Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Growth, Development and Natural Resources: New Evidence Using a Heterogeneous Panel Analysis

This paper explores whether natural resource abundance is a curse or a blessing. To do so, we firstly develop a theory consistent econometric model, in which we show that there is a long run relationship between real income, the investment rate, and the real value of oil production. Secondly, we investigate the long-run (level) impacts of natural resource abundance on domestic output as well as the short-run (growth) effects. Thirdly, we explicitly recognize that there is a substantial cross-sectional dependence and cross-country heterogeneity in our sample, which covers 53 oil exporting and importing countries with very different historical and institutional backgrounds, and adopt the non-stationary panel methodologies developed by Pesaran (2006) and Pedroni (2000) for estimation. Our results, using the real value of oil production, rent or reserves as a proxy for resource endowment, reveal that oil abundance has a positive effect on both income levels and economic growth. While we accept that oil rich countries could benefit more from their natural wealth by adopting growth and welfare enhancing policies and institutions, we challenge the common view that oil abundance affects economic growth negatively.
T‐ and L‐type Ca2+ Currents in Freshly Dispersed Smooth Muscle Cells from the Human Proximal Urethra

The purpose of the present study was to characterise Ca2+ currents in smooth muscle cells isolated from biopsy samples taken from the proximal urethra of patients undergoing surgery for bladder or prostate cancer. Cells were studied at 37 °C using the amphotericin B perforated‐patch configuration of the patch‐clamp technique. Currents were recorded using Cs+‐rich pipette solutions to block K+ currents. Two components of current, with electrophysiological and pharmacological properties typical of T‐ and L‐type Ca2+ currents, were present in these cells. When steady‐state inactivation curves for the L current were fitted with a Boltzmann equation, this yielded a V1/2 of −45 ± 5 mV. In contrast, the T current inactivated with a V1/2 of −80 ± 3 mV. The L currents were reduced in a concentration‐dependent manner by nifedipine (ED50= 159 ± 54 nm) and Ni2+ (ED50= 65 ± 16 μm) but were enhanced when external Ca2+ was substituted with Ba2+. The T current was little affected by TTX, reduction in external Na+, application of nifedipine at concentrations below 300 nm or substitution of external Ca2+ with Ba2+, but was reduced by Ni2+ with an ED50 of 6 ± 1 μm. When cells were stepped from −100 to −30 mV in Ca2+‐free conditions, small inward currents could be detected. These were enhanced 40‐fold in divalent‐cation‐free solution and blocked in a concentration‐dependent manner by Mg2+ with an ED50 of 32 ± 16 μm. These data support the idea that human urethral myocytes possess currents with electrophysiological and pharmacological properties typical of T‐ and L‐type Ca2+ currents.
Association between Awareness of Patient Rights and Patient’s Education, Seeing Bill, and Age: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Considering the controversial results of previous reports on awareness of bill of patients’ rights in different regions, as well as the fact that no report is available on the awareness of patients of their rights in teaching hospitals of Sari, we conducted the present study. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional Study conducted in teaching hospitals of Sari in 2011. The study population consisted of 336 patients recruited from 4 hospitals affiliated with Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences in Sari, through calculating the selection quota of each hospital. Data were collected through face-to-face interview on discharge, using a two-section questionnaire based on the bill of patient rights and with verified reliability and validity. Data analysis was accomplished on SPSS soft- ware version 10. Results: 55.4% of patients were women and 44.6% were men. The patients’ mean age was 40.93 ± 15.04 years and the mean length of stay was 4.6 ± 3.34 days. Most patients had elementary education (36%) or were illiterate (25%). The majority (63.4%) had not seen the bill of patients’ rights. 58.9% had poor knowledge, 12% had intermediate knowledge, and 29.1% had good knowledge. As for the articles of the bill, the poorest awareness correlated to the 9th article (the right to participate or refrain from participating in research). We found a significant relationship between awareness of the bill, and the patient’s education, seeing the bill, and age (p<0.0005). Conclusion: The results of the present study indicate that patients are not sufficiently aware of their rights, and this problem requires comprehensive planning to be resolved.
The interrelationships among job satisfaction, work–home interference and psychological contract breach

This study aims to expand the literature on work–home interference, job satisfaction and psychological contracts. Using a two-wave panel survey, this study tests an explanatory model using data collected from 414 employees of three Egypt-based organizations. Consistent with the developed hypotheses, the results indicate a reciprocal negative relationship between employees’ work–home interference and job satisfaction. Moreover, psychological contract breach is negatively associated with job satisfaction. Furthermore, a moderating role of psychological contract breach in the relationship between work–home interference and job satisfaction is supported. In other words, a higher level of psychological contract breach intensifies the negative impact of work–home interference on job satisfaction. Implications for theory, research and practice and directions for future research with cultural emphasis are discussed.
WHY POOR REGIONS REMAIN POOR? EVIDENCE FROM MALAYSIA

