Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Natural Surfactant Combined with Beclomethasone Decreases Lung Inflammation in the Preterm Lamb

Background: Natural surfactant combined with beclomethasone decreases pulmonary oxidative stress in preterm lambs with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). Objectives: To test the hypothesis that this occurs through a decrease in pulmonary inflammation. Methods: Preterm lambs received 200 mg/kg of natural surfactant or 200 mg/kg of natural surfactant combined with 400 or 800 µg/kg of beclomethasone. Interleukin 8 (IL-8) and macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) were assayed in bronchial aspirate samples and lung mechanics were evaluated. Results: IL-8 increased in all the groups, but the increase was lower in the groups treated with surfactant plus 400 and 800 µg/kg of beclomethasone. MIF decreased in the surfactant group, did not vary in the surfactant plus 400 µg/kg beclomethasone group, and decreased in the surfactant plus 800 µg/kg beclomethasone group. MIF concentration was higher in the surfactant plus 800 µg/kg beclomethasone group than in the other groups. Conclusions: Natural surfactant combined with beclomethasone at 800 µg/kg is effective in reducing lung inflammation in an animal model of RDS, thus explaining the associated decrease in lung oxidative stress. The increase in MIF in animals treated with surfactant plus 800 µg/kg of beclomethasone might be an important maturative and protective factor for neonatal lungs.
The influence of deoxynivalenol and zearalenone on steroid hormone production by porcine ovarian granulosa cells in vitro

ABSTRACT Fusarium mycotoxins deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZEA) are frequently occurring in feed of pigs together. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible in vitro effects of DON and ZEA, alone or their combination on steroid secretion of porcine ovarian granulosa cells (GCs). A species-specific model with porcine ovarian GCs was used to study the potential endocrine disrupting effects of DON and ZEA alone and in co-exposure. Progesterone (P4) and estradiol (E2) were determined by radioimmunoassay (RIA) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The results of this study demonstrate that DON alone at the higher concentrations may act to stimulate P4 (at 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 and 5,000 ng mL−1 but not 10 and 100 ng mL−1) and E2 (at 2,000, 3,000 and 5,000 ng mL−1 but not 10, 100 and 1000 ng mL−1) secretion. The effects of ZEA on P4 and E2 secretion were not confirmed. DON in combination with the other fusariotoxin ZEA may impair steroidogenesis. Results aslo demonstrate different toxicological effects of fusariotoxins on follicle stimulating hormone-induced secretion of P4 and E2. All these results taken together suggest that fusariotoxin and their interactions can impact ovarian steroidogenesis, thereby demonstrating their potential reproductive effects in pigs.
Real Exchange Rate Fluctuations and the Business Cycle: Evidence from Japan

This paper analyzes the relationship between the real exchange rate and the business cycle in Japan during the floating rate period. A structural vector autoregression is used to identify different types of macroeconomic shocks that determine fluctuations in aggregate output and the real exchange rate. Relative nominal and real demand shocks are found to be the main determinants of variation in real exchange rate changes, whereas relative output growth is driven primarily by supply shocks. Historical decompositions suggest that the sharp appreciations of the yen in 1993 and 1995 and its subsequent depreciation can be attributed primarily to relative nominal shocks.
Parliamentary Questions, Oversight, and National Opposition Status in the European Parliament

This study examines when and why members of the European Parliament (EP) use parliamentary questions as a form of fire alarm oversight. We argue that the multilevel nature of the EU political system allows members of the EP from national opposition parties to use parliamentary questions to alert the European Commission to governments’ failures to implement EU policy. Representation in the EP provides the only avenue for such oversight for national opposition parties. Using a new sample of EP parliamentary questions, we demonstrate that MEPs from national opposition parties are more likely to alert the Commission to violations of EU law in their own member states. These parliamentary questions may lead the Commission to take legal action against member-state governments. Most parliaments allow members to ask questions of the executive branch to keep tabs on its activities. Despite this ubiquitous feature of parliamentarypolitics,therehasbeenlittleresearchonwhenandwhyMPs employ questions to monitor the implementation of legislation by the executive branch and even less work exploring the interaction between different levels of government and the opportunity for parliamentary oversight. This article argues that a party’s national governmentopposition status affects the number and nature of questions its members in the supranational European Parliament (MEPs) ask of the European Commission, the European Union’s (EU) executive branch and guardian oftheEU’streaties.BecausetheEUhasverylittleadministrativecapacity of its own, the member-state governments act as the EU’s agents for the purposes of implementing EU policy. The Commission monitors member-state implementation but frequently depends on outside parties to alert them to problems. In this institutional context, MEP questions are bs_bs_banner
Public-to-private buy-outs, distress costs and private equity

