–100 bps, whereas that of mft1 or thp2 did not affect telomere length. Since the THO complex functions in transcription elongation, we analyzed the expression of telomere-associated proteins in mutants depleted of complex components. We found that both the mRNA and protein levels of RIF1 were decreased in tho2 and hpr1 cells. RIF1 encodes a 1917-amino acid polypeptide that is involved in regulating telomere length and the formation of telomeric heterochromatin. Hpr1p and Tho2p appeared to affect telomeres through Rif1p, as increased Rif1p levels suppressed the telomere lengthening in tho2 and hpr1 cells. Moreover, yeast cells carrying rif1 tho2 or rif1 hpr1 double mutations showed telomere lengths and telomere silencing effects similar to those observed in the rif1 mutant. Thus, we conclude that mutations of components of the THO complex affect telomere functions by reducing the expression of a telomere-associated protein, Rif1p

Broad targeting of resistance to apoptosis in cancer

Apoptosis or programmed cell death is natural way of removing aged cells from the body. Most of the anti-cancer therapies trigger apoptosis induction and related cell death networks to eliminate malignant cells. However, in cancer, de-regulated apoptotic signaling, particularly the activation of an anti-apoptotic systems, allows cancer cells to escape this program leading to uncontrolled proliferation resulting in tumor survival, therapeutic resistance and recurrence of cancer. This resistance is a complicated phenomenon that emanates from the interactions of various molecules and signaling pathways. In this comprehensive review we discuss the various factors contributing to apoptosis resistance in cancers. The key resistance targets that are discussed include (1) Bcl-2 and Mcl-1 proteins; (2) autophagy processes; (3) necrosis and necroptosis; (4) heat shock protein signaling; (5) the proteasome pathway; (6) epigenetic mechanisms; and (7) aberrant nuclear export signaling. The shortcomings of current therapeutic modalities are highlighted and a broad spectrum strategy using approaches including (a) gossypol; (b) epigallocatechin-3-gallate; (c) UMI-77 (d) triptolide and (e) selinexor that can be used to overcome cell death resistance is presented. This review provides a roadmap for the design of successful anti-cancer strategies that overcome resistance to apoptosis for better therapeutic outcome in patients with cancer

The highly accurate anteriolateral portal for injecting the knee

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The extended knee lateral midpatellar portal for intraarticular injection of the knee is accurate but is not practical for all patients. We hypothesized that a modified anteriolateral portal where the synovial membrane of the medial femoral condyle is the target would be highly accurate and effective for intraarticular injection of the knee.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>83 subjects with non-effusive osteoarthritis of the knee were randomized to intraarticular injection using the modified anteriolateral bent knee versus the standard lateral midpatellar portal. After hydrodissection of the synovial membrane with lidocaine using a mechanical syringe (reciprocating procedure device), 80 mg of triamcinolone acetonide were injected into the knee with a 2.0-in (5.1-cm) 21-gauge needle. Baseline pain, procedural pain, and pain at outcome (2 weeks and 6 months) were determined with the 10 cm Visual Analogue Pain Score (VAS). The accuracy of needle placement was determined by sonographic imaging.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The lateral midpatellar and anteriolateral portals resulted in equivalent clinical outcomes including procedural pain (VAS midpatellar: 4.6 ± 3.1 cm; anteriolateral: 4.8 ± 3.2 cm; p = 0.77), pain at outcome (VAS midpatellar: 2.6 ± 2.8 cm; anteriolateral: 1.7 ± 2.3 cm; p = 0.11), responders (midpatellar: 45%; anteriolateral: 56%; p = 0.33), duration of therapeutic effect (midpatellar: 3.9 ± 2.4 months; anteriolateral: 4.1 ± 2.2 months; p = 0.69), and time to next procedure (midpatellar: 7.3 ± 3.3 months; anteriolateral: 7.7 ± 3.7 months; p = 0.71). The anteriolateral portal was 97% accurate by real-time ultrasound imaging.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The modified anteriolateral bent knee portal is an effective, accurate, and equivalent alternative to the standard lateral midpatellar portal for intraarticular injection of the knee.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>ClinicalTrials.gov: <a href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00651625">NCT00651625</a></p

Gut microbiota: Role in pathogen colonization, immune responses, and inflammatory disease

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138242/1/imr12567.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138242/2/imr12567_am.pd