In Malaysia, the various economic reforms and strategies undertaken by the government since the Third Malaysia Plan beginning in 1971 until the present Ninth Malaysia Plan have not brought about significant convergence in real per capita income and output across the country. Despite all states recording economic growth, the development gap between regions, states and rural-urban areas remained wide. Moreover a pattern of regional unemployment has persisted, with unemployment rates being consistently higher than the national average in those states with lower than average real per capita income and output. The purpose of this study are firstly to determine why the gap remained wide that is some poor states stay poor and rich states become richer for the past years and secondly to identify industries or sectors in which the states has had a comparative advantage. Using location quotient analysis, this study utilize Malaysian data for the period 1970 till 2006. The results suggest that the development gap between regions and states in the Malaysian economy remained wide due to the fact that economic activities of the poor regions of the east and that of Sabah and Sarawak are concentrated in the agricultural sectors while that of the richer regions in the centre are concentrated in the manufacturing and the services sectors. Similarly the poor states of Kedah and Kelantan are characterized by economic activities concentrated in the agriculture sector while the richer states of Penang and Selangor are characterized by the manufacturing sectors. This finding indicates that Malaysian government economic reforms and development strategies need to be reevaluated and restructured .
Laser cooling and trapping of atoms

A review is presented of some of the principal techniques of laser cooling and trapping that have been developed during the past 20 years. Its approach is primarily experimental, but its quantitative descriptions are consistent in notation with most of the theoretical literature. It begins with a simplified introduction to optical forces on atoms, including both cooling and trapping. Then its three main sections discuss its three selected features, (1) quantization of atomic motion, (2) effects of the multilevel structure of atoms, and (3) the effects of polychromatic light. Each of these features is an expansion in a different direction from the simplest model of a classical, two-level atom moving in a monochromatic laser field.
Case Series: A Minimally Invasive Tunneling Approach for Cubital Tunnel Syndrome

Background Cubital tunnel syndrome (CuTS) is the second most common peripheral neuropathy in the United States. All three current surgical treatment approaches, consisting of in situ decompression, medial epicondylectomy, and transposition, require large curvilinear incisions and dissections that cross the medial epicondyle. However, the use of a large curvilinear incision may not be necessary for in situ decompression and may be achieved with small incisions proximal and distal to the medial epicondyle. This may limit the risk of peri-incisional pain and numbness, similar to the benefits provided by endoscopy. Objective The aim of this study is to evaluate a minimally invasive tunneling approach for in situ ulnar nerve decompression utilizing 2 cm incisions proximal and distal to the medial epicondyle. Methods A retrospective chart review was performed for patients at Emory University Hospital with CuTS who underwent minimally invasive tunneling for in situ decompression. Seven cases were identified. Patient demographics and data on post-operative complications were collected. Pre-operative severity was graded as a Modified McGowan severity. The primary outcome was evaluated using the post-surgical Messina Criterion. Secondary outcomes were reports of peri-incisional pain or numbness evaluated at follow-up. Descriptive statistics are presented. Results Pre-operatively, one of the seven cases was Grade I McGowan and the remaining six were Grade 2a or 2b. Post-operatively, on the Messina Criterion, four of seven patients were rated as having “Good” outcomes, two of seven had “Fair”, while one of seven had “Poor. ” There was one post-operative surgical site infection. Among the other six cases, there were no reports of peri-incisional pain or numbness. Conclusions The use of less-invasive tunneling approach to in situ decompression yielded positive outcomes in this case series with no reports of peri-incisional pain or numbness. A prospective trial may be useful to explore the theoretical benefits of this novel tunneling approach.
Genotypic/phenotypic patterns of HIV-1 integrase resistance to raltegravir.

OBJECTIVES To understand the dynamic viral evolution observed during failure on raltegravir-containing regimens, we studied the genotypic and phenotypic patterns of resistance to raltegravir and the residual replication capacity (rRC) of HIV-1 variants selected in vivo. METHODS Clonal genotypic analyses were performed on sequential HIV-1 integrase sequences amplified from 11 failing patients and sampled every 4-24 weeks for up to 64 weeks. Fully replicating recombinant viruses were generated using modified vectors in which selected viral integrase genes amplified from patients' plasma were cloned. rRC was measured by a novel multiple cycle competition assay. Resistance to raltegravir and the rRC of resistant HIV-1 variants selected in vivo were evaluated in purified CD4+ T cells. RESULTS In all of the patients but one, failure was associated with selection of mutations in positions 143, 148 or 155. Unlike mutations at position 143 (Y143S/K/R), identified alone or in combination with others, mutations at position 148 and 155 were always found in combination. A wide range of resistance levels to raltegravir [from 10- to 770-fold change in 50% inhibitory concentration (IC(50)) compared with baseline] was observed using recombinant viral clones. Finally, rRC was not significantly altered in highly resistant variants. DISCUSSION Two patterns of viral evolution were observed in the resistant viral populations, driving the variants towards a fast (most of them with G140S + Q148H mutations) or progressive increase in resistance to raltegravir. These results may have implications either for the evaluation of genotypic results, or for the correct clinical use of the compound.
On the boundary conditions at the contact interface between a porous medium and a free fluid

