Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Renewable Energies and CO2 Emissions in the European Union

Abstract The expansion of renewable energy in the European Union (EU) constitutes a strategic question that addresses simultaneously the objectives of energy security and the fulfilment of the Kyoto commitment. The EU has strongly supported the generation of green electricity in the past decades but energy obtained from fossil fuels still prevails throughout the region. In order to discover which mechanisms contribute to the deployment of alternatives to fossil fuel energy, we estimate the relationship between green energy, the price of fossil fuels, and CO2 emissions, being that this covariate is an indicator of the necessary technological renovation in electricity generation. We apply panel data methodology to a sample referred to the EU member countries in the period 1990–2004.
Politics of immigration - quotas of entrance and hidden economy

In spite of the fact that in recent years there has been a growing interest for the hidden economy, little attention has been lent to its relation with the illegal immigration as a consequence of the establishment of quotas. The objective of this work is to analyze the effect of a change in the quotas of legal immigrants in the size of the legal and illegal migration, the underground economy, and in the incomes perceived by the workers. The main conclusions are that, as opposed to the short time, in the long-term equilibrium, an increment of the quota does not have effect on the size of the migration, but in the composition between legal and illegal. On the other hand diminishes the work destined to the management of the underground economy by the reduction of illegal immigrants in the stationary state, however the effect is positive in the short run by the Â“called effectÂ” of illegal immigrants that carries an increment in the quota.
Examining the Antecedents of Public Value in E-Government Services

I Table of Content II List of Tables VI List of figures VII Acknowledgment VIII Declarations IX Introduction 2 1 1.1 Research Background 2 1.2 Aim and Objectives 7 1.3 Research Methodology 8 1.4 Thesis Outline 8 1.5 Summary 10 Literature Review 13 2 2.
Spectral methods for volatility derivatives

In the first quarter of 2006, the Chicago Board Options Exchange introduced, as one of the listed products, options on its implied volatility index (VIX). This created the challenge of developing a pricing framework that can simultaneously handle European options, forward-starts, options on the realized variance and options on the VIX. In this paper we propose a new approach to this problem using spectral methods. We use a regime switching model with jumps and local volatility defined by Albanese and Mijatović and calibrate it to the European options on the S&P 500 for a broad range of strikes and maturities. The main idea of this paper is to ‘lift’ (i.e. extend) the generator of the underlying process to keep track of the relevant path information, namely the realized variance. The lifted generator is too large a matrix to be diagonalized numerically. We overcome this difficulty by applying a new semi-analytic algorithm for block-diagonalization. This method enables us to evaluate numerically the joint distribution between the underlying stock price and the realized variance, which in turn gives us a way of pricing consistently European options, general accrued variance payoffs and forward-starting and VIX options.
Employment trends in research psychology in South Africa : 1976- 1998.

This study invest igated the demand trends in the employment of psychology graduates with specific reference to research psychology in South Africa from . 1976 to 1998. A total of 5769 advertisements appearing in the Sunday Times and the Mail and Guardian were analysed. Results indicated that there has been an increase in demand for research skills coupled with a decrease in demand for technical psychosocial skills (psychodiagnosis, psychotherapy and psychometrics) . In addition, there has been an increase in demand for graduates with a background in research and community psychology to work in the public sector and in social welfare and development environments. These results are discussed in the light of other studies, which suggest an increased demand globally for research skills and service professionals. The implications of these results for the planning of psychology curricula suggest that career-oriented studies could concentrate on research skills and exposure to social welfare and development contexts, thereby ensuring that the demand for these skills is met.
Accelerated Cell Aging in Female APOE-ε4 Carriers: Implications for Hormone Therapy Use

