Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Changes in foot and mouth disease status and evolving world beef markets

Argentina and Uruguay eradicated foot and mouth disease (FMD) in 2000 and 1995, and subsequently gained greater access to FMD-free markets. Although both South American countries suffered from the reintroduction of FMD in late 2000, and had to temporarily cease exports to FMD-free markets, they are expected to eradicate FMD again and will continue to increase exports to FMD-free markets. This article analyzes the changes in international beef trade and, especially, in beef prices that are expected. We use a simulation model that captures the effects of market segmentation due to the FMD status and of the trade policies of exporting and importing countries. The ongoing realignment of trade flows has potential to significantly affect prices in both the FMD-free and the FMD-endemic segments of the world beef market. We demonstrate how growing beef exports from South America to FMD-free markets interact with other on-going changes in international beef markets. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. lEconLit citations: Q110: Agriculture, Aggregate Supply and Demand; Q170: Agriculture, International Trader
The effect of adenoid size on tympanometric finding in children

Background and objective: There are controversial reports regarding the effect of adenoid size on middle ear conditions. Enlarged adenoid size may cause nasopharyngeal obstruction or may act as a reservoir for infection and cause tympanometric changes. This study aimed to determine the correlation between adenoid size and tympanometric findings in children. Methods: This prospective study included 71 children aged 3-10 years old attending Rizgary Teaching Hospital for adenotonsillectomy between August 2013 to January 2014. Questions about upper airway obstruction symptoms were directed to parents and patients. Tympanometry and plane radiological study of lateral soft tissue of the neck were done for each case. Tympanometric type A and C1 were considered normal while B and C2 as abnormal. The adenoid size was measured by using adenoidal/nasopharyngeal ratio. Results: Of 71 children (142 ears), 20 children (40 ears) had gross adenoid enlargement, of which tympanometry was found to be normal in 75% and abnormal in 25%. In 28 children (56 ears) with moderate adenoid enlargement, tympanometry was normal in 78.6% and abnormal in 21.4%. Twenty three children (46 ears) had minimal adenoid enlargement, in which tympanometry was normal in 91.3% and abnormal in 8.7%. Conclusion: The study showed that adenoid size in children had an effect on tympanometric readings. Although the incidence of abnormal tympanometry was higher with the increased adenoid size but it was statistically non-significant.
Lost to follow‐up: the problem of defaulters from diabetes clinics

Diabetes mellitus requires lifelong self‐management with regular health professional support and supervision. Estimates of the prevalence of failed appointments at diabetes clinics vary but at less than 10 % appear to be lower than for other non‐chronic conditions. Yet the patients who do not attend have significantly more risk factors and complications than those who keep their appointments. In addition, failed appointments reduce clinic efficiency. To date, research on non‐attendance for health care has largely focused on the characteristics of defaulters and evaluation of simple interventions aimed at directly altering their appointment‐keeping behaviour, such as mailed reminders. However, like the broader issue of adherence, there are many factors that predispose to non‐attendance ranging from patient health beliefs and attitudes of health professionals, the organization of the clinic and the financial costs of attendance, to the degree of patient participation within consultations. Consequently, there is a range of strategies from patient reminders and induction videos, logistical and administrative changes in the clinic, to training in consultation skills for health professionals that have the potential to decrease the numbers of patients lost to follow‐up. Whether these will reduce morbidity efficiently should be the subject of further work. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Effect on Habitat Diversity of Organic Conversion Within the Less Favored Areas of England and Wales

The extent to which conversion to organic farming influenced habitat diversity within less favored areas (LFAs) was determined. Similar numbers of conventional (not converted) (n = 16), recent converts (<5 years; n = 13) and long-standing converts (>5 years; n = 16) were surveyed. Each holding was characterized in terms of habitat classes using a rapid ground survey. Conversion to organic farming had little effect on overall habitat diversity. This could be linked to the physical challenges of farming in LFAs limiting management options. The results highlight the need for a separate evidence base for the development of policies relating to farming and biodiversity in marginal areas.
Toward a More General Theory of Regulation: Comment