This article extends previous work by testing the financial distress costs hypothesis in the context of the UK, a contract-based distress resolution system, and by considering the role of private equity firms. Using a hand-collected dataset covering 115 public-to-private buy-outs (PTPs) completed in the period 1998 to 2001 and 115 randomly selected firms that remained public, we find contrasting evidence to that for US PTPs. Consistent with the financial distress costs model, firms going private are more likely to have better asset collateralization, have less debt and be more diversified. However, we also find that UK PTPs are more likely to be younger, experience poor stock market performance and be smaller than firms remaining public. In addition, PTPs did not have lower R&D or higher free cash flows. Our results therefore, indicate that in the UK financial distress costs may not be central to the decision to go private.We also find that private equity providers are more likely to be involved in the process if the firm going private is more diversified, has a higher Q ratio and had been quoted for a shorter period of time and have lower board shareholdings. This suggests that private equity providers are more interested in growth prospects than potential financial distress costs.
A microcosm investigation of fe (iron) removal using macrophytes of ramsar lake: A phytoremediation approach

ABSTRACT The present study deals with the microcosm study of Fe (Iron) phytoremediation using Eichhornia crassipes, Lemna minor, Pistia stratiotes and Salvinia cucullata species collected from the Loktak Lake, a Ramsar Site which exists in north-eastern India (an Indo-Burma hotspot region). Efficiency of these four macrophytes was compared using different Fe concentrations of 1 mg L−1, 3 mg L−1 and 5 mg L−1 for 4 days, 8 days and 12 days, respectively. E. crassipes was the most efficient macrophyte whereas L. minor was the least efficient. E. crassipes removed the highest percentage of Fe, i.e. 89% from 1 mg L−1, 81.3% from 3 mg L−1 and 73.2% from 5 mg L−1 in 12-day experiment.
Pre-Election Polls as Strategic Coordination Devices

In the unique attainable equilibrium of a voting model with one minority candidate and two similarly appealing majority candidates, majority voters are unable to coordinate their support and the minority candidate (Condorcet loser) is elected. Suppose a random sample of voters is asked about their preferences prior to the election. We show that there always exists an equilibrium of this two stage game in which all poll participants are truthful, resulting in a high likelihood of a majority candidate winning the election. This equilibrium is unique if the sample size of the poll is Poisson distributed or fixed and odd.
‘Neighbourhood’ size, dispersal and density estimates in the prickly forest skink (Gnypetoscincus queenslandiae) using individual genetic and demographic methods

Dispersal, or the amount of dispersion between an individual’s birthplace and that of its offspring, is of great importance in population biology, behavioural ecology and conservation, however, obtaining direct estimates from field data on natural populations can be problematic. The prickly forest skink, Gnypetoscincus queenslandiae, is a rainforest endemic skink from the wet tropics of Australia. Because of its log‐dwelling habits and lack of definite nesting sites, a demographic estimate of dispersal distance is difficult to obtain. Neighbourhood size, defined as 4πDσ2 (where D is the population density and σ2 the mean axial squared parent–offspring dispersal rate), dispersal and density were estimated directly and indirectly for this species using mark–recapture and microsatellite data, respectively, on lizards captured at a local geographical scale of 3 ha. Mark–recapture data gave a dispersal rate of 843 m2/generation (assuming a generation time of 6.5 years), a time‐scaled density of 13 635 individuals * generation/km2 and, hence, a neighbourhood size of 144 individuals. A genetic method based on the multilocus (10 loci) microsatellite genotypes of individuals and their geographical location indicated that there is a significant isolation by distance pattern, and gave a neighbourhood size of 69 individuals, with a 95% confidence interval between 48 and 184. This translates into a dispersal rate of 404 m2/generation when using the mark–recapture density estimation, or an estimate of time‐scaled population density of 6520 individuals * generation/km2 when using the mark–recapture dispersal rate estimate. The relationship between the two categories of neighbourhood size, dispersal and density estimates and reasons for any disparities are discussed.
A Political Economic Critique on the Theory of Optimum Currency Areas, and the Implications for East Asia

In recent years, dynamic debate has arisen as to the desirability and feasibility of creating a monetary union in East Asia. While the debate has relied heavily on the theory of optimum currency areas, this theory has weaknesses in explaining the actual formation of monetary unions. At this point, political economy analysis appears to demonstrate stronger explanatory power. This paper provides a systematic review of the main developments in the literature on optimum currency area theory and in the political economy literature on monetary union. In addition, it addresses the feasibility of an East Asian monetary union, by applying the findings in these two academic strands to the region. It finds that even though formation of an East Asian monetary union may be to some extent feasible from an economic perspective, the region’s political situation does not appear favourable for the creation of one.
Economic Development in Palanpur over Five Decades

