Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
No Association of the BDNF Val66met Polymorphism with Implicit Associative Vocabulary and Motor Learning

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been suggested to play a major role in plasticity, neurogenesis and learning in the adult brain. The BDNF gene contains a common val66met polymorphism associated with decreased activity-dependent excretion of BDNF and a potential influence on behaviour, more specifically, on motor learning. The objective of this study was to determine the influence of the BDNF val66met polymorphism on short-term implicit associative learning and whether its influence is cognitive domain-specific (motor vs. language). A sample of 38 young healthy participants was genotyped, screened for background and neuropsychological differences, and tested with two associative implicit learning paradigms in two different cognitive domains, i.e., motor and vocabulary learning. Subjects performed the serial reaction time task (SRTT) to determine implicit motor learning and a recently established associative vocabulary learning task (AVL) for implicit learning of action and object words. To determine the influence of the BDNF polymorphism on domain-specific implicit learning, behavioural improvements in the two tasks were compared between val/val (n = 22) and met carriers (val/met: n = 15 and met/met: n = 1). There was no evidence for an impact of the BDNF val66met polymorphism on the behavioural outcome in implicit short-term learning paradigms in young healthy subjects. Whether this polymorphism plays a relevant role in long-term training paradigms or in subjects with impaired neuronal plasticity or reduced learning capacity, such as aged individuals, demented patients or patients with brain lesions, has to be determined in future studies.
Behaviour under risk , probability weighting and the structure of gambles : An experimental study over realistic losses

Experimental investigations over losses of individual decision making under risk are rather scarce and to our knowledge, they all involved very low payoffs. Still, real life situations often involve losses, and sometimes large ones. The present study has thus been designed to provide some new insight on risky behaviour, utility and probability weighting over a wide interval of losses. The sensitivity of risky behaviour and probability weighting to the structure of the gamble (namely the magnitude of payoffs and the distance between them) is particularly investigated. Current data confirm previous evidence of convex utility functions and inverseS shaped weighting functions. Moreover, probability weighting appears to be affected by the distance between consequences rather than by their absolute size: mixed gambles involving large as well as small losses induce stronger risk aversion and more lasting pessimism than homogeneous gambles involving either small or large losses. Further evidence concerning the influence of the gamble's structure might help to improve our understanding of individual (sometimes undesirable) risky behaviour. A huge number of empirical studies have demonstrated the descriptive shortcomings of the expected-utility (EU) model, and especially of its central axiom, the independence axiom. Since this axiom is responsible for the linearity in probabilities of the preference functional, several authors have released it and introduced non linear probability transformation through a probability weighting function. (DM) to subjectively transform both consequences – through a utility or a value function – and probabilities – through the probability weighting function. models have proved to be the most promising ones. The main difference between the two concerns the probability weighting function 1. The RDU model introduces a single weighting function, common for both gains and
Mouse Models of Gastric Carcinogenesis

Gastric cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. Animal models have been used to elucidate the details of the molecular mechanisms of various cancers. However, most inbred strains of mice have resistance to gastric carcinogenesis. Helicobacter infection and carcinogen treatment have been used to establish mouse models that exhibit phenotypes similar to those of human gastric cancer. A large number of transgenic and knockout mouse models of gastric cancer have been developed using genetic engineering. A combination of carcinogens and gene manipulation has been applied to facilitate development of advanced gastric cancer; however, it is rare for mouse models of gastric cancer to show aggressive, metastatic phenotypes required for preclinical studies. Here, we review current mouse models of gastric carcinogenesis and provide our perspectives on future developments in this field.
Pricing effects of private seasoned equity issues in New Zealand's laissez-faire regulatory environment

Since the late 1980s New Zealand (NZ) has often been heralded for its free-market approach and laissez-faire attitude towards regulations in the financial market. We find that private placements issued at a premium to current market price exhibit a permanent positive impact on firm value. In contrast, those placed at a discount experience negative announcement returns and a significant run-down in returns following the announcement. There is a strong positive relationship between abnormal announcement returns and the price at which shares are placed which suggests placement price conveys important information regarding firm quality and value. We also find evidence of significant higher volumes which support market rumors that placement purchasers are immediately dumping shares purchased at a discount onto the market for an instant profit.
Evaluating a mobile crisis intervention program

There are four main components in this thesis: a literature review of program evaluation, a description and discussion of the current status of program evaluation in the crisis intervention literature, results and discussion of the formative evaluation which is the primary element of the thesis, and a report on the use of the Goal Attainment Follow-up Guide (GAFG) (Kiresuk & Sherman, 1968) and the Brief Derogatis Psychiatric Rating Scale CB-DPRS) (Derogatis, 1978) for community-based mobile crisis intervention programs. The data for the evaluation were gathered using both quantitative and qualitative methods. There were 150 participants in the study: 89 females and 61 males. The mean age was 35. The GAFG was completed by 81 of the participants; 33 of the participants were administered the B-DPRS. There were three major findings in this evaluation. The participants contacted significantly more community agencies and spent less time in hospital after using the crisis program and the GAFG and B-DPRS were found to be unsuitable as outcome instruments for a community-based mobile crisis program.
The Phantom Vanish Magic Trick: Investigating the Disappearance of a Non-existent Object in a Dynamic Scene