IN the broadest sense Sam Peltzman's paper' aims at developing-to quote his own words as applied to Stigler-a theory of the optimum size of effective political coalitions. The novelty and excitement of the results obtained are all the more impressive as Peltzman's analysis seems entirely independent of the literature in the "public choice" tradition that has grown from the pioneering work by Downs and by Buchanan and Tullock.2 The penetrating power of the analysis displayed here is, however, in part due to limiting the field of attention to the specific area of regulation, a limitation that makes possible a fruitful interaction of economic and political conceptualizations. In Peltzman's model the contending interest groups are supposed to be seeking, simply, wealth redistributions through the regulatory process. In effect, each group bids for the right to tax the remainder of the community. The regulator, taken as equivalent to an elected politician, arbitrates among the interest groups in seeking to maximize his majority-that is, his probability of election or re-election. All the results obtained derive from these simple assumptions. It is remarkable how far they carry us. The interest groups, of course, really do have more complex aims. But I do not quarrel with postulating, as a strategic simplification, the onedimensional materialistic goal of wealth maximization. There are two things wrong with taking the regulators' goal as majority maximization, however. First, and most obviously, the regulators themselves constitute an interest group. They should, therefore, also be aiming at wealth maximization. Indeed, the pathbreaking work of Downs really started from the question: Are Chicago aldermen guided by goals any different from or higher than the goals of Chicago factory workers or Chicago economics professors? -a question answered in the negative, of course. If wealth is the ultimate goal, majority maximization can only be an instrumental and partial aim. The politician should be willing to accept some risk of defeat in exchange for a sufficient direct or indirect monetary payment. If majority maximization is not the only goal, we get the important implication that there are diminishing returns to size of majority from the politician's point of view-which is
The Role of the Center of Government: A Literature Review

This Technical Note presents a literature review on the Center of Government (CoG). This term refers to the institution or group of institutions that support a country's chief executive (president or prime minister) in leading the political and technical coordination of the government's actions, strategic planning of the government's program, monitoring of performance, and communication of the government's decisions and achievements. These institutions are becoming more and more relevant in a context where an increasing number of crosscutting issues demand whole-of-government approaches and coherent responses. In several countries, the CoG is also increasingly involved in promoting innovations to improve government performance and support departments and agencies in achieving results. This review discusses the conceptual definitions of CoG in the literature; presents their main functions; describes the organization, structure, and management styles of the units typically performing those functions; and analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the current literature to inform an action-based agenda of CoG strengthening in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Risk Channel of Monetary Policy

This paper examines how monetary policy affects the riskiness of the financial sector's aggregate balance sheet, a mechanism referred to as the risk channel of monetary policy. I study the risk channel in a DSGE model with nominal frictions and a banking sector that can issue both outside equity and debt, making banks' exposure to risk an endogenous choice, and dependent on the (monetary) policy environment. Banks' equilibrium portfolio choice is determined by solving the model around a risk-adjusted steady state. I find that banks reduce their reliance on debt finance and decrease leverage when monetary policy shocks are prevalent. A monetary policy reaction function that responds to movements in bank leverage or to movements in credit spreads can incentivize banks to increase their use of debt finance and increase leverage, ceteris paribus, increasing the riskiness of the financial sector for the real economy.
Considering (Economic and Ecological) Crisis from a Communist Perspective

AbstractThe exacerbated (economic and ecological) crisis and the failure of conventional theories and policies aiming at eco-regulation and sustainable development of capitalism make it imperative to consider this socio-ecological crisis from an anti-systemic, communist perspective. This article is an attempt to articulate a unified and integrated interpretation of this socio-ecological crisis, based on a dialectical conception of the relationship between society and nature. The over-accumulation, rising organic composition of capital, and falling rate of profit play a central role in the analysis of this crisis and the articulation of its particular forms. As argued, capital’s strategic response to crisis and the deep restructuring of capitalism cannot ensure ecological and social sustainability, and more importantly the requirements of a socially acceptable human development. While there is some evidence of a recurrent accumulation and crisis, we are rather witnessing a secular downturn of capitalism and all attempts or tendencies towards “dematerialization” or “decoupling” of capitalist production (and growth) from its detrimental ecological impact fail to effectively encounter the root causes of crisis. An attempt is finally made to draw the “broad contours” of an alternative, communist outlook in overcoming this socio-ecological crisis, and a working-class strategy ensuring the conditions of sustainable human development and an ecologically compatible society.
CEO Contract Design Regulation and Risk-Taking

Abstract Since 2009, the European Commission (EC) requires firms to incorporate an array of new elements into CEO compensation contracts, such as bonus caps, claw back provisions, bonus deferral, performance-vesting, and minimum shareholding guidelines. This paper examines whether CEO contract design in line with the EC principles reduces risk-taking and its economic consequences. Using hand-collected contract design data of 763 firm-years from European listed non-financial firms, we construct an index that reflects a firm's contract fit with the EC principles. Complemented by hand-collected data of national regulatory changes consistent to the EC principles, we employ the regime shift as quasi-experiment. We find that CEOs rewarded under contracts more in line with the principles choose lower risk profiles with respect to their country peers by divergent reductions of idiosyncratic and systematic risk-taking. Moreover, intensity of change of the regulatory environment negatively affects systematic risk-taking. Furthermore, we find CEOs compensated under contracts more adhering to the principles lead to increased subsequent risk-adjusted performance.
A Pilot Study on Spectators’ Motivations and Their Socio-Economic Perceptions of a Film Festival

