Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The political economy of administered protection

Trade restrictions are hardly ever voted directly by Congress. Though the threat of direct congressional action is frequently present, pressure for protection is usually applied through the major instruments for the administrative regulation of imports: the antidumping and countervailing duty procedures and the escape clause mechanism. In this paper, we will examine these instruments for the administrative regulation of imports. The form of the paper is not novel -a theory of how these mechanisms work is developed, then operational implications of this theory are deduced and tested over the record of countervailing duty, antidumping, and escape clause cases decided from 1975 through 1979. This is the period over which the Trade Act of 1974 was in force. Because the nature of these mechanisms is relatively unfamiliar, a relatively large amount of institutional information is provided. '
MMP-2, MMP-3, TIMP-1, TIMP-2, and TIMP-3 protein levels in human aqueous humor: relationship with axial length.

PURPOSE We measured the aqueous humor levels of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-3, and tissue inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinases (TIMP) TIMP-1, TIMP-2, and TIMP-3 in patients with myopia or cataract, and investigated the relationship between their levels and axial length (AL). METHODS We measured MMP/TIMPs levels with the Luminex xMAP Technology by using commercially available Milliplex xMAP Kits. A total of 65 aqueous humor samples was collected from patients with myopia or cataract during cataract or clear lens extraction surgery. According to the AL, the samples were divided into three groups: group A, AL ≤ 24 mm; group B, AL 24 to 26 mm; and group C, AL ≥ 26 mm. RESULTS Levels of MMP-2, MMP-3, TIMP-1, TIMP-2, and TIMP-3 could be detected in the aqueous humor. The levels of MMP-2, TIMP-1, TIMP-2, and TIMP-3 were positively correlated with AL. The differences of the levels of these MMPs/TIMPs among the three groups were statistically significant. The MMP-3 levels were not correlated with AL and there was no significant difference in MMP-3 levels among these three groups. Levels of MMP-1 could not be detected in the aqueous humor samples. CONCLUSIONS Elevated levels of aqueous MMP-2, TIMP-1, TIMP-2, and TIMP-3 were found in the eyes with elongated axis.
Cutoff values for appendicular skeletal muscle mass and strength in relation to fear of falling among Brazilian older adults: cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Sarcopenia is an emerging public health issue in Brazil. Because of its high prevalence and the lack of national data, the objective here was to identify cutoff points for appendicular skeletal muscle (ASM) and handgrip strength in relation to fear of falling among Brazilian older adults. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional study; in the community. METHODS: Participants underwent morphological and functional evaluations; and were asked about previous falls and fear of falling. Different adjustments to ASM and handgrip strength were used. Slow walking speed was defined as < 0.8 m/s or 1.0 m/s. Gender and age groups were compared using t tests, analysis of variance (ANOVA), chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to identify cutoffs for ASM and handgrip strength in relation to fear of falling. RESULTS: 578 older adults participated in this study. Function levels decreased with increasing age, and body composition differed between the sexes. In relation to fear of falling, the cutoffs for ASM adjusted for body mass index (BMI) were < 0.85 for men and < 0.53 for women; the cutoffs for absolute handgrip strength and relative handgrip strength (adjusted for BMI) were 30.0 kgf and 21.7 kgf, and 1.07 and 0.66, for men and women, respectively. CONCLUSION: The values presented can be used as references in clinical practice and research. We recommend use of ASM adjusted for BMI and choosing between absolute and relative handgrip strength for men and women, according to study needs.
Profitability of Momentum Strategies Around the World

In this paper we investigate the international profitability of momentum strategies for a number of countries during the time period between 1995 and 2010. Positive abnormal returns were generated over 3 to 12 months by strategies buying the best past performance stocks and selling the worst past performance stocks. Although adjustments for risk-, size- and value factors didn’t result in any significant changes in the monthly excess returns, CAPM and Fama-French three factor model still couldn’t explain the source of these anomalies. Therefore, behavioral theories seem to be a possible explanation for the existence of these anomalies.
Making sense of the legal and judicial architectures of regional trade agreements worldwide

Regional trade agreements (RTAs) constitute one of the most important elements of the international economic order. Researchers have accordingly embarked on comparative analyses of their design. Yet one fundamental question remains unanswered: how have officials in different RTAs responded to the challenge of regulatory misalignments among the member states? In this article, I turn to 10 of the most established RTAs in the world and document three types of responses. Some RTAs rely on the principle of mutual recognition or references to existing international standards; the same agreements also rely on technical dispute resolution mechanisms. Other RTAs, by contrast, make use of extensive harmonization and permanent courts charged with interpreting law. Yet a third group exhibits a hybrid design. This heterogeneity in legislative and judicial design invites explanation. I show that there is a remarkable correspondence between the legal traditions of the member states (common vs. civil law) and the design of RTAs. This correspondence undermines the claims of world polity theorists about the nature of the international order, but is consistent with other strands of sociological institutionalism and certain elements of rationalist and neoliberal institutionalism. I conclude by reflecting on the implications of different RTA designs for the regulation of everyday life in the member states, the World Trade Organization as an international regulatory body, and national sovereignty and democracy.
Manufacturer's Return Policies and Retail Competition

