Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Evolution of Unemployment in the United States: 1968-1985

Unemployment rates in the United States and other Western economies have shown a pronounced secular increase over the past twenty years. This article studies the determinants of unemployment dynamics in the United States since 1968. The primary goal is to document the empirical facts about the evolution of unemployment that theory must accommodate. Our key empirical findings are in four areas: (1) The secular increase in unemployment in the United States is surprisingly evenly distributed across subcategories of the labor force, including industries, regions, and demographic groups; (2) Most of the increase is accounted for by a pronounced shift toward long-term unemployment; (3) Based on the observed characteristics of workers, the occurrence of unemployment is now much more evenly distributed than it was in the recent past; (4) Interindustry mobility and fluctuations in the pace of labor reallocation among sectors have played only minor roles in affecting observed unemployment. These points challenge theories that rely on the characteristics or fortunes of particular sectors of the economy to generate unemployment. The main factors influencing unemployment over this period have been economywide and broadly based.
Readiness as a Microfoundational Approach to Knowledge-Management

Over the years, many theories have noted that the core factor that acts as a barrier to successful knowledge management (KM) initiatives is attributable, in part, to the individual’s lack of readiness to change. However, a significant gap in the literature is the lack of empirical and conceptual support to the idea that KM is inherently a change effort affecting issues of how to enact change in individuals. More recent work, have highlighted that one of the reasons for this gap in the knowledge literature, is that majority of studies as a whole are usually pre-occupied with macro-level constructs stemming from forces at the organizational level. The study argues that readiness-for change is an important step towards understanding the micro processes of individual actions and interactions, because research in this area examines how change occurs from the individual’s perspective. Based on the literature, the paper presents a model to help us explore the micro processes of organizational KM initiatives. The study also builds on previous work of Foss (2007) explanation of microfoundations and integrates it with insights of Armenakis and Harris (2002) theory of readiness for individual change. A discussion is presented demonstrating future directions towards a microfoundational approach to KM.
Listening to tailor-made notched music reduces tinnitus loudness and tinnitus-related auditory cortex activity

Maladaptive auditory cortex reorganization may contribute to the generation and maintenance of tinnitus. Because cortical organization can be modified by behavioral training, we attempted to reduce tinnitus loudness by exposing chronic tinnitus patients to self-chosen, enjoyable music, which was modified (“notched”) to contain no energy in the frequency range surrounding the individual tinnitus frequency. After 12 months of regular listening, the target patient group (n = 8) showed significantly reduced subjective tinnitus loudness and concomitantly exhibited reduced evoked activity in auditory cortex areas corresponding to the tinnitus frequency compared to patients who had received an analogous placebo notched music treatment (n = 8). These findings indicate that tinnitus loudness can be significantly diminished by an enjoyable, low-cost, custom-tailored notched music treatment, potentially via reversing maladaptive auditory cortex reorganization.
Hedging, stock market participation and portfolio choice

We test whether hedging motives can explain stock market participation and portfolio choice. We use a unique dataset on the entire population of investors in Sweden that contains information broken down at the investor level and into various components of wealth, investor income, tax positions and investor’s demographic characteristics. Portfolio holdings are identified at the stock level. This allows us to construct measures of ”active hedging” that quantify the extent to which investors actively tilt their portfolio in order to change the correlation between their nonfinancial and financial income. We provide evidence that investors do not engage in hedging. Quite the opposite, they seem to deliberately tilt their portfolio towards stocks that are most closely ”related” to them. We rationalize this in terms of ”familiarity” and we provide evidence of it. JEL classification: G11,G14.
The social meaning of the age at second birth for third-birth fertility: a methodological note on the need to sometimes respectify an intermediate variable

In hazard regressions for a number of countries including Sweden more highly educated women have higher third-birth rates than less well-educated women. The third-birth rate refers to the rate at which women already with two children bear a third. It is shown however that the positive educational gradient disappears when age at second birth is respecified to better understand what age at second birth means to women at the various levels of education. Instead of a conventional age grouping which is the same for all educational categories the author suggests that the age factor should be defined in order to reflect what is normal and unusual childbearing behavior for each educational level separately. It is stressed that similar considerations can be equally important in other contexts.
Do institutions limit clientelism?: A study of the district assemblies common fund in Ghana

"Analyses of how coveted central-government resources in Africa are shared have shown widespread patronage, ethnic cronyism, and pork-barrel politics. While some governments have attempted to rectify the situation by establishing revenue-sharing formulas, a key unanswered question is whether such institutions are able to achieve this goal. This paper presents an empirical investigation of a pioneering formula-based system of resource allocation from the central government to local governments in Ghana—the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF). The evidence is consistent with governments being able to politically manipulate resource allocation within the confines of the formula-based system. Nevertheless, this does not suggest that the DACF completely fails to limit political influence. It indicates that other guiding structures of a formula-based system—in particular, how and when the formula can be altered—are important determinants of how well a program such as the DACF is able to resist political pressures. " from authors' abstract
Measurement of the gravitational potential evolution from the cross‐correlation between WMAP and the APM Galaxy Survey