Drawing inspiration from sleight-of-hand magic tricks, we developed an experimental paradigm to investigate whether magicians’ misdirection techniques could be used to induce the misperception of “phantom” objects. While previous experiments investigating sleight-of-hand magic tricks have focused on creating false assumptions about the movement of an object in a scene, our experiment investigated creating false assumptions about the presence of an object in a scene. Participants watched a sequence of silent videos depicting a magician performing with a single object. Following each video, participants were asked to write a description of the events in the video. In the final video, participants watched the Phantom Vanish Magic Trick, a novel magic trick developed for this experiment, in which the magician pantomimed the actions of presenting an object and then making it magically disappear. No object was presented during the final video. The silent videos precluded the use of false verbal suggestions, and participants were not asked leading questions about the objects. Nevertheless, 32% of participants reported having visual impressions of non-existent objects. These findings support an inferential model of perception, wherein top-down expectations can be manipulated by the magician to generate vivid illusory experiences, even in the absence of corresponding bottom-up information.
Resilience of modular complex networks

Complex networks often have a modular structure, where a number of tightly- connected groups of nodes (modules) have relatively few interconnections. Modularity had been shown to have an important effect on the evolution and stability of biological networks, on the scalability and efficiency of large-scale infrastructure, and the development of economic and social systems. An analytical framework for understanding modularity and its effects on network vulnerability is still missing. Through recent advances in the understanding of multilayer networks, however, it is now possible to develop a theoretical framework to systematically study this critical issue. Here we study, analytically and numerically, the resilience of modular networks under attacks on interconnected nodes, which exhibit high betweenness values and are often more exposed to failure. Our model provides new understandings into the feedback between structure and function in real world systems, and consequently has important implications as diverse as developing efficient immunization strategies, designing robust large-scale infrastructure, and understanding brain function.
Assessing estimates of the exchange rate pass-through

This paper uses Monte Carlo techniques to address the question: are structural VAR estimates of exchange rate pass-through a useful tool to evaluate macroeconomic models of open economies? The data generating process is a small open economy DSGE model with incomplete pass-through. The results suggest that (i) the pass-through estimates obtained from a first-differenced VAR exhibit a systematic downward bias; (ii) by contrast, estimates derived from a low order vector equilibrium correction model are fairly accurate; but (iii) standard cointegration tests have low power to detect the cointegration relations implied by the DSGE model.
Evidence on Credit Constraints, University Attendance and Income Contingent Loans

The effects of credit constraints on university participation are investigated in a setting where income contingent tuition loans are available to students. Students most likely to face credit constraints have the same or higher probability of attending university as all other students, given their high school achievement. A novel approach to handle potential bias arising from unobserved heterogeneity is proposed. An estimate of unobservable heterogeneity based on post-secondary plans reported during ninth grade is constructed. This estimate is found to explain university attendance but does not overturn results regarding the effects of credit constraints.
Impact of the cost of capital on the financing decisions of Brazilian companies

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to examine the market timing behavior of listed Brazilian companies to verify the effects of the cost of capital on their financing decisions, and hence on their capital structure. Design/methodology/approach - – The relation between the cost of capital (debt and equity capital) and the leverage of firms in the period from 2000 to 2011 is analyzed by means of regression models with panel data. For this purpose, different proxies are used for the cost of equity and debt capital. Findings - – The results provide strong evidence that Brazilian firms take advantage of windows of opportunity to obtain financing, and that when the cost of equity capital is high, firms appear to follow a pecking order, giving preference to debt financing. However, the decision is based on the cost of alternative sources of funding rather than just on the hierarchy established by the pecking order theory, due to the information asymmetry between market agents. Originality/value - – Few studies of the Brazilian capital market have analyzed firms’ capital structure under the market timing approach, and none have addressed the same aspects analyzed here. Therefore, this paper will be useful to different users of accounting information by indicating the factors that influence the capital structure of Brazilian firms, allowing a better analysis of whether these firms act to maximize the generation of shareholder wealth.
Ieee Transactions on Affective Computing, Preprint 1 Robust Unsupervised Arousal Rating: a Rule-based Framework with Knowledge-inspired Vocal Features

—Studies in classifying affect from vocal cues have produced exceptional within-corpus results, especially for arousal (activation or stress); yet cross-corpora affect recognition has only recently garnered attention. An essential requirement of many behavioral studies is affect scoring that generalizes across different social contexts and data conditions. We present a robust, unsupervised (rule-based) method for providing a scale-continuous, bounded arousal rating operating on the vocal signal. The method incorporates just three knowledge-inspired features chosen based on empirical and theoretical evidence. It constructs a speaker's baseline model for each feature separately, and then computes single-feature arousal scores. Lastly, it advantageously fuses the single-feature arousal