Apolipoprotein-ε4 (APOE-ε4) is a major genetic risk factor for cognitive decline, Alzheimer's disease (AD) and early mortality. An accelerated rate of biological aging could contribute to this increased risk. Here, we determined whether APOE-ε4 status impacts leukocyte telomere length (TL) and the rate of cellular senescence in healthy mid-life women and, further, whether hormone replacement therapy (HT) modifies this association. Post-menopausal women (N = 63, Mean age = 57.7), all HT users for at least one year, were enrolled in a randomized longitudinal study. Half of the participants (N = 32) remained on their HT regimen and half (N = 31) went off HT for approximately two years (Mean = 1.93 years). Participants included 24 APOE-ε4 carriers and 39 non-carrier controls. Leukocyte TL was measured at baseline and the end of year 2 using quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Logistic regression analysis indicated that the odds of an APOE-ε4 carrier exhibiting telomere shortening (versus maintenance/growth) over the 2-year study were more than 6 (OR = 6.26, 95% CI = 1.02, 38.49) times higher than a non-carrier, adjusting for established risk factors and potential confounds. Despite the high-functioning, healthy mid-life status of study participants, APOE-ε4 carriers had marked telomere attrition during the 2-year study window, the equivalent of approximately one decade of additional aging compared to non-carriers. Further analyses revealed a modulatory effect of hormone therapy on the association between APOE status and telomere attrition. APOE-ε4 carriers who went off their HT regimen exhibited TL shortening, as predicted for the at-risk population. APOE-ε4 carriers who remained on HT, however, did not exhibit comparable signs of cell aging. The opposite pattern was found in non-carriers. The results suggest that hormone use might buffer against accelerated cell aging in mid-life women at risk for dementia. Importantly, for non-carrier women there was no evidence that HT conferred protective effects on telomere dynamics.
Major Role of Microbes in Carbon Fluxes during Austral Winter in the Southern Drake Passage

Carbon cycling in Southern Ocean is a major issue in climate change, hence the need to understand the role of biota in the regulation of carbon fixation and cycling. Southern Ocean is a heterogeneous system, characterized by a strong seasonality, due to long dark winter. Yet, currently little is known about biogeochemical dynamics during this season, particularly in the deeper part of the ocean. We studied bacterial communities and processes in summer and winter cruises in the southern Drake Passage. Here we show that in winter, when the primary production is greatly reduced, Bacteria and Archaea become the major producers of biogenic particles, at the expense of dissolved organic carbon drawdown. Heterotrophic production and chemoautotrophic CO2 fixation rates were substantial, also in deep water, and bacterial populations were controlled by protists and viruses. A dynamic food web is also consistent with the observed temporal and spatial variations in archaeal and bacterial communities that might exploit various niches. Thus, Southern Ocean microbial loop may substantially maintain a wintertime food web and system respiration at the expense of summer produced DOC as well as regenerate nutrients and iron. Our findings have important implications for Southern Ocean ecosystem functioning and carbon cycle and its manipulation by iron enrichment to achieve net sequestration of atmospheric CO2.
False Consensus Voting and Welfare Reducing Polls

We consider a process of costly majority voting where people anticipate that others have similar preferences. This perceived consensus of opinion is the outcome of a fully rational Bayesian updating process where individuals consider their own tastes as draws from a population. We show that the correlation in preferences lowers expected turnout. The intuition is that votes have a positive externality on those who don’t participate, which reduces incentives to participate. We study the effects of the public release of information (“polls”) on participation levels. We find that polls raise expected turnout but reduce expected welfare because they stimulate the “wrong” group to participate. As a result, polls frequently predict the wrong outcome. While this lack of prediction power is usually attributed to an imperfect polling technology, we show it may result from the reaction of rational voters to the poll’s accurate information.
Essais sur le processus de défaillance des entreprises en Tunisie : déterminants, recouvrements et spécificités institutionnelles