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Spaces of Muslim Identity in Inverness, Scotland

Abstract Each generation of immigrants has its own challenges; for example, how to maintain already constructed identities among first generation immigrants and how to construct identities of the second generation of immigrants. Numerous literature suggests that the previous studies on these topics have been conducted within larger cities such as London, Glasgow or Edinburgh. This article examines how Muslim immigrants in a small city maintain and modify some aspects of their religious and cultural identities. The data consist of 30 interviews conducted with first and second generation of Muslim immigrants in Scotland, analysis of which suggests the size of the city does not appear to affect daily Muslim practices nor their ability to maintain Muslim identity. Rather, access to shared spaces, such as Inverness Masjid and the local halal meat shop, become critical to how Muslim's maintain and modify their identity in a new place.
Mining preferences from superior and inferior examples

Mining user preferences plays a critical role in many important applications such as customer relationship management (CRM), product and service recommendation, and marketing campaigns. In this paper, we identify an interesting and practical problem of mining user preferences: in a multidimensional space where the user preferences on some categorical attributes are unknown, from some superior and inferior examples provided by a user, can we learn about the user's preferences on those categorical attributes? We model the problem systematically and show that mining user preferences from superior and inferior examples is challenging. Although the problem has great potential in practice, to the best of our knowledge, it has not been explored systematically before. As the first attempt to tackle the problem, we propose a greedy method and show that our method is practical using real data sets and synthetic data sets.
Psychological and Social Work Factors as Predictors of Mental Distress and Positive Affect: A Prospective, Multilevel Study

Occupational health research has mainly addressed determinants of negative health effects, typically employing individual-level self-report data. The present study investigated individual- and department-level (means of each work unit) effects of psychological/social work factors on mental distress and positive affect. Employees were recruited from 63 Norwegian organizations, representing a wide variety of job types. A total of 4158 employees, in 918 departments, responded at baseline and at follow-up two years later. Multilevel linear regressions estimated individual- and department-level effects simultaneously, and accounted for clustering of data. Baseline exposures and average exposures over time ([T1+T2]/2) were tested. All work factors; decision control, role conflict, positive challenge, support from immediate superior, fair leadership, predictability during the next month, commitment to organization, rumors of change, human resource primacy, and social climate, were related to mental distress and positive affect at the individual and department level. However, analyses of baseline exposures adjusted for baseline outcome, demonstrated significant associations at the individual level only. Baseline “rumors of change” was related to mental distress only and baseline “predictability during the next month” was not a statistical significant predictor of either outcome when adjusted for outcome at baseline. Psychological and social work factors were generally related to mental distress and positive affect in a mirrored way. Impact of exposures seemed most pervasive at the individual level. However, department-level relations were also discovered. Supplementing individual-level measures with aggregated measures may increase understanding of working conditions influence on employees`health and well-being. Organizational improvements focusing on the work factors in the current study should be able to reduce distress and enhance positive affect. Furthermore, both targeting individual employees and redesigning working conditions at the work unit level seems important.
Cyclin D2 Is Critical for Intermediate Progenitor Cell Proliferation in the Embryonic Cortex

Expression of cyclins D1 (cD1) and D2 (cD2) in ventricular zone and subventricular zone (SVZ), respectively, suggests that a switch to cD2 could be a requisite step in the generation of cortical intermediate progenitor cells (IPCs). However, direct evidence is lacking. Here, cD1 or cD2 was seen to colabel subsets of Pax6-expressing radial glial cells (RGCs), whereas only cD2 colabeled with Tbr2. Loss of IPCs in cD2−/− embryonic cortex and analysis of expression patterns in mutant embryos lacking cD2 or Tbr2 indicate that cD2 is used as progenitors transition from RGCs to IPCs and is important for the expansion of the IPC pool. This was further supported by the laminar thinning, microcephaly, and selective reduction in the cortical SVZ population in the cD2−/−cortex. Cell cycle dynamics between embryonic day 14–16 in knock-out lines showed preserved parameters in cD1 mutants that induced cD2 expression, but absence of cD2 was not compensated by cD1. Loss of cD2 was associated with reduced proliferation and enhanced cell cycle exit in embryonic cortical progenitors, indicating a crucial role of cD2 for the support of cortical IPC divisions. In addition, knock-out of cD2, but not cD1, affected both G1-phase and also S-phase duration, implicating the importance of these phases for division cycles that expand the progenitor pool. That cD2 was the predominant D-cyclin expressed in the human SVZ at 19–20 weeks gestation indicated the evolutionary importance of cD2 in larger mammals for whom expansive intermediate progenitor divisions are thought to enable generation of larger, convoluted, cerebral cortices.
Brain Vascular Damage in Essential Tremor: Observational Study and Statistical Analysis in An Affected Population Compared with A Group with Parkinsons Disease and A Control Group