This book provides an account of economic development in Palanpur, a village in rural North India, based on five detailed surveys of the village over the period 1957 to 1993. These five decades have seen economic well-being rise in some important respects, but stagnation and even decline in other areas. The analysis presented here focuses on the reasons behind this uneven progress. The authors tie in the background issues of the evolution of poverty and inequality and mobility over time with causal factors such as technological progress, demographic and sectoral changes, the operation of markets, and the role of public action. The richness and unique nature of the qualitative and quantitative data collected and presented by Lanjouw and Stern yields an analysis which illuminates questions of direct importance to researchers in a wide variety of disciplines.
A Large-Scale Study of Misophonia.

OBJECTIVE We aim to elucidate misophonia, a condition in which particular sounds elicit disproportionally strong aversive reactions. METHOD A large online study extensively surveyed personal, developmental, and clinical characteristics of over 300 misophonics. RESULTS Most participants indicated that their symptoms started in childhood or early teenage years. Severity of misophonic responses increases over time. One third of participants reported having family members with similar symptoms. Half of our participants reported no comorbid clinical conditions, and the other half reported a variety of conditions. Only posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was related to the severity of the misophonic symptoms. Remarkably, half of the participants reported experiencing euphoric, relaxing, and tingling sensations with particular sounds or sights, a relatively unfamiliar phenomenon called autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR). CONCLUSION It is unlikely that another "real" underlying clinical, psychiatric, or psychological disorder can explain away the misophonia. The possible relationship with PTSD and ASMR warrants further investigation.
Asymptotically Near-Optimal Motion Planning using Lower Bounds on Cost

Asymptotically-optimal sampling-based motion-planning algorithms often, from a certain stage of their execution, invest huge computational resources at only slightly improving the cost of the current best existing solution. We aim to overcome this problem by (i) carefully using lower bounds on the cost between configurations and by (ii) relaxing asymptotic optimality to asymptotic near-optimality. To this end, we present Motion Planning using Lower Bounds (MPLB), an anytime asymptotic near-optimal algorithm, based on the Fast Marching Trees (FMT*) algorithm [15]. An advantageous by-product of our approach is that we can reach situations where the weight of collision detection is almost negligible with respect to nearest-neighbor calls; this is in the spirit of a recent suggestion by Bialkowski et al. [6]. We prove that MPLB performs no more collision-detection calls than an anytime version of FMT* (called aFMT*) and bound the additional number of nearestneighbor calls for a family of configuration spaces. We show experimentally that for certain scenarios, MPLB produces lower cost paths faster than aFMT*, spending less than 20% of its time on collision detection.
Relative Price Variability and Inflation: Evidence from U.S. Cities

We test whether the time-series positive correlation of inflation and intermarket relative price variability is also present in a cross section of U.S. cities. We find this correlation to be a robust empirical regularity: cities that have higher than average inflation also have higher than average relative price dispersion, ceteris paribus. This result holds for different periods of time, for different classes of goods, and across different time horizons. Our results suggest that at least part of the relationship between inflation and relative price variability cannot be explained by monetary factors.
Rankings of Australian Economics Departments, 1988-2000

This paper provides new rankings for the Australian university economics departments for the periods 1988-2000, 1988-1994 and 1994-2000 using the ECONLIT database. We rank economics departments using two different journal ranking criteria - one based on citations and the other based on perceptions of journal quality. In addition, we provide updates on the rankings using the Towe and Wright (1995) methodology. We find that the perception-based rankings are quite different from the citation-based rankings.
The relationships of organizational justice, social exchange, psychological contract, and expatriate adjustment: an example of Taiwanese business expatriates

In the field of international human resource management, studies have seldom examined organizational justice, social exchange, and psychological contract together as important factors in influencing the expatriate adjustment process. The purpose of this research is to fill the research gap by examining these factors and their relationships with expatriate adjustment. The researcher conducted a survey of Taiwanese business expatriates during the first quarter of 2007, collecting 219 valid samples for analysis. A hierarchical regression model was used to test the research framework hypotheses, which showed that expatriates' perception of organizational justice has a positive influence both on their perceptions of social exchange and on their psychological contract fulfillment. Expatriates' perceived that social exchange has a positive influence on their perceptions of psychological contract fulfillment and foreign adjustment. Finally, research implications are discussed and future study suggestions are recommended.
Home Bias, Foreign Mutual Fund Holdings, and the Voluntary Adoption of International Accounting Standards