Cette these porte sur le processus de defaillance des entreprises en Tunisie. L’objectif est d’etudier le sujet d’un point de vue, a la fois, macroeconomique, microeconomique et juridique. Le travail est precede d’une revue de la litterature axee sur les principaux intervenants dans le processus de faillite : les debiteurs, les creanciers et la legislation en matiere de faillite.La premiere partie propose une synthese des resultats de nombreux travaux de recherche se rapportant, d’une part, aux differentes strategies fixees par les debiteurs et les creanciers en vue de proteger leurs propres interets et d’autre part, a l’efficacite des procedures collectives dans la prevention des eventuelles utilisations opportunistes de la loi. Dans un second temps, la these traite le sujet d’un point de vue macroeconomique en cherchant a determiner l’effet des fluctuations macroeconomiques sur le taux de defaillance en Tunisie sur la periode allant de 1997 a 2010. Des variables specifiques au cas tunisien et exprimant au mieux l’importance des secteurs de l’industrie et du tourisme dans l’economie tunisienne ont ete considerees dans le modele en plus des variables communement utilisees dans la litterature et qui ont prouve leur role relativement significatif dans l’explication des taux de defaillance.La troisieme partie de la these se concentre sur le niveau d’efficacite des procedures collectives tunisiennes dans la resolution du probleme de defaut de paiement. Son efficacite est etudiee de point de vue : i) creation de valeur et ce en termes de recouvrement total des creanciers a travers la maximisation de la valeur de l’entreprise defaillante, et ii) recouvrement des creanciers securises. L’interet particulier porte sur la classe des creanciers securises (notamment les banques) est justifie par l’importance du secteur bancaire dans le financement des entreprises en Tunisie et par consequent dans le developpement de l’economie tunisienne.La derniere partie de la these propose une analyse approfondie de la loi de faillite tunisienne dans le cadre d’une etude comparative avec 18 autres pays europeens et non europeens.A travers une approche « Law and Finance », dix indices juridiques ont ete construits pour « mesurer » dix fonctions de Droit de faillite. Ensuite, des analyses univariee et multivariee ont ete menees pour degager les points de similarite ou de disparite entre les differentes lois de faillite.
Female sex selection using clomiphene citrate and albumin separation of human sperm.

BACKGROUND This study was undertaken to assess whether the use of clomiphene citrate in conjunction with albumin-separated sperm would alter the sex ratio (expressed as the proportion of males) towards females and, if so, whether this skewing was due solely to the induction of ovulation. METHODS The sex ratios of 184 single and 42 twin births at five assisted reproduction biology clinics were determined. The normal approximation to the binomial distribution was used to determine significant differences between these sex ratios and the established sex ratios for single, twin and combined (single and twin) non- and ovulation-induced births. RESULTS The non-ovulation-induced sex ratios for singletons (51.4%) and twins (50.2%) were greater than the treatment singleton (27.7%; P < 0.001) and twin (33.3%; P < 0.01) sex ratios respectively. Correspondingly, the non-induced sex ratio for combined births (51.4%) was greater than the treatment sex ratio (28.8%; P < 0.001). The previously established induced singleton and twin sex ratios (48.1%) were lower than the non-induced sex ratio (51.4%), but higher than the treatment singleton (27.7%; P < 0.001) or twin (33.3%; P < 0.03) sex ratios. The ovulation-induced combined ratio (48.1%) was less than the non-induced combined (51.4%) sex ratio, although greater than the treatment combined sex ratio (28.8%; P < 0.001). CONCLUSION Clomiphene citrate in conjunction with albumin-separated sperm decreased the sex ratio; a reduction that was not exclusively due to induction of ovulation.
Self-Esteem Among the Elderly Visiting the Healthcare Centers in Kermanshah-Iran (2012)

Background and Objective: Self-esteem is viewed the most decisive factor in the psychological development of the elderly. This study was performed to assess self-esteem among the elderly referring to the elderly consulting unit of the healthcare centers in Kermanshah, Iran. Methods: A cross-sectional study was completed with 201 elderly respondents visiting the consulting unit of the healthcare services in Kermanshah, Iran. The samples were selected through convenience sampling. Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSC) was used to gather the required data. Data were analyzed by using both descriptive (frequency, mean, median and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (chi-square and independent t-test). Results: The findings showed a mean of 35.63±5.25 for self-esteem, indicating a high level of self-esteem (66.2%) among the elderly. A statistically significant difference was reported between the mean of self-esteem and career (p<0.001), marital status (p<0.04), history of health problems (p<0.04), residence (p<0.001), education (p<0.001) and income (p<0.001). Conclusion: The findings of this study indicated that approximately one third of the elderly had a low self-esteem, which is indicative of the need to promote the self-esteem of the elderly in order to reduce their physical, psychological and social problems. Thus, it is necessary for the healthcare authorities to provide the elderly with financial, social and psychological support.
The Rise of the Middle Class in the People’s Republic of China

