Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Presidential Puzzle: Political Cycles and the Stock Market

The excess return in the stock market is higher under Democratic than Republican presidencies: 9 percent for the value-weighted and 16 percent for the equal-weighted portfolio. The difference comes from higher real stock returns and lower real interest rates, is statistically significant, and is robust in subsamples. The difference in returns is not explained by business-cycle variables related to expected returns, and is not concentrated around election dates. There is no difference in the riskiness of the stock market across presidencies that could justify a risk premium. The difference in returns through the political cycle is therefore a puzzle.
Bayesian methods for assessing importance of effects.

In experimental data analysis when it conies to assessing the importance of effects of interest, 2 situations are commonly met. In Situation 1, asserting largeness is sought: "The effect is large in the population. " In Situation 2, asserting smallness is sought: "The effect is small in the population. " In both situations, as is well known, conventional significance testing is far from satisfactory. The claim of this article is that Bayesian inference is ideally suited to making adequate inferences. Specifically, Bayesian techniques based on "noninformative" priors provide intuitive interpretations and extensions of familiar significance tests. The use of Bayesian inference for assessing importance is discussed elementarily by comparing 2 treatments, then by addressing hypotheses in complex analysis of variance designs.
Learning Disabled Children's Peer Interactions during a Small-Group Problem-Solving Task

Learning disabled children in grades three through eight participated in a problem-solving task requiring group decision making. An analysis of group choices indicated that the independently made choices of learning disabled children were less likely to be among the group's final choices. Analyses of the children's communication patterns revealed that learning disabled children were less likely to disagree with classmates, less likely to try to argue for their choices, and more likely to agree with their peers. In addition, learning disabled children were found to be less likely to engage in “conversational housekeeping” than nondisabled children. Hence, learning disabled children were less persuasive than nondisabled children, apparently as a result of their assuming a submissive, deferential role when interacting with small groups of peers.
Large-scale neuro-modeling for understanding and explaining some brain-related chaotic behavior

Numerous studies, and in particular the works of Freeman and others, have shown the possible relevance of chaos to various functions of the brain. The verification of these claims has mostly been experimental in nature, since a formal mathematical analysis is often intractable because of the sheer magnitude of the number (billions) of neurons in the brain. Consequently, a formal analysis of such models has only been achieved for ‘small-scale systems’ of neural networks (NNs). As opposed to this, the aim of this paper is to understand how we can model the brain as a so-called ‘large-scale system’ for analyzing various neurological conditions such as epilepsy, schizophrenia, etc. In particular, we explore a large-scale NN model suitable for the piriform cortex which is acclaimed for its chaotic behavior from clinical experiments. In addition, the piriform cortex is easy to model because it appears to be ‘almost independent’ of other portions of the brain. To achieve this, we describe its behavior by moving the analysis from the time space into the phase space of the electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. Although the model of the piriform cortex contains hundreds of variables, we utilize the concept that useful information can be extracted from a single EEG signal which, in turn, can be perceived as a time series computed from the artificial electrodes. Indeed, this transformation, i.e. from the time space of a time series to its corresponding phase space, is considered mandatory to extract the nonlinear characteristics related with chaos. By studying the piriform cortex model in this manner, we demonstrate that we can generate certain desirable phenomena by modifying some of the underlying control parameters. More specifically, we investigate the problem of density and strength, the problem of connectivity and the problem of stimulus frequency, and show their relevance to neurological conditions such as epilepsy and schizophrenia.
Dynamics of the cell-cycle network under genome-rewiring perturbations