Manufacturers' returns policies are a common feature in the distribution of many products. The obvious rationale for returns policies is insurance. Practitioners, not surprisingly, have a different perspective and view returns as a cost of doing business. In this paper, we study the strategic effect of returns policies on retail competition and highlight its profitability implications for a manufacturer. The setting for our research is the distribution of products with uncertain demand, limited shelf lives, and retail competition. Our objective is to provide a better understanding of when manufacturers should adopt returns policies. The insights are obtained with a model based on the economics of strategy and decision making under uncertainty. We show that when retailing is competitive and there is no uncertainty in demand, a returns policy subtly induces retailers to compete more intensely. The provision of a returns policy reduces retail prices without affecting wholesale prices, thereby reducing retailer margins and improving manufacturer profitability. The intuition is that with a returns policy, Cournot-like levels of retail stocks cannot be sustained. Each retailer will order stocks so that it will not be constrained by stocks, and so, intensifying retail competition. When, however, demand is uncertain and there is a single retailer, a returns policy encourages the retailer to over-stock, and so decreases upstream manufacturer profits. While the provision of a returns policy leads to lower retail margins, the optimality of returns policy depends on the overall uncertainty and marginal cost. A returns policy reduces the dispersion in retail prices between the high and low states of demand and the range of retail prices in the returns case is contained within the range of retail prices for the no-returns case. In the general setting, when there are competing retailers and demand is uncertain, there is a trade-off for the manufacturer between the benefits more intense retail competition and the costs excessive stocking of a returns policy. We find that a manufacturer should accept returns when the marginal production cost is sufficiently low and demand uncertainty is not too great. To validate the results of our theory, we conduct an empirical test with data from a major U.S. retailer. The tests confirm our prediction that a returns policy intensifies retail competition and reduces retailer margins. Our theory and empirical test should interest practitioners and researchers in distribution, especially those concerned with managing retail competition.
Liars Never Prosper? How Management Misrepresentation Reduces Monitoring Costs

This paper shows that contracting costs are sometimes minimized by contracts that induce managers to make "false" reports to investors. Previous models presume that investors can be costlessly compelled to verify a manager's reports. In contrast, I assume that investors monitor only when they expect to benefit from doing so. This monitoring discretion overturns the Revelation Principle, and management misrepresentation can produce Pareto improvements. Discretionary monitoring also generates an equilibrium role for multiple-security financial structures, and efficiency improves when the investors are placed in conflict over monitoring strategy--one investor's decision to monitor hurts the other investor.
Managed care and school-based health centers. Use of health services.

OBJECTIVE To explore the use of physical and mental health services for adolescents who are enrolled in managed care and have access to a school-based health center (SBHC), compared with adolescents enrolled in managed care without access to an SBHC. DESIGN Retrospective cohort designed with age, sex, and socioeconomic status matching to compare the use of health services for adolescent members of Kaiser Permanente of Colorado (who had access to SBHCs) with those with no access. PARTICIPANTS The study included 342 adolescents, resulting in 3394 visits that occurred during 3 academic years. During the study, 240 adolescents with access to an SBHC were compared with 116 adolescents without access to an SBHC. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The use of primary and subspecialty medical, mental health, and substance abuse treatment services; the use of after-hours (emergent or urgent) care; and comprehensive preventive health supervision visits and documentation of screening for high-risk health behaviors. RESULTS Adolescents with access to SBHCs were more than 10 times more likely to make a mental health or substance abuse visit (98% of these visits were made at the SBHC) (P < .001). Adolescents with SBHC access had an after-hours (emergent or urgent) care visit rate of 0.33 to 0.52 visits per year less (38%-55% fewer visits) than adolescents without SBHC access, and, overall, made almost 1 additional medical visit per year. A greater percentage, 80.2%, of adolescents with access to SBHCs had at least 1 comprehensive health supervision visit compared with 68.8% of adolescents without access (P = .04). In addition, the adolescents with access were screened for high-risk behaviors at a higher rate. CONCLUSIONS School-based health centers seem to have a synergistic effect for adolescents enrolled in managed care in providing comprehensive health supervision and primary health and mental health care and in reducing after-hours (emergent or urgent) visits. School-based health centers are particularly successful in improving access to and treatment for mental health problems and substance abuse.
Feasibility of Involved-Field Conformal Radiotherapy for Cervical and Upper-Thoracic Esophageal Cancer