Models with late-time cosmic acceleration, such as the A-dominated cold dark matter model, predict a freeze-out for the growth of linear gravitational potential at moderate redshift z < 1, which can be observed as temperature anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB): the so-called integrated Sachs-Wolfe (ISW) effect. We present a direct measurement of the ISW effect based on the angular cross-correlation function, w TG (θ), of CMB temperature anisotropies and dark matter fluctuations traced by galaxies. We cross-correlate the first-year WMAP data in combination with the APM Galaxy Survey. On the largest scales, 0 = 4°-10°, we detect a non-vanishing cross-correlation at 98.8 per cent significance level, with a 1σ error of w TG = 0.35 ± 0.14 μK, which favours large values of Ω Λ ≃ 0.8 for flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker models. On smaller scales, 0 < 1°, the correlations disappear. This is contrary to what would be expected from the ISW effect, but the absence of correlations may be simply explained if the ISW signal was being cancelled by anti-correlations arising from the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect.
Conditionally replicative adenoviruses for ovarian cancer therapy.

The purpose of this review article is to present a logical rationale for the investigation of conditionally replicative adenoviral vectors for the treatment of ovarian carcinoma. A medline database search was performed to identify relevant articles in the English language for the years 1966 to present. The key words used included replicative adenovirus, conditionally replicative adenovirus, transcriptional targeting, replication selective adenovirus, and "ONYX. " A total of 89 references were identified and reviewed. Each reference was reviewed for relevance to clinical translation of conditionally replicative adenoviral vector therapy for ovarian cancer. Data from current clinical trials would suggest that potential obstacles for effective replicative viral therapy of ovarian carcinoma include efficient tumor cell infection, restrictions of the cell surface coxsackie and adenovirus receptor, rapid clearance of vector in the ascites environment, tumor cells specificity, and limitations of current findings of clinical trials. The articles were, therefore, evaluated and included if they addressed these shortcomings. Current data would suggest that advanced generation conditionally replicative adenoviral vectors will soon be available for clinical trials in ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer, because of expression of targetable receptors, transducible cells, and containment within the i.p. cavity, represents a solid tumor suited uniquely for investigation with advanced generation conditionally replicative adenoviral vectors.
In vitro and in vivo properties of distinct populations of amniotic fluid mesenchymal progenitor cells

Human mesenchymal progenitor cells (MPCs) are considered to be of great promise for use in tissue repair and regenerative medicine. MPCs represent multipotent adherent cells, able to give rise to multiple mesenchymal lineages such as osteoblasts, adipocytes or chondrocytes. Recently, we identified and characterized human second trimester amniotic fluid (AF) as a novel source of MPCs. Herein, we found that early colonies of AF‐MPCs consisted of two morphologically distinct adherent cell types, termed as spindle‐shaped (SS) and round‐shaped (RS). A detailed analysis of these two populations showed that SS‐AF‐MPCs expressed CD90 antigen in a higher level and exhibited a greater proliferation and differentiation potential. To characterize better the molecular identity of these two populations, we have generated a comparative proteomic map of SS‐AF‐MPCs and RS‐AF‐MPCs, identifying 25 differentially expressed proteins and 10 proteins uniquely expressed in RS‐AF‐MPCs. Furthermore, SS‐AF‐MPCs exhibited significantly higher migration ability on extracellular matrices, such as fibronectin and laminin in vitro, compared to RS‐AF‐MPCs and thus we further evaluated SS‐AF‐MPCs for potential use as therapeutic tools in vivo. Therefore, we tested whether GFP‐lentiviral transduced SS‐AF‐MPCs retained their stem cell identity, proliferation and differentiation potential. GFP‐SS‐AF‐MPCs were then successfully delivered into immunosuppressed mice, distributed in different tissues and survived longterm in vivo. In summary, these results demonstrated that AF‐MPCs consisted of at least two different MPC populations. In addition, SS‐AF‐MPCs, isolated based on their colony morphology and CD90 expression, represented the only MPC population that can be expanded easily in culture and used as an efficient tool for future in vivo therapeutic applications.
A Mixture Model for Occupational Exposure Mean Testing with a Limit of Detection