The main objective of this pilot study is to examine spectators’ motives for attending a film festival, their perceptions of socio-economic impacts of the festival to the host community, and their satisfaction with the festival utilizing data collected from the attendees of the Transylvania International Film Festival, which takes place on a regular basis in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The results indicate that there are significant variations in motivations, satisfaction, and perceptions of impacts across gender, age, level of education, and occupation of attendees. Theoretical contributions, managerial implications, and limitations are addressed.
A comparison of the performance appraisal practices of US multinational subsidiaries with parent company and local Taiwanese practices

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare the performance appraisal practices of US subsidiaries in Taiwan to those of their parent firms and to those of large Taiwanese companies in an effort to understand how foreign subsidiaries adjust to the competing demands for global integration and local responsiveness.Design/methodology/approach – A stratified random sampling scheme was employed to ensure that performance appraisal practices of manufacturing firms in similar industry sectors were compared. A mail survey was chosen over other ways of gathering data because of the wide geographical dispersion of companies, the required speed of data collection, and the length of the questionnaire.Findings – The results indicate that performance appraisal is not a uniform function, but consists of practices that differ in their relative resemblance to local practices and to parent practices. This finding suggests that the competing demands for global integration and local adaptation should not be viewed as o.
The impact of performance distress on aggressive competitive behavior: a reconciliation of conflicting views

Prior research on how ex ante performance impacts competitive behavior has led to conflicting conclusions. Prospect theory, for example, suggests that poor performance promotes aggressive behavior, whereas threat-rigidity theory predicts the opposite. We attempt to reconcile these conflicting views by incorporating a contingency perspective that empirically tests, specifically, how top management team heterogeneity and a favorable industry context moderate the relationship between poor performance and competitive aggressiveness. Our findings suggest that performance-distressed firms managed by heterogeneous top management teams are less likely to compete aggressively. However, contrary to predictions, performance-distressed firms competing in competition-buffered industries are more likely to compete aggressively. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Short IQCODE as a screening tool for MCI and dementia: Preliminary results

Reaching a diagnosis may be difficult in the initial stages of dementia, especially in low educated individuals, when informant reports may be useful. Objectives To compare the sensitivity and specificity of the IQCODE against cognitive tests applied in clinical practice and to evaluate the possible cut-off points in Brazil. Methods Individuals without dementia (CDR=0; N=5), with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) (CDR=0.5; N=15) and demented (CDR≥1; N=29) were evaluated using the Short IQCODE, a 16-item questionnaire applied to an informant, and on standard cognitive and functional scales. Diagnosis was reached by a consensus team with expertise in dementia, according to DSM-IV criteria, which was blind to the IQCODE results. Results IQCODE scores were positively correlated to the CDR (r=0.65, p<0.001) and negatively correlated with years of schooling (r= –0.33, p=0.021). IQCODE scores were positively correlated with CDR controlled by age and education (r=0.61, p<0.001). Linear regression showed that age was associated with the IQCODE (p=0.016) whereas education was not associated (p=0.078). IQCODE means according to the CDR classification were: CDR 0–3.37; CDR 0.5–3.75; CDR 1–4.32; CDR 2–4.61; CDR 3–5.00. The area under the ROC curve for dementia vs. controls was 0.869 (p<0.001), MCI vs. controls, 0.821 (p<0.001); and according to the groups classified by the CDR was: CDR 0.5 vs. CDR 1=0.649 (p=0.089), CDR 1 vs. CDR 2=0.779 (p=0.009), and CDR 2 vs. CDR 3=0.979 (p=0.023). Conclusions These preliminary findings suggest that the short IQCODE can be used for the screening of MCI and dementia in Brazil.
Elected Officials’ Familiarity with Smart Growth Policies Insights from the US Eastern States

Abstract State smart growth programmes (SGPs) attempt to alter local sprawling development patterns through incentives encouraging local governments to apply smart growth policies. This incentive approach makes applications of smart growth policies rely mainly on local government decisions to adopt such policies. Little research investigated elected officials’ familiarity with smart growth policies, especially in small cities/towns. This research paper compares elected officials’ familiarity with smart growth policies across small cities/towns that are located in the US eastern states with and without SGPs. Based on data collected from a mail survey sent to elected officials in 481 small cities/towns, the researcher conducted bivariate and regression analyses to assess elected officials’ familiarity and investigate effects of adopting statewide SGPs on that familiarity. The survey shows that most elected officials are familiar with the term smart growth in general, but their familiarity with smart growth policies varies across cities/towns. Also, the regression analysis explains familiarity by the state adoption of SGPs, and city/town population and regional context (urban/rural). Research findings point to needs to design outreach educational programmes to improve officials’ familiarity with the wide range of smart growth policies, especially in non-coastal cities/towns and rural regions.
Asset Price Volatility, Bubbles, and Process Switching