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of involved-field irradiation (IFI) for the treatment of cervical and upper-thoracic esophageal cancer with concurrent chemoradiation. Patients and Methods: 102 eligible patients with cervical or upper-thoracic esophageal cancer were treated with concurrent chemoradiation and randomized to either an IFI or elective nodal irradiation (ENI) group. Results: Adverse events included infection (27.4 vs. 64.7%) and nausea (25.4 vs. 54.9%), with a statistically significant difference between the IFI and the ENI group (p = 0.008 and 0.028, respectively). No difference was seen for late radiation reaction. The cumulative incidence of local/regional failure (13.7 vs. 17.6%) and regional lymph failure (7.8 vs. 9.8%) showed no statistically significant difference between the IFI versus the ENI group (p = 0.837 and 0.837, respectively). A nodal out-field relapse rate of only 2% was seen in the IFI group. 3-year survival rates for the ENI and IFI group were 41.3 and 32.0%, respectively (p = 0.58), and 3-year local control rates were 85.7 and 80.1%, respectively (p = 0.34). Conclusion: IFI was acceptable for cervical and upper-thoracic esophageal cancer with a decrease in acute toxicities and no increase in lymph node failure.
Utilising information and communication technologies for development: the social dimensions

The literature on information and communication technologies (ICTs) is filled with rising optimism about the contribution of these technologies to economic and social development and their potential to transform developing countries into “modern” and knowledge-based societies. However, as yet very little is known about the veracity of these claims, much less about the long-term impact that ICTs may have on a country’s social and cultural systems. While not refuting the developmental impact of ICTs, this paper argues that it is unlikely that quantum leap reversals of marginalization and poverty will result from technology transfer to the developing world. If nothing else, past experience shows that the notion of leapfrogging stages of development as a result of application of new technologies is dangerously naive and unrealistic. The paper cautions that developing country governments and international agencies should undertake a more rigorous analysis of the social and cultural dimensions of ICTs in order to be able to design appropriate policies and programmes which will enable countries to harness ICTs for development in their own context. It concludes that the best long-term development investment that can be made using ICTs is to apply them to the training and education of the new generation, rather than to transform these technologies into short-term ends in themselves. To achieve this, it is necessary to move towards strategic and better integrated national information, communication, and education policies. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).
Right-Sizing Cities in the United States: Defining Its Strategies

ABSTRACT: This article explores the right-sizing paradigm. Currently, in the growing literature on the right-sizing conception of planning there are not any clearly delineated strategies on what it means to right-size. Right-sizing strategies are clearly articulated in this article in an effort to understand this paradigm in a more comprehensive fashion. This is not being done among scholars in this field and is necessary to determine empirically if these strategies improve the quality of life in shrinking cities. The purpose of this article is to provide a source for researchers attempting to assess the various right-sizing efforts across the United States. The strategies in this article are not final; additional strategies could be included later under the right-sizing planning conception. At this stage in the literature, five major built environment strategies are the most cited: land banking, rehabilitation, demolition, consolidation, and “greening. ”
Nigeria: Analysing the Security Challenges of the Goodluck Jonathan Administration

The study is a critical analysis of the security challenges confronting the Goodluck Jonathan Administration in Nigeria. Since 2010, The Nigerian nation has on daily basis experience an upsurge of activities that threatens and endangers its national security. Kidnappings, arms proliferation, armed robberies, drug and human trafficking and violence associated with ethnic, religious and political conflicts are among these threats. Recently however, a new dimension of bomb blasts, occurring on a daily-basis, is a major focus of attention in Nigeria’s security analysis. The Boko-Haram Islamic militant sect (literarily translated as Western education is bad). , has been fingered as the perpetrators of the bomb explosions. In view of this scenario, the study examines the impact of these occurrences on Nigeria’s security as well as, examines the responses of government taking into cognizance the public and media reactions to such actions. Finally, the study posited that the impact of the blasts on the people and the polity are ominous and that, there is a higher degree of fear and insecurity. Based on the palpable tension threatening to shatter the fragile thread that binds the people together, the study further made some recommendations on how peace and stability can endure in the country. Key words: Militant groups; Insecurity; Destruction; Corruption; Instability; Terrorism and ethno-religious crisis Resume L'etude est une analyse critique de la securite defis auxquels l'administration Goodluck Jonathan au Nigeria. Depuis 2010, la Nation Nigeriane a quotidiennement l'experience d'un regain d'activites qui menace et met en danger sa securite nationale. Les enlevements, la proliferation des armes, vols a main armee, de drogue et d'etres humains et la violence associee aux conflits ethniques, religieuses et politiques sont parmi ces menaces. Recemment, toutefois, une nouvelle dimension d'explosions de bombes, se produisant sur une base quotidienne-, est une preoccupation majeure dans l'analyse de la securite du Nigeria. Le Boko Haram secte islamiste (litteralement traduit comme l'education occidentale est mauvaise), a ete pointe du doigt comme etant les auteurs des attentats a la bombe. Compte tenu de ce scenario, l'etude examine l'impact de ces evenements sur la securite du Nigeria ainsi que, examine les reponses du gouvernement en prenant en connaitre les reactions du public et des medias a de telles actions. Enfin, l'etude postule que l'impact des explosions sur le peuple et la politique sont inquietantes et que, il ya un degre eleve de crainte et d'insecurite. Base sur la tension palpable menacant de briser le fil fragile qui lie les gens ensemble, l'etude a fait quelques recommandations sur la facon dont la paix et la stabilite peuvent endurer dans le pays. Mots cles: Groupes militants; Insecurite; Destruction; Corruption; Instabilite; Terrorisme et la Crise Ethno-Religieuse
Affective and Anxiety Disorders: Prevalence, Treatment and Antidepressant Medication Use