Summary. Information from detectable exposure measurements randomly sampled from a left‐truncated log‐normal distribution may be used to evaluate the distribution of nondetectable values that fall below an analytic limit of detection. If the proportion of nondetects is larger than expected under log normality, alternative models to account for these unobserved data should be considered. We discuss one such model that incorporates a mixture of true zero exposures and a log‐normal distribution with possible left censoring, previously considered in a different context by Moulton and Halsey (1995, Biometrics51, 1570–1578). A particular relationship is demonstrated between maximum likelihood parameter estimates based on this mixture model and those assuming either left‐truncated or left‐censored data. These results emphasize the need for caution when choosing a model to fit data involving nondetectable values. A one‐sided likelihood ratio test for comparing mean exposure under the mixture model to an occupational exposure limit is then developed and evaluated via simulations. An example demonstrates the potential impact of specifying an incorrect model for the nondetectable values.
Planning and Scheduling for Real-World Problems : from Solver Integration to the Role of Knowledge Modeling Second Year PhD Report

This report overviews the results of two year’s work in the context of the application of automated problem solving techniques for real-world problems. More specifically, my work has addressed two particular areas of research, namely AI Planning and Scheduling (P&S), focusing on issues related to representing and solving problems found in real applications by employing these techniques. In both these realms of problem solving there are a number of specific issues related to real-world deployment which need to be addressed. As argued in this report, two issues concerning the use of Planning and Scheduling in the real-world are (1) the lack of planning strategies which can combine action-based representation with quantities which are meaningful for “realistic” task execution, and (2) the lack of knowledge modeling techniques for domain-specific problem modeling. As a consequence of the dual nature of my research, this report is organized in two parts. The first part analyzes the results obtained in P&S integration, namely a characterization of planning algorithms and how they perform in the light of plan execution (i.e., in the light of a subsequent scheduling and execution phase). The second part addresses some issues related to the deployment of scheduling technology, briefly overviewing a two-level ontology developed for the purpose of facilitating knowledge modeling, component customization and fast prototyping. Both sections conclude with an outlook of future developments. ∗Also affiliated with the Institute for Cognitive Science and Technology of the Italian National Research Council, Rome, Italy — federico.pecora@istc.cnr. it
Universality issues in surface kinetic roughening of thin solid films

Since publication of the main contributions on the theory of kinetic roughening more than fifteen years ago, many works have been reported on surface growth or erosion that employ the framework of dynamic scaling. This interest was mainly due to the predicted existence of just a few universality classes to describe the statistical properties of the morphology of growing surfaces and interfaces that appear in a wide range of physical systems. Nowadays, this prediction seems to be inaccurate. This situation has caused a clear detriment of these studies in spite of the undeniable existence of kinetic roughening in many different real systems, and without a clear understanding of the reasons behind the mismatch between theoretical expectations and experimental observations. In this chapter we aim to explore existing problems and shortcomings of both the theoretical and experimental approaches, focusing mainly on growth of thin solid films. Our analysis suggests that the theoretical framework as yet is not complete, while more systematic and consistent experiments need to be performed. Once these issues are taken into account, a more consistent and useful theory of kinetic roughening might develop.
The Risk and Return of Venture Capital

This paper measures the mean, standard deviation, alpha and beta of venture capital investments, using a maximum likelihood estimate that corrects for selection bias. Since firms go public when they have achieved a good return, estimates that do not correct for selection bias are optimistic. The selection bias correction neatly accounts for log returns. Without a selection bias correction, I find a mean log return of about 100% and a log CAPM intercept of about 90%. With the selection bias correction, I find a mean log return of about 7% with a -2% intercept. However, returns are very volatile, with standard deviation near 100%. Therefore, arithmetic average returns and intercepts are much higher than geometric averages. The selection bias correction attenuates but does not eliminate high arithmetic average returns. Without a selection bias correction, I find an arithmetic average return of around 700% and a CAPM alpha of nearly 500%. With the selection bias correction, I find arithmetic average returns of about 53% and CAPM alpha of about 45%. Second, third, and fourth rounds of financing are less risky. They have progressively lower volatility, and therefore lower arithmetic average returns. The betas of successive rounds also decline dramatically from near 1 for the first round to near zero for fourth rounds. The maximum likelihood estimate matches many features of the data, in particular the pattern of IPO and exit as a function of project age, and the fact that return distributions are stable across horizons.
Model Selection and Accounting for Model Uncertainty in Graphical Models Using Occam's Window

Abstract We consider the problem of model selection and accounting for model uncertainty in high-dimensional contingency tables, motivated by expert system applications. The approach most used currently is a stepwise strategy guided by tests based on approximate asymptotic P values leading to the selection of a single model; inference is then conditional on the selected model. The sampling properties of such a strategy are complex, and the failure to take account of model uncertainty leads to underestimation of uncertainty about quantities of interest. In principle, a panacea is provided by the standard Bayesian formalism that averages the posterior distributions of the quantity of interest under each of the models, weighted by their posterior model probabilities. Furthermore, this approach is optimal in the sense of maximizing predictive ability. But this has not been used in practice, because computing the posterior model probabilities is hard and the number of models is very large (often greater than 1.
Effect of valsartan on the incidence of diabetes and cardiovascular events.

