Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterisation of the use of Twitter by Australian Universities

Universities are now observed using social media communications channels for a variety of purposes, including marketing, student recruitment, student support and alumni communication. This paper presents an investigation into the use of the Twitter social media platform by universities in Australia, using publicly available Twitter data over a 2-year period. A social media network visualisation method is developed to make visible the interactions between a university and its stakeholders in the Twitter environment. This analysis method provides insights into the differing ways in which Australian universities are active on Twitter, and how universities might more effectively use the platform to achieve their individual objectives for institutional social media communications.
Science teachers' perspectives on their experiences in a graduate program in physics education and effects on their practice

Physics education research is showing that programs for physics educators should look different than traditional physics programs designed for other majors, but how? In the literature review preceding this sequential, mixed methods study, three exemplary, research based physics programs for practicing teachers are examined with respect to physics education research, especially the five principles for effective physics teaching set forth by senior physicist and physics education researcher E. F. Redish. This study provides an in depth examination of a well-established physics graduate program for practicing teachers at a small, midwestern university that is also measured against these same five principles: Constructivist, Context, Conceptual Change, Individuality, and Social Learning. In this setting, information was gathered in the form of a teacher survey, as well as through case studies of selected participants. The results of this study affirm that graduate programs designed specifically for the development of physics teachers are, in fact, different. The data also indicates the value placed on, as well as the frequency with which the participants utilize these teaching approaches in their classrooms. Results showed that participants felt the program placed a higher emphasis on using multiple representations to convey information to students, as well as on teaching translational skills with respect to these representations. Smaller class sizes, more staff attention, and total immersion were cited as essential. Financial concerns with respect to some of the activities did occasionally arise. An area of concern was the lack of adherence to the Individuality principle, which states students have unique backgrounds and abilities that should be considered when designing a lesson. Assessing student prior knowledge when designing and implementing lesson plans also was not indicated as a frequent practice in the program, or in the teachers’ own classrooms according to participant data. In summary, according to participants’ reports, the graduate program investigated modeled four of the five the principles proposed by Redish to a great degree, the exception being the Individuality principle. Based on the data contained in the survey, interviews, and portfolio submissions, recommendations for designers of future graduate programs for physics teachers were also made.
Multivariate mixed proportional hazard modelling of the joint retirement of married couples

We analyse the joint distribution of the durations until retirement of Danish husbands and wives. We estimate a multivariate mixed proportional hazards model that allows for interdependence in the times to retirement of spouses. We find evidence of strong complementarities in leisure times. Symmetrically for husband and wife, low own income and poor health are found to induce individual retirement (prior to spouse's retirement), whereas low spousal income is not, and neither party is found likely to substitute own for purchased care when the spouse is in poor health. Furthermore, high wealth and low income are found to spur joint (simultaneous) retirement. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
SMRC: An Endurable SSD Cache for Host-Aware Shingled Magnetic Recording Drives

Host-aware shingled magnetic recording (HA-SMR) drives deliver higher disk capacity and expose internal zones to host, but their performance can be severely degraded when subjected to non-sequential writes (NSWs). Using solid state drives (SSDs) as a cache layer to proactively cache NSWs can alleviate this performance degradation. However, existing SSD caching designs are not capable of identifying and selectively caching NSWs, which incurs ineffectual SSD write traffic and excessively wears the limited write endurance of SSD. In this paper, we propose an endurable SMR-oriented SSD Caching (SMRC) framework. SMRC leverages the intrinsic host-aware property of HA-SMR drives to filter both sequential writes and innocuous NSWs out of SSD. Besides, SMRC reorganizes the cached NSWs to evict them with cleaning-friendly write traffic to HA-SMR drives. Our experimental results show that SMRC can effectively reduce SSD write traffic and improve system performance compared with existing SSD caching designs.
Calibration-Based Predictive Distributions: An Application of Prequential Analysis to Interest Rates, Money, Prices, and Output

Some techniques of probability forecasting are applied to time-series data on interest rates, money stock, consumer prices, and output. A sequential method for debiasing (recalibrating) predictive distributions and outcomes is developed, and the authors estimated sequences of unadjusted and recalibrated distributions are tested for calibration. After recalibration, the calibration hypothesis cannot be rejected for most of the time-series and forecast horizons. Furthermore, traditional point forecasts can be improved when the forecasts are derived from recalibrated distributions. Copyright 1989 by the University of Chicago.
HSPB7 prevents cardiac conduction system defect through maintaining intercalated disc integrity