The cell-cycle progression is regulated by a specific network enabling its ordered dynamics. Recent experiments supported by computational models have shown that a core of genes ensures this robust cycle dynamics. However, much less is known about the direct interaction of the cell-cycle regulators with genes outside of the cell-cycle network, in particular those of the metabolic system. Following our recent experimental work, we present here a model focusing on the dynamics of the cell-cycle core network under rewiring perturbations. Rewiring is achieved by placing an essential metabolic gene exclusively under the regulation of a cell-cycle's promoter, forcing the cell-cycle network to function under a multitasking challenging condition; operating in parallel the cell-cycle progression and a metabolic essential gene. Our model relies on simple rate equations that capture the dynamics of the relevant protein–DNA and protein–protein interactions, while making a clear distinction between these two different types of processes. In particular, we treat the cell-cycle transcription factors as limited ‘resources’ and focus on the redistribution of resources in the network during its dynamics. This elucidates the sensitivity of its various nodes to rewiring interactions. The basic model produces the correct cycle dynamics for a wide range of parameters. The simplicity of the model enables us to study the interface between the cell-cycle regulation and other cellular processes. Rewiring a promoter of the network to regulate a foreign gene, forces a multitasking regulatory load. The higher the load on the promoter, the longer is the cell-cycle period. Moreover, in agreement with our experimental results, the model shows that different nodes of the network exhibit variable susceptibilities to the rewiring perturbations. Our model suggests that the topology of the cell-cycle core network ensures its plasticity and flexible interface with other cellular processes, without a need for an optimal setting of the kinetic parameters.
Antioxidant treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis / motor neuron disease.

BACKGROUND Free radical accumulation and oxidative stress have been proposed as contributing to the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (or motor neuron disease). A range of antioxidant medications are available, and have been studied. OBJECTIVES To examine the effects of antioxidant medication in the treatment of people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. SEARCH STRATEGY We searched the Cochrane Neuromuscular Disease Group trials register (July 2003), MEDLINE (from January 1966 to July 2003), EMBASE (from January 1980 to July 2003) and other sources. SELECTION CRITERIA All randomized or quasi-randomized controlled trials of antioxidant treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS The reviewers independently applied the selection criteria, assessed study quality and two reviewers performed independent data extraction. MAIN RESULTS The search identified 21 studies for consideration but only eight studies met the inclusion criteria. Only two studies used our predetermined primary outcome measure, (survival at 12 months treatment). Sufficient data were available from three studies to allow analysis of the primary outcome measure, and a meta-analysis was performed. In the individual studies no significant effect was observed of vitamin E 500 mg twice daily; acetylcysteine 50 mg/kg daily subcutaneous infusion; or a combination of L-methionine 2 g, vitamin E 400 International Units, and selenium 3 x 10-5g three times daily (Alsemet). No significant effect on the primary outcome measure was observed in a meta-analysis of antioxidants in general when combining the results. No significant differences were demonstrated in secondary outcome measures. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS There is insufficient evidence of efficacy of individual antioxidants, or antioxidants in general, in the treatment of people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. One study reported a mild positive effect, but this was not supported by the analysis we used. Generally the studies were poorly designed, and underpowered, with low numbers of participants and of short duration. Further well-designed trials of medications such as vitamin C and E are unlikely to be performed. If future trials of antioxidant medications are performed, careful attention should be given to sample size, outcome measures, and duration of the trial. The high tolerance and safety, and relatively low cost of vitamins C and E, and other considerations related to the lack of other effective treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, explain the continuing use of these vitamins by physicians and patients. While there is no substantial clinical trial evidence to support their clinical use, there is no clear contraindication.
France, Russia, China: A Structural Analysis of Social Revolutions

'A revolution', writes Samuel P. Huntington in Political Order in Changing Societies, 'is a rapid, fundamental, and violent domestic change in the dominant values arfd myths of a society, in its political institutions, social structure, leadership, and government activities and policies'. 1 In The Two Tactics of Social Democracy in the Democratic Revolution, Lenin provides a different, but complementary perspective: 'Revolutions', he says, 'are the festivals of the oppressed and the exploited. At no other time are the masses of the people in a position to come forward so actively as creators of a new social order'.
Bridging the Gap: Internationalizing University Curricula

This article is a case study of how one university is internationalizing all its courses so that all graduates will demonstrate an international perspective as professionals and citizens. This focus on courses and their teaching, learning, and assessment promotes international education, multiculturalism, and the recognition of intercultural issues relevant to professional practice. The first section deals with structural options and pathways for course design when internationalizing curricula and the defining characteristics of such options. The second and final section of the article outlines ways in which an internationalized curriculum broadens the scope of the subject to include international content and/or contact and sets up teaching and learning to assist in the development of cross-cultural communication skills. Internationalizing university curricula is a powerful and practical way of bridging the gap between rhetoric and practice to including and valuing the contribution of international students.
Range of motion of standard and high-flexion posterior stabilized total knee prostheses. A prospective, randomized study.