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence and treatment of affective and anxiety disorders in adults in Australia and compare these with the dispensed prescriptions of drugs used to treat these disorders. Methods: Analysis was done of the 2007 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing regarding 12 month prevalence and treatment for affective and anxiety disorders and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme prescribing data for antidepressants for 2002–2007. The main outcome measures were prevalence and treatment (rates per 1000 population) and antidepressant utilization (defined daily dose 1000 population−1 day–1) by gender and age (5 and 10 year age groups). Results: The prevalence and treatment of affective and anxiety disorder are highest in those aged <50, after which it declines rapidly. Rates for both are higher in women than men. Overall antidepressant use increased 41% over the study period (selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors 44%, venlafaxine 75%). Sertraline held the majority of the market, followed by venlafaxine and citalopram. Utilization of antidepressants had a bimodal distribution with peaks in those aged in their late 50s and early 90s. The peak use of antidepressants was in those aged 90–94 years. Conclusion: There is poor alignment between the prevalence and self-reported treatment of affective and anxiety disorders in the community and the prescribing of medications for these disorders. It appears that older Australians are receiving antidepressant medications for reasons other than the treatment of conditions for which these drugs have marketing approval or for depressive and anxiety symptoms that do not reach the threshold for a diagnosis.
Global integration and emerging stock market excess returns

This article studies the effects of the global integration process on emerging stock market excess returns in a dynamic context. I improve the existing literature in four main directions. First, I show that the average excess returns rise as the level of financial and real integration rises. Second, I find overwhelming evidence that the financial liberalizations (i.e. de jure integration) of the late 1980s and early 1990s have not been simultaneously accompanied by a de facto integration. Third, I find that the percentage of variation in emerging excess returns explained by non-traded global risk factors rises as the level of market openness rises. Last, at the country level, I show that the correlation coefficient does not represent a robust measure of integration. Results also suggest that there are substantial cross-country differences in the dynamics of the degree of financial integration.
Environmental Policies and Firm Value

Many organizations are currently becoming more environmentally friendly. Eco-efficiency maximizes the effectiveness of a business operation while reducing its impact on the environment; with the necessary skills, organizations can create more value while using less input. Prior empirical studies have suggested that firms engaging in eco-efficient activities are better valued than those without such activities. Therefore, this will enhance business efficiency and excellence. This study investigates the link between eco-efficiency, as environmental policy, and firm value in the United Kingdom (UK) for the period 1999 to 2008. We generate new insights into environmental–financial performance by using different definitions of the term ‘eco-efficiency’. In the UK context our results support that eco-efficient firms have higher market values than those lacking environmental strategies. Hence, we recommend that firms become involved in environmental polices since the adoption of these polices will have a positive impact on firm value. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
Spontaneous recovery from Friend retrovirus-induced leukemia. Mapping of the Rfv-2 gene in the Q/TL region of mouse MHC.

The Rfv-2 gene that influences the rate of spontaneous recovery from erythroleukemia induced by a low dose of Friend retrovirus complex was mapped to the Q/TL region of mouse MHC. Rfv-2 was physically and functionally distinct from the I-A-linked Ir gene that has been shown to control the responsiveness of Th cells to the envelope glycoprotein of Friend murine leukemia helper virus. The negative effect of the Rfv-2s allele was overcome by the B10.D2-H-2dm1 mutation of the D-L genes of H-2, suggesting functional similarities between the D-L and Q/TL genes in influencing resistance against Friend murine leukemia retrovirus complex infection or possible modification of Q/TL expression by genes in the D-L region.