HSPB7 is a member of the small heat-shock protein (HSPB) family and is expressed in the cardiomyocytes from cardiogenesis onwards. A dramatic increase in HSPB7 is detected in the heart and blood plasma immediately after myocardial infarction. Additionally, several single-nucleotide polymorphisms of HSPB7 have been identified to be associated with heart failure caused by cardiomyopathy in human patients. Although a recent study has shown that HSPB7 is required for maintaining myofiber structure in skeletal muscle, its molecular and physiological functions in the heart remain unclear. In the present study, we generated a cardiac-specific inducible HSPB7 knockout mouse and demonstrated that the loss of HSPB7 in cardiomyocytes results in rapid heart failure and sudden death. The electrocardiogram showed cardiac arrhythmia with abnormal conduction in the HSPB7 mutant mice before death. In HSPB7 CKO cardiomyocytes, no significant defect was detected in the organization of contractile proteins in sarcomeres, but a severe structural disruption was observed in the intercalated discs. The expression of connexin 43, a gap-junction protein located at the intercalated discs, was downregulated in HSPB7 knockout cardiomyocytes. Mislocalization of desmoplakin, and N-cadherin, the intercalated disc proteins, was also observed in the HSPB7 CKO hearts. Furthermore, filamin C, the interaction protein of HSPB7, was upregulated and aggregated in HSPB7 mutant cardiomyocytes. In conclusion, our findings characterize HSPB7 as an intercalated disc protein and suggest it has an essential role in maintaining intercalated disc integrity and conduction function in the adult heart.
Portfolio Construction Incorporating Asymmetric Dependence Structures: A User's Guide

We outline a method of portfolio selection incorporating asymmetric dependency structures using copula functions. Assuming normally distributed marginal returns, we illustrate how asymmetric return correlations affect the efficient frontier and subsequent portfolio performance under a dynamic rebalancing framework. Implementing this methodology within the context of tactically allocating a small set of market indices, we demonstrate several key findings. First, we establish the manner by which the efficient frontier constructed under asymmetric dependence differs from a mean-variance frontier. By establishing a paper portfolio based on these differences, we find that asymmetric correlation structures do have real economic value. The primary source of this economic value is the ability to better protect portfolio value and reduce the size of any erosion in return relative to the normal portfolio when asymmetric return correlations are accounted for.
What are the Effects of Monetary Policy Shocks? Evidence from Dollarized Countries

Traditional ways of analyzing the effects of monetary policy shocks via structural vector autoregressions require the use of unrealistic identifying assumptions: they either do not allow for a response of output and prices on impact of the shock, or they exclude contemporaneous values of these variables from the monetary authority's information set. This paper relaxes these incredible restrictions by exploiting a convenient natural setting, namely the fact that we can use data from dollarized countries. The fact that non-monetary US shocks do not seem to be transmitted to these countries, has the additional advantage that it makes the exercise less vulnerable to potential misidentification of the US monetary policy shock. The results obtained in this way suggest that prices fall quite rapidly after a monetary contraction. Consistent with this finding, the effects of monetary policy shocks on output seem to be small.
Can a festival be too successful?A review of Spoleto, USA

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to study the impact of the Spoleto, USA festival on the Charleston, SC hotel industry. Anecdotal evidence indicates that, while the highly successful event has benefited the community as a whole, hotels have not shared in the good fortune festival organizers and university‐sponsored economic studies indicate should have accrued.Design/methodology/approach – Secondary data, obtained from Smith Travel Research, spanning four festival periods (2000‐2003), have been analyzed, comparing festival‐period hotel occupancy rates and average daily rates (ADRs) with non‐festival periods.Findings – Neither Spoleto‐period hotel occupancy nor ADR were enhanced by the festival. Analysis indicated that local hotels are not receiving the expected festival‐driven benefits. The numbers indicate that Spoleto has caused more potential visitors to avoid the city than it has attracted.Research limitations/implications – On a micro‐level, Charleston hotel and tourism officials learn about.
Aggressive Grants by Affirm-Minded Justices

Given that the Supreme Court usually reverses the decision of the court below, why would justices who agree with that decision vote to hear the case? In other words, why would affirmminded justices vote to grant cert? Scholars refer to such behavior as the outcome prediction strategy. We examine its putative presence on the Vinson and Warren courts because valid and reliable data for these two courts exist. Our study has two purposes: (a) to identify and test the strategic and nonstrategic variables associated with granting cert by affirm-minded justices and (b) to offer evidence regarding whether the justices use outcome prediction. We find that although the well-known nonstrategic determinants of cert matter (e.g., salience and lower court conflict), so also do strategic considerations. We identify these variables and the strength of their impact on what fairly appears to be outcome-prediction voting by affirm-minded justices.
Evaluating 35 years of Green Revolution technology in villages of Bulandshahr district, western UP, North India