Using $2–$20 (purchasing power parity) per capita daily income as the definition of middle class, majority of households in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have become middle class by 2007, which is especially impressive given that around 40% of households were still considered poor in 1991. The rise of the middle class is evident for both urban and rural areas and across East, Central, and West PRC. The drivers of this trend include market development, industrialization, and privatization. As industrialization and urbanization continue in the PRC, the growth of the middle class will intensify, and could hold the key to altering the PRC’s growth pattern from investment- and export-led to consumption-led.
Preliminary Study of Adaptive Decision-Making System for Vocal Command in Smart Home

In smart homes, prediction and decision are often defined a priori and require tuning from the user, which can be tedious, and complex. However, these smart homes have the ability to analyze the user's behavior so as to adapt their decisions automatically. We present a preliminary study that tests a voice based decision system in the home, which is modified by reinforcement learning. The system ran on a realistic corpus, which shows the interest of such an adaptation.
Voltage clamp analysis of tetrodotoxin-sensitive and -insensitive sodium channels in rat muscle cells developing in vitro

Sodium currents in cultured rat muscle cells converted to myoballs by treatment with colchicine were recorded using a giga-ohm seal voltage clamp procedure in the whole cell configuration. The mean peak Na+ conductance of the myoballs was 90 pS/microns2 of surface membrane. Half-maximal activation of Na+ currents was observed for test pulses to -31 mV and half-maximal inactivation was observed for prepulses to -74 mV. Titration of the inhibition of Na+ currents by tetrodotoxin (TTX) yielded a biphasic inhibition curve consistent with the presence of two classes of Na+ channels differing in affinity for TTX. The TTX- sensitive channels carried 28% of the Na+ current and had an apparent KD for TTX of 13 nM at 20 degrees C. The TTX-insensitive Na+ channels had an apparent KD for TTX of 3.2 microns. Inhibition of TTX- insensitive Na+ channels by TTX was enhanced by repetitive stimulation of the myoballs at 2 Hz, whereas the inhibition of TTX-sensitive Na+ channels by TTX was not frequency dependent. We conclude that rat muscle cells developing in vitro synthesize physiologically functional, TTX-sensitive Na+ channels in the absence of innervation. These channels, which are characteristic of adult skeletal muscle, function in parallel with TTX-insensitive Na+ channels that are present in embryonic muscle.
Cell Population Kinetics of Collagen Scaffolds in Ex Vivo Oral Wound Repair

Biodegradable collagen scaffolds are used clinically for oral soft tissue augmentation to support wound healing. This study sought to provide a novel ex vivo model for analyzing healing kinetics and gene expression of primary human gingival fibroblasts (hGF) within collagen scaffolds. Sponge type and gel type scaffolds with and without platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF) were assessed in an hGF containing matrix. Morphology was evaluated with scanning electron microscopy, and hGF metabolic activity using MTT. We quantitated the population kinetics within the scaffolds based on cell density and distance from the scaffold border of DiI-labled hGFs over a two-week observation period. Gene expression was evaluated with gene array and qPCR. The sponge type scaffolds showed a porous morphology. Absolute cell number and distance was higher in sponge type scaffolds when compared to gel type scaffolds, in particular during the first week of observation. PDGF incorporated scaffolds increased cell numbers, distance, and formazan formation in the MTT assay. Gene expression dynamics revealed the induction of key genes associated with the generation of oral tissue. DKK1, CYR61, CTGF, TGFBR1 levels were increased and integrin ITGA2 levels were decreased in the sponge type scaffolds compared to the gel type scaffold. The results suggest that this novel model of oral wound healing provides insights into population kinetics and gene expression dynamics of biodegradable scaffolds.
The chaperonin cycle cannot substitute for prolyl isomerase activity, but GroEL alone promotes productive folding of a cyclophilin‐sensitive substrate to a cyclophilin‐resistant form