BACKGROUND The restoration of posterior femoral translation has been shown to be an important factor in enhancing knee flexion after total knee arthroplasty. The purpose of this study was to compare the ranges of motion associated with standard and high-flexion posterior stabilized total knee prostheses in patients managed with simultaneous bilateral total knee arthroplasty. METHODS Fifty patients (mean age, sixty-eight years) received a standard fixed-bearing knee prosthesis in one knee and a high-flexion fixed-bearing knee prosthesis in the contralateral knee. Two patients were men, and forty-eight were women. At a mean of 2.1 years postoperatively, the patients were assessed clinically and radiographically with use of the knee-rating systems of the Knee Society and The Hospital for Special Surgery. RESULTS The mean postoperative Hospital for Special Surgery knee score was 90 points for the knees treated with the standard fixed-bearing prosthesis and 89.4 points for those treated with the high-flexion prosthesis. At the time of the final follow-up, the knees with the standard prosthesis had a mean range of motion of 135.8 degrees (range, 105 degrees to 150 degrees ) and those with a high-flexion prosthesis had a mean range of motion of 138.6 degrees (range, 105 degrees to 150 degrees ) (p = 0.41). No knee had aseptic loosening, revision, or osteolysis. CONCLUSIONS After a minimum duration of follow-up of two years, we found no significant differences between the groups with regard to range of motion or clinical and radiographic parameters, except for posterior femoral condylar offset.
Media witnessing and the ripeness of time

‘Media witnessing’ designates a new configuration of mediation, representation and experience that is involved in the transformation of our sense of historical significance. It refers to the witnessing performed in, by and through the media: the appearance of witnesses in media reports, the possibility of media themselves bearing witness and the positioning of media audiences as witnesses to depicted events. Media witnessing is defined by three overlapping domains of practice: (1) the ways in which ubiquitous audiovisual media make the potential significance of incidentally recorded events available for immediate public reproduction; (2) the organization of interpersonal and mass media as hybrid assemblages of human and technological agents with shifting boundaries that defy traditional models of mass communication, producing ad-hoc communities of attention on a global scale; (3) the incorporation of audiences into a system of perpetual vigilance and the creation of cosmopolitan risk publics who perceive their commonality through representations of shared vulnerability. Media witnessing thus marks the age of the post-media event: it casts the audience as the ultimate addressee and primary producer, making the collective both the subject and the object of everyday witnessing.
Radiation fields, scattering, and inverse scattering on asymptotically hyperbolic manifolds

In analogy with radiation fields for asymptotically Euclidean manifolds, introduced by F.G. Friedlander, we define radiation fields for asymptotically hyperbolic manifolds. We use them to give a translation representation of the wave group and to obtain the scattering matrix for such manifolds. Furthermore, we prove a support theorem for the radiation fields which generalizes to this setting the well known support theorem of Helgason and Lax and Phillips for the horocyclic Radon transform. This is used to show that the manifold and the metric, up to invariants, are determined by the scattering matrix at all energies.
The Influence of Working Memory and Classification Ability on Children′s Word Problem Solution

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between problem classification (problem schemata) and working memory span on children′s solution accuracy of arithmetic word problems. Measures of working memory, classification ability, knowledge of processing operations, verbatim recall of word problem propositions, reading comprehension, and arithmetic performance were correlated with solution accuracy. A regression analysis indicated that reading comprehension and knowledge of processing operations were the best predictors of solution accuracy. Working memory and classification ability were significant predictors only when forced into the equation first. A confirmatory factor analysis, with the effect of reading comprehension partialed out, indicated that working memory and classification ability loaded on separate factors with solution accuracy. Overall, the results provide support for the hypothesis that the amount of working memory resources activated is independent of schemata activation. Consistent with an independence hypothesis (Brainerd & Reyna, 1992), the results also show a weak relationship between memory and problem solving accuracy.
Education reform policies and classroom teaching in South Korea

This article focuses on teachers' dual frustrations caused by contradictory requirements in Korean education reform policies since 1995. It summarizes recent education policy reforms in Korea and links them to the intensification of teachers' work through the extension of its range, and the possibility that teachers' work will be deskilled by requirements to develop new technical skills with limited resources. Above all, teachers, who have tried to overcome standardized classroom teaching, and have been frustrated by limited resources and the existing school system, are now being frustrated again by recent re-standardization policies.
Geographic Range Size and Determinants of Avian Species Richness