Abstract This paper analyses the experiences of over 35 years of Green Revolution (GR) technology in villages of the Bulandshahr District, western UP. Fieldwork in three villages revealed that perceptions of GR were extremely positive because higher yields brought food security for all in the area, and financial security for many. Indirect benefits, such as urban development, have improved employment opportunities – which have benefited even the poorest – and rural electrification has transformed rural livelihoods, especially for women. Predictably, the benefits of GR technology are not equally spread: the poorest are better off, but the gap between rich and poor is now greater than ever. As gently declining yields are paralleled by growing populations, farmers are interested in further increasing land productivity.
The relationship between DNA methylation and telomere length in dyskeratosis congenita

The regulation of telomere length (TL) is a complex process, requiring the telomerase enzyme complex and numerous regulatory proteins. Epigenetic regulation may also be important in telomere maintenance. Specifically, methylation at subtelomeres is associated with changes in TL in vitro and in mouse models. Dyskeratosis congenita (DC) is an inherited bone marrow failure syndrome characterized by exceedingly short telomeres and mutations in telomere biology genes. To understand the interaction between methylation and TL in humans, we measured LINE‐1, pericentromeric (NBL2), and subtelomeric (D4Z4) methylation in peripheral blood DNA derived from 40 patients with DC and 51 mutation‐negative relatives. Pearson’s correlation coefficient and linear regression models were used to evaluate the relationship between age‐standardized lymphocyte TL measured by flow FISH and % DNA methylation. No differences in % subtelomeric, LINE‐1, or pericentromeric methylation between patients with DC and relatives were noted except for an increase in % subtelomeric methylation in DC patients with a telomerase‐complex mutation (TERC, TERT, DKC1, or TCAB1) (63.0% in DC vs. 61.8% in relatives, P = 0.03). Positive correlations between TL and DNA methylation at LINE‐1 (r = 0.39, P = 0.01) and subtelomeric (r = 0.32, P = 0.05) sites were present in patients with DC. The positive correlation between TL and % LINE‐1 methylation was restricted to TINF2 mutations. In contrast, statistically nonsignificant inverse correlations between TL and % LINE‐1 (r = −0.17), subtelomeric (r = −0.20) were present in unaffected relatives. This study suggests an interaction between TL and both subtelomeric and LINE‐1 methylation, which may be altered based on mutation status of telomere biology genes.
Experience with Robotic Lobectomy for Lung Cancer

Objective In this study, we analyze our experience so far with robotic pulmonary lobectomy, compare it with published data, and suggest a learning curve for the operation. Methods Ninety-one patients with suspected or proven clinical stage I–III lung cancer underwent robotic lobectomy. Selection criteria included lesion ≤5 cm and normal respiratory function. One surgeon performed the operations using the da Vinci system with three ports and a 3-cm utility thoracotomy. Results Median duration of operation was 239 (range 85–411) minutes, 260 minutes in the first 18 patients and 221 minutes in the remaining 73 cases (P = 0.01). Median hospitalization declined from 6 days in the first 18 cases to 5 days in the remaining cases (P = 0.002). Conversion rate and number of complications reduced nonsignificantly from the initial to later series. Major complications occurred in 11% of the first 18 cases and 4% of the later cases. The number of lymph nodes removed did not change over the two series. There was no 30-day postoperative mortality. After a median follow-up of 24 months, 80 of 91 patients were alive with no sign of disease. Conclusions Our data suggest that about 20 operations are required to achieve surgical competence. Robotic lobectomy appears safe, oncologically radical, and associated with shorter postoperative hospitalization than open surgery.
Diaspora externalities and technology diffusion

The aim of this paper is to highlight the positive and important role that skilled migration can have on TFP growth in the sendind countries, when diaspora effects in technology diffusion are introduced. To investigate our issue, we start from a previous paper by Vandenbussche, Aghion and Costa Methir (2006), in which they examine the contribution of human capital to economic growth, where technological improvements are a result of a combination between innovation and imitation. Considering the impact of a positive externality on growth due to skilled migration, we show that a marginal increase in the stock of skilled human capital contributes more to productivity growth if a state is closer to the technological frontier and migration should raise growth in area from the frontier. Also, we provide evidence in favour of this prediction by using a panel dataset covering 92 countries between 1980 and 2000. Even if our empirical study has a lot of shortcomings, given the small number of countries and of time periods due to the current availability of data in the existing cross-country datasets, this works is the first one that attempt to investigate the relationship between growth and networks externalities, underlying the importance of the skilled diaspora in the transfer of ideas.
Market Reaction to Regulatory Action in the Insurance Industry: The Case of Contingent Commission