The chaperonin GroEL and the peptidyl‐prolyl cis–trans isomerase cyclophilin are major representatives of two distinct cellular systems that help proteins to adopt their native three‐dimensional structure: molecular chaperones and folding catalysts. Little is known about whether and how these proteins cooperate in protein folding. In this study, we have examined the action of GroEL and cyclophilin on a substrate protein in two distinct prolyl isomerization states. Our results indicate that: (i) GroEL binds the same substrate in different prolyl isomerization states. (ii) GroEL–ES does not promote prolyl isomerizations, but even retards isomerizations. (iii) Cyclophilin cannot promote the correct isomerization of prolyl bonds of a GroEL‐bound substrate, but acts sequentially after release of the substrate from GroEL. (iv) A denatured substrate with all‐native prolyl bonds is delayed in folding by cyclophilin due to isomerization to non‐native prolyl bonds; a substrate that has proceeded in folding beyond a stage where it can be bound by GroEL is still sensitive to cyclophilin. (v) If a denatured cyclophilin‐sensitive substrate is first bound to GroEL, however, productive folding to a cyclophilin‐resistant form can be promoted, even without GroES. We conclude that GroEL and cyclophilin act sequentially and exert complementary functions in protein folding.
Extracellular ATP Signaling Is Mediated by H2O2 and Cytosolic Ca2+ in the Salt Response of Populus euphratica Cells

Extracellular ATP (eATP) has been implicated in mediating plant growth and antioxidant defense; however, it is largely unknown whether eATP might mediate salinity tolerance. We used confocal microscopy, a non-invasive vibrating ion-selective microelectrode, and quantitative real time PCR analysis to evaluate the physiological significance of eATP in the salt resistance of cell cultures derived from a salt-tolerant woody species, Populus euphratica. Application of NaCl (200 mM) shock induced a transient elevation in [eATP]. We investigated the effects of eATP by blocking P2 receptors with suramin and PPADS and applying an ATP trap system of hexokinase-glucose. We found that eATP regulated a wide range of cellular processes required for salt adaptation, including vacuolar Na+ compartmentation, Na+/H+ exchange across the plasma membrane (PM), K+ homeostasis, reactive oxygen species regulation, and salt-responsive expression of genes related to K+/Na+ homeostasis and PM repair. Furthermore, we found that the eATP signaling was mediated by H2O2 and cytosolic Ca2+ released in response to high salt in P. euphratica cells. We concluded that salt-induced eATP was sensed by purinoceptors in the PM, and this led to the induction of downstream signals, like H2O2 and cytosolic Ca2+, which are required for the up-regulation of genes linked to K+/Na+ homeostasis and PM repair. Consequently, the viability of P. euphratica cells was maintained during a prolonged period of salt stress.
The Direct Discontinuous Galerkin (DDG) Methods for Diffusion Problems

A new discontinuous Galerkin finite element method for solving diffusion problems is introduced. Unlike the traditional local discontinuous Galerkin method, the scheme called the direct discontinuous Galerkin (DDG) method is based on the direct weak formulation for solutions of parabolic equations in each computational cell and lets cells communicate via the numerical flux $\widehat{u_x}$ only. We propose a general numerical flux formula for the solution derivative, which is consistent and conservative; and we then introduce a concept of admissibility to identify a class of numerical fluxes so that the nonlinear stability for both one-dimensional (1D) and multidimensional problems are ensured. Furthermore, when applying the DDG scheme with admissible numerical flux to the 1D linear case, $k$th order accuracy in an energy norm is proven when using $k$th degree polynomials. The DDG method has the advantage of easier formulation and implementation and efficient computation of the solution. A series of numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the high order accuracy of the method. In particular, we study the numerical performance of the scheme with different admissible numerical fluxes.