We test the assertion that a consequence of voluntarily adopting International Accounting Standards (IAS) is the enhanced ability to attract foreign capital. Using a unique database that reports firm-level holdings of over 25,000 mutual funds from around the world, our multivariate tests find that average foreign mutual fund ownership is significantly higher among IAS adopters. We also find that IAS adopters in poorer information environments and with lower visibility have higher levels of foreign investment, consistent with firms using IAS adoption to provide more information and/or information in a more familiar form to foreign investors. Taken together, our findings are consistent with voluntary IAS adoption reducing home bias among foreign investors and thereby improving capital allocation efficiency.
Abnormal expression of neurofilament proteins in dysmyelinating axons located in the central nervous system of jimpy mutant mice

Myelination in the peripheral nervous system is considered to increase the phosphorylation level of neurofilament proteins in the axon, resulting in an increase in axonal calibre. To understand the relationship between myelination and neurofilament proteins in axons, we examined jimpy mutant mice with a point mutation in the proteolipid protein gene and dysmyelination in the central nervous system. The jimpy mice exhibited a characteristic similarity in neurofilament nature to the myelin‐deficient mice in the peripheral nervous system reported previously. The following novel results were obtained in the jimpy mice: dysmyelinated axons, in which the amount of non‐phosphorylated neurofilament‐H was drastically increased without a significant reduction of the phosphorylated form, compared with the control myelinated axons, did not suffer any decrease in their diameters. Expression levels of all neurofilament subunit proteins and their mRNAs were enhanced in the central nervous system tissue. Because the above biochemical data were obtained from the cytoskeletal fraction, at least some of the increased neurofilament‐H and ‐M proteins appeared to be coassembled into neurofilaments but remained non‐phosphorylated. Axonal neurofilaments of the jimpy were, probably due to this abnormal stoichiometry and phosphorylation state in neurofilaments, more compact and random in alignment with less prominent cross‐bridges than those of the control, providing possible evidence for disturbing the axonal transport of other organelles. These results suggest that myelination regulates both the expression and phosphorylation of neurofilament proteins, and is essential for the cytoplasmic organization of myelinated axons.
Numerical analysis of ship motion coupled with tank sloshing

The effects of tank sloshing are usually ignored or linearized in ship motion analysis. Recent studies show that the nonlinearity caused by the coupling of tank sloshing and ship motion can be significant in a certain frequency range. The tank sloshing can be excited by the ship motion, at the same time, the tank sloshing induces an impact load on the tank wall, which has a significant influence on the ship motion. In this paper, a time domain equation has been built to obtain the results of coupling effects which is more accurate than the results obtained from the frequency domain equation considering the effects of damping. In solving of the time domain equation, hydrodynamic coefficients and wave loads are obtained by a program Hydrostar which is based on the potential theory in frequency domain. The radiation force is integrated in time domain by using impulse response function (IRF) approach. The liquid motion in the tank is simulated in time domain by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program which has high accuracy in simulating tank sloshing. The tank sloshing force and moment computed by CFD program based on volume of fluid (VOF) method are then applied as an external force of the ship motion. The simulated results of ship motion are in turn used as the excitation of tank sloshing and repeated by ensuing time steps. This time domain method is accurate in solving coupling effects of ship motion and tank sloshing, because it combines the advantages of potential flow theory and viscous flow theory. The response amplitude operator (RAO) of ship motion of computation and experiment is proved in good agreement.
Batter Up! Moral Hazard and the Effects of the Designated Hitter Rule on Hit Batsmen

American League batters have been hit by pitches 10 percent to 15 percent more frequently than National League batters since the designated hitter rule was introduced in 1973. This evidence is consistent with the idea that the American League's adoption of the designated hitter rule created a classic moral hazard problem. Because they are not required to appear at the plate, American League pitchers can throw at opposing hitters with greater impunity (i.e., at lower cost) than National League pitchers who must take their turns at bat and, hence, bear more of the costs of their own actions. Copyright 1997 by Oxford University Press.
Predecisional Distortion of Evidence as a Consequence of Real‐Time Audit Review

With the current shift toward real‐time audit review, subordinates become aware of supervisors' views earlier in the audit process. I use an experiment to examine whether earlier knowledge of supervisors' views increases subordinates' tendencies to agree with those views because subordinates predecisionally distort evidence. In a going‐concern task, I find that auditors who learn the partner's view before evaluating evidence (1) evaluate individual evidence items as more consistent with the partner's view, and (2) make going‐concern judgments that are more consistent with the partner's view, than do auditors who learn the same partner's view after evaluating evidence. In a second experiment, I examine whether auditors anticipate the distortion's effect on subordinates' judgments. I find that auditors expect subordinates to make judgments that agree with supervisors' views, but auditors do not expect subordinates to agree even more with those views when subordinates learn those views earlier in the audit p.