We examine the market's reaction to New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's civil suit against mega-broker Marsh for bid rigging and inappropriate use of contingent commissions within a generalized autoregressive conditionally heteroskedastic (GARCH) framework. Effects on the stock returns of insurance brokers and insurers are tested. The findings are: (1) GARCH effects are significant in modeling broker/insurer returns; (2) the suit generated negative effects on the brokerage industry and individual brokers, suggesting that contagion dominates competitive effects; (3) spillover effects from the brokerage sector to insurance business are significant and mostly negative, demonstrating industry integration; and (4) information-based contagion is supported, as opposed to the pure-panic contagion.
Regional social networks as conduits for knowledge spillovers: explaining performance of high-tech firms

The purpose of this paper is to open the 'black box' of knowledge spillovers by testing the extent to which social interactions between firms in a region positively contribute to firm performance. Specifically, we examine the Marshall-Jacobs controversy, a debate over whether these spillovers occur across firms operating in similar or dissimilar fields. Our empirical examination of the debate relies on a dataset that is constructed from three sources: firm-level data of 1,881 high-tech firms in all 40 Dutch regions, regional economic data and network data constructed from the membership registrations of all business associations in a sample of 11 regions. The results show that the total amount of regional network activity has no effect on individual firm performance; however, participation in local business networks does support firm employment growth. With regards to the Marshall-Jacobs controversy, the results show that having local links to other high-tech firms is conducive to a firm's employment growth, while links to other types of firms provided no such lift.
Exploring the Bi-directional Relationship between Health and Housing in Australia

Over the last decade, Australia has experienced ongoing housing affordability decline, and this has been experienced unevenly across the population. Because housing affordability directly affects the type, quality and security of housing that individuals can access, it represents both an important potential source and symptom of disadvantage in Australia. This article examines the nature of the relationship between housing affordability and a central human right—health. It asks two essential questions for Australian policymakers: does poor health predict unaffordable housing? Moreover, does unaffordable housing influence individual health? Analysis was based upon the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. We highlight key populations who are most vulnerable to housing affordability problems such as lone parents, their children and older renters, and consider the potential bi-directionality of the pathways between housing affordability and health. We find new, compelling evidence to suggest that such a bi-directional relationship exists between housing affordability and health (especially mental health) in Australia—suggesting that health may influence affordable housing outcomes, while housing affordability may also predict health outcomes. This work opens up new avenues for more causally focused future research in the area.
State Regulation and Hospital Costs

The effects of various regulations on hospital costs are estimated using a two decade long panel data set which spans the initiation, and in some instances the repeal, of various forms of hospital regulation. The long panel fosters two improvements over previous research. First, as state hospital cost levels may affect states' incentive to regulate, fixed effect estimators alleviate omitted variable bias derived from the states' regulatory discretion. Second, the long panel permits the estimation of many different regulatory program effects, but also facilitates the analysis of potential regulatory program interaction. The empirical results suggest that previous studies have exaggerated regulatory cost savings: although some interaction effects are indicated, hospital costs appear unresponsive to most regulatory programs. Copyright 1995 by MIT Press.
Social Security and Private Saving: Reply

I am embarrassed by the programming error that Dean Leimer and Selig Lesnoy uncovered but grateful to them for the care with which they repeated my original study (Feldstein 1974). They set an admirable example of the tradition of replication on which all scientific work ultimately rests. As economic research increasingly involves large and complex computer programs to analyze macroeconomic data sets or to simulate models that cannot be solved analytically, replication studies like that of Leimer and Lesnoy ("Social Security and Private Saving: New Time-Series Evidence," in this issue) should become increasingly important. In their comment, Leimer and Lesnoy also suggest a variety of modifications to the social security wealth variable to incorporate alternative employee perceptions and actuarial assumptions. As I explain below, I have strong doubts about the appropriateness of these modifications. I therefore do not agree with their conclusion that "the time-series evidence does not support the hypothesis that the introduction of social security has substantially reduced personal saving in the United States. " More specifically, as I show in this reply, correcting the computerprogramming error and reestimating the original equation for the original sample period produces results that are not substantially different from the results that were originally published in 1974. The point estimate of the coefficient of social security wealth implies that the level of social security wealth in the final year of the sample (1971) depressed personal saving by an amount equal to 44 percent of the actual personal saving in that year. Although the estimated coefficient of the social security wealth variable is smaller than in the original version and its standard error larger, the conventional statistical test