Geographic patterns in species richness are mainly based on wide-ranging species because their larger number of distribution records has a disproportionate contribution to the species richness counts. Here we demonstrate how this effect strongly influences our understanding of what determines species richness. Using both conventional and spatial regression models, we show that for sub-Saharan African birds, the apparent role of productivity diminishes with decreasing range size, whereas the significance of topographic heterogeneity increases. The relative importance of geometric constraints from the continental edge is moderate. Our findings highlight the failure of traditional species richness models to account for narrow-ranging species that frequently are also threatened.
Measuring segregation—beware of the cautionary tale by Johnston and Jones

Measuring school segregation in England Following an earlier research note (Gorard, 1997) there has been considerable policy and academic interest in measuring the extent to which pupils are clustered in UK schools with pupils of similar characteristics. There has also been a long-running academic debate about how to measure such segregation. The substantive debate about how segregation has changed over time is now largely settled (eg see Coldron et al, 2010), and the results of Gorard et al (2003) are widely confirmed or accepted (Allen and Vignoles, 2007; Croxford and Paterson, 2006; Johnston et al, 2006). However, discussion about the relative merits of various summary indices rumbles on. In particular, commentators have been concerned with the different characteristics of the more traditional index of dissimilarity (ID) and what has been termed the Gorard segregation index (GS). For any indicator of disadvantage, ID is the proportion of all pupils who would have to change schools for there to be no segregation between advantaged and disadvantaged pupils in the school system. GS is the proportion of disadvantaged pupils who would have to exchange schools with another pupil for there to be no segregation. The two indices sound and indeed are very similar, and both would be zero if all schools had their proportionate share of disadvantaged pupils. More formally, ID is given by:
Children of mentally ill parents . Effects of a therapy-integrated family intervention

Zusammenfassung Hintergrund: Eine psychische Erkrankung bringt viele Belastungen mit sich. Insbesondere die Kinder psychisch kranker Eltern erleben zu den Entwicklungsaufgaben zusätzliche Stressoren, wie vermehrte elterliche Konflikte bis hin zur Scheidung, ein krankheitsbedingtes inkonsequentes und dysfunktionales Erziehungsverhalten und eine meist weniger unterstützende Umgebung. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, zu überprüfen, ob durch die behaviorale Familienintervention «Triple P» die Erziehungskompetenzen gefördert werden können, sodass sich die psychische Symptomatik, aber auch das kindliche Problemverhalten und das dysfunktionale Erziehungsverhalten verbessern. Methodik: Die Stichprobe der Pilotstudie setzte sich aus einer Patientengruppe (n = 22) und einer gesunden Vergleichsgruppe (n = 20) zusammen. Elternsowie kindbezogene Variablen wurden vor und nach Abschluss der ambulanten Psychotherapie erhoben und mittels Varianzanalyse mit Messwiederholung analysiert. Ergebnisse: Das dysfunktionale und funktionale Erziehungsverhalten sowie die psychische Befindlichkeit der Eltern und die kindlichen Verhaltensauffälligkeiten aus Elternsicht verbesserten sich signifikant. Schlussfolgerungen: Die Ergebnisse unterstreichen die Relevanz der Berücksichtigung von Elternschaft und Erziehung in der ambulanten Einzelpsychotherapie, sodass dysfunktionales Erziehungsverhalten und damit auch kindliches und familiäres Problemverhalten verbessert werden können.
“Too hot for the reindeer” – voicing Sámi children's visions of the future

In this paper, we focus attention on the issue of the future by listening to the voices of Indigenous children in the far north of Sweden – the Sámi children. The overall aim of the study is to explore the meaning of Sámi children's visions of the future. The paricipants attend the same Sámi School, and they were of the age of 9–12 years. Data were collected with the aid of creative activity in the form of the production of drawings, combined with subsequent verbal comments. In the analysis of the drawings and verbal comments, three different themes crystallised: financial future, environmental changes and relations to the family and nature. The comprehensive understanding emerged as different cultural horizons – a pure Sámi culture horizon, a mixed horizon with a mixture of Sámi culture and Western modernity and a horizon that just holds Western modernity. The outcome of the study is discussed in relation to the tension between different cultures – the Sámi culture and that of western modernity. The importance of attending to the learners perspective is emphasised, and we argue that education for sustainable development should start in the life-worlds of the children.