Evidence of excess volatilities of asset prices compared with those of market fundamentals is often attributed to speculative bubbles. This study examines the sense in which speculative bubbles could in theory lead to excess volatility, hut it demonstrates that some of the variance hounds evidence reported to date precludes bubbles as a reason why asset prices might violate such hounds. The findings must represent some other model misspecffication or market inefficiency. One important misspecification occurs when there searcher incorrectly specifies the time series properties of market fundamentals. A bubble-free example economy characterized by a potential switch in government policies produces paths of asset prices that would appear, to an unwary researcher, to contain bubbles.
The density of social networks and fertility decisions: evidence from south nyanza district, kenya

Demographers have argued increasingly that social interaction is an important mechanism for understanding fertility behavior. Yet it is still quite uncertain whether social learning or social influence is the dominant mechanism through which social networks affect individuals’ contraceptive decisions. In this paper we argue that these mechanisms can be distinguished by analyzing the density of the social network and its interaction with the proportion of contraceptive users among network partners. Our analyses indicate that social learning is most relevant with high market activity; in regions with only modest market activity, however, social influence is the dominant means by which social networks affect women’s contraceptive use.
THE EIGHTFOLD WAY

Abstract Three central combinatorial properties in set theory are the tree property, the approachability property and stationary reflection. We prove the mutual independence of these properties by showing that any of their eight Boolean combinations can be forced to hold at ${\kappa ^{ + + }}$, assuming that $\kappa = {\kappa ^{ < \kappa }}$ and there is a weakly compact cardinal above κ. If in addition κ is supercompact then we can force κ to be ${\aleph _\omega }$ in the extension. The proofs combine the techniques of adding and then destroying a nonreflecting stationary set or a ${\kappa ^{ + + }}$-Souslin tree, variants of Mitchell’s forcing to obtain the tree property, together with the Prikry-collapse poset for turning a large cardinal into ${\aleph _\omega }$.
Immunohistochemical localization of carbonic anhydrase isozymes in the rat carotid body

The rat carotid body was immunohistochemically stained for carbonic anhydrase I, II and III (CA‐I, CA‐II and CA‐III). Immunoreactivity for CA‐I was distributed in type I cells, type II cells and nerve bundles. Smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells of blood vessels were also strongly stained for CA‐I. CA‐II immunoreactivity was distinctly positive in type I cells and nerve bundles. Vascular smooth muscle cells were weakly positive, and type II cells were negative for CA‐II. CA‐III immunoreactivity was identified in type I cells and vascular smooth muscle cells. Our results suggest that carbonic anhydrase isozymes in type I cells play an important role in chemoreception for hypercapnia. Immunoreactivities for CA‐I and CA‐II in the nerve fibres may participate in the synergic action of carotid sinus nerve between hypoxic and hypercapnic stimuli.
SMiRA: A bio-inspired fault tolerant routing algorithm for MANETs

Spiral Millipede-inspired Routing Algorithm (SMiRA) is presented as a bio-inspired approach for routing in MANETs. It has been designed as a resource light technique that reduces routing overhead and improves the level of tolerance to routing faults, amongst other things. It has been compared to the Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector (AODV). The results show an improvement in the monitored metrics, with a limited penalty. SMiRA has an average of 40.77% reduction is routing overhead and an average of 41.85% reduction in fault-tolerance latency, with an average of 3.118 s increase in node computational latency as the main penalty for an extremely resource limited Mica mote.
Enflasyon ve Enflasyon Belirsizliği: Türkiye Örneği

Bu calisma, 1982–2008 donemi icin Turkiye’de enflasyon ile enflasyon belirsizligi arasindaki nedensellik iliskisinin varligini ve yonunu sorgulamaktadir. Otoregresif enflasyon modellerine iliskin ARCH, GARCH ve PARCH tahminlerinden elde edilen varyans serileri ile enflasyon serisi arasindaki nedensellik analizi, Turkiye’de yuksek enflasyonun, enflasyon belirsizligini arttirdigi sonucunu desteklemektedir. Bunun yaninda, kisa donemde enflasyon belirsizliginin yuksek enflasyonun nedeni oldugu sonucuna da ulasilmaktadir. Ulasilan bu sonuc, kisa donemde merkez bankasinin enflasyon surprizlerine basvurma egiliminin bir gostergesi olarak yorumlanabilir.
Why do Bank Runs Look Like Panic? A New Explanation

This paper demonstrates that, even if depositors are fully rational and always choose the Pareto-dominant equilibrium when there are multiple equilibria, a bank run may still occur when depositors' expectations on the bank's fundamentals do not change. More specifically, a bank run may occur when depositors learn that noisy bank-specific information will be revealed, or when they learn that precise bank-specific information will not be revealed. The results in this paper are consistent with the empirical evidence about bank runs. It also implies that suspension of convertibility can improve the efficiency of bank runs. Copyright (c)2008 The Ohio State University.