BACKGROUND It is not known whether drugs that block the renin-angiotensin system reduce the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular events in patients with impaired glucose tolerance. METHODS In this double-blind, randomized clinical trial with a 2-by-2 factorial design, we assigned 9306 patients with impaired glucose tolerance and established cardiovascular disease or cardiovascular risk factors to receive valsartan (up to 160 mg daily) or placebo (and nateglinide or placebo) in addition to lifestyle modification. We then followed the patients for a median of 5.0 years for the development of diabetes (6.5 years for vital status). We studied the effects of valsartan on the occurrence of three coprimary outcomes: the development of diabetes; an extended composite outcome of death from cardiovascular causes, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, hospitalization for heart failure, arterial revascularization, or hospitalization for unstable angina; and a core composite outcome that excluded unstable angina and revascularization. RESULTS The cumulative incidence of diabetes was 33.1% in the valsartan group, as compared with 36.8% in the placebo group (hazard ratio in the valsartan group, 0.86; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.80 to 0.92; P<0.001). Valsartan, as compared with placebo, did not significantly reduce the incidence of either the extended cardiovascular outcome (14.5% vs. 14.8%; hazard ratio, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.86 to 1.07; P=0.43) or the core cardiovascular outcome (8.1% vs. 8.1%; hazard ratio, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.86 to 1.14; P=0.85). CONCLUSIONS Among patients with impaired glucose tolerance and cardiovascular disease or risk factors, the use of valsartan for 5 years, along with lifestyle modification, led to a relative reduction of 14% in the incidence of diabetes but did not reduce the rate of cardiovascular events. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00097786.)
Phonological Processes and Phonetic Rules

1. Relating phonological representations to phonetic output In both generative and natural phonology, phonological representations and alternations have been described in terms of categorical feature values, as in Jakobson, Fant, & Halle’s (1963) original conception. This categorical representation contrasts with instrumental phonetic data, which present the speech signal as temporally, qualitatively, and quantitatively non-categorical and continuous. The question that will be addressed here is how phonetic representation (‘surface’ phonological representation) and speech are related. Generativists and naturalists have taken two quite different views on this. The generativist view, and that of most recent writers on phonetics, has been that phonetic representation and speech are related by language-specific phonetic rules that associate binary phonological values with gradient phonetic values. The naturalist position has been that the relationship is universally determined in the act of speaking. The reason that the generative and natural views are so distinct is related to their rather distinct views of what surface phonological representation is like.
Fabrication of Photodetectors using Transparent Carbon Nanotube Films

Carbon nanotubes are promising nanoscale materials for novel electrical, mechanical, chemical, and biological device and sensors based on its outstanding properties. Single walled carbon nanotubes can be either semiconducting or metallic material depending on its structures. However, controlling the structure is quite challenging with current technologies. For the network formation of the single walled carbon nanotubes, single walled carbon nanotube films, the properties of individual single walled carbon nanotubes are ensemble averaged and show uniform physical and electrical properties. Also it is transparent, flexible, and conductive. Therefore, it has attracted great research attentions and as a result, several applications of the single walled carbon nanotube films have been demonstrated. In this study, the metal-semiconductor-metal photodetector using the single walled carbon nanotube films are fabricated. The fabrication methods from the network synthesis to the photodetector device fabrication are demonstrated. The fabrication methods are vacuum filtration for the synthesis of single walled carbon nanotube films and typical semiconductor fabrication techniques for the fabrication of metal-semiconductor-metal photodetector device. Also the photoelectrical properties of the fabricated photodetector are discussed.
Research Methods for Health and Social Care

PART I: RESEARCH PRELIMINARIES Why Research? C.Ritchie and S.Vitali Starting a New Research Project J.V. Appleton Research Ethics M.Boulton PART II: DESK-BASED RESEARCH Literature Reviews M.Leach, J.Neale and P.A.Kemp Systematic Reviews L.Smith and L.Dixon Content Analysis M.Jackson Discourse Analysis D.Osborne and J.Neale Service Audit J.Hall& A.K. Dearmun PART III: QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH Surveys M.Watson and L.Coombes Cohort Studies H.A. Adetunji, J.Neale and N.Wheeler Randomized Control Trials L.Smith and T.J.Ryan Economic Evaluations D.R. Foxcroft and H.A. Adetunji Measuring Health Status J.Dawson PART IV: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH In-depth Interviews L.Coombes, D.Allen, D.Humphrey and J.Neale Focus Groups J.Foster-Turner Participant Observation B.Taylor Ethnography S.Harper and J.La Fontaine Critical Incident Technique H.Aveyard and J.Neale PART V: BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER Mixed Methods Research - Quantity Plus Quality R.Walker Dissemination J.Neale