Previous studies of the Author pointed out that the incidence of vascular brain disease (cerebrovascular disease, CVD) in several expression modalities was statistically significant and relevant in Parkinson′s Disease (PD); subsequently the Author investigated the incidence of CVD in an extrapyramidal disease frequently detected in clinical practice and involved in the differential diagnostics within movement disorders, that is Essential Tremor (ET). The statistical chi-square calculator test for association between two categorical variables was applied in a first step between a population of 60 patients (2 patients without information on CVD were not included in the statistics) with ET and a control population (patients suffering from various central nervous system diseases excluding PD and ET but including the so-called Vascular Parkinsonism –VP-) of 145 subjects (16 patients without information on CVD were not included in the statistics). The result was negative (p-value is 0.696914. This result is not significant at p<0.01). In a second step a statistical comparison was performed between the same group of 60 patients with ET and the group of 85 patients with PD (1 patients without information on CVD was not included in the statistics) obtaining a highly significant result (the p-value is 0.000003. This result is significant at p<0.01). The statistical analysis concerns the presence or not of morphologically imaging signs of CVD (TC and RM Scan) in the two groups. These results demonstrate that while there is a correlation in the incidence of CVD and PD according with previous observations (actual p-value is 0.000001. This result is significant at p<0.01), the same correlation does not occur with the ET. The incidence of CVD in the ET has a random feature comparable to the randomness of the general population. Therefore it is hypothesized that the CVD in the ET is a pure comorbidity without pathogenetic value - even if apparently in contrast with what assumed in the classifications defining the atherosclerotic senile tremor as a variant of the same ET - according with hypothesized different neurotransmitter networks (dopaminergic vs supposed GABAergic). We can also speculate that the different therapeutic approach may depend on the different pathogenesis of the two pathologies (ET and PD). Further investigations result of particular interest also considering the fact often observed in clinical practice that the ET can over time evolve into PD or that in same cases there is an overlapping between PD and ET mainly in the in the tremorigen symptom.
Americas Conference on Information Systems ( AMCIS ) 1231-2007 Resource Constraints Related to Emerging Integration Technologies Adoption : The Case of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

While most prior studies on Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) and Web Services adoption have focused on large counterparts, this research recognizes the importance of these technologies, and realizes the difficulties involved in their effective adoption by Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs). The aim of this paper is to study as to whether the resources constraints (time, finance, and expertise) a real obstacle to emerging integration technologies (EAI and Web Services) adoption in SMEs. The paper initially conceptualizes a model to support the analysis and proposes a research issue for validation. A qualitative multiple case study approach was considered as an appropriate research methodology to test the conceptual model. Findings obtained from the empirical study suggest that: (1) expertise, time and financial constraints is a real obstacle to SMEs’ integration technologies adoption, and these constraints are important influential parameters affecting SMEs’ adoption decision; and (2) SMEs’ resource constraints are closely related to financial and expertise availability, time and expertise flexibility, and manager’s attitude on managing time and financial issues. Based on this, the proposed conceptual model is revised. Finally, concluding section of the paper also outlines limitations and provides future research directions.
Theoretical model for an MRI radio frequency resonator

A theoretical model is described for a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) radio-frequency resonator (an MRI "coil") that is useful at ultrahigh frequencies. The device is a "TEM resonator" which is based on a concept originally proposed by Roschmann (1988). The coil comprises a circular cavity-like structure containing several coaxial transmission lines operating in a transverse electromagnetic (TEM) mode. The model developed herein treats the empty coil and is based on multiconductor transmission line theory. This work generalizes and extends similar analyses of the device by Roschmann (1995) and Chingas and Zhang (1996). The model employs explicit calculation of per-unit-length parameters for TEM lines having arbitrary geometries. Calculations of the resonator's frequency response are found to compare well with measurements. Fields produced by linear (single-point) and quadrature drive are also computed and compared to images of low-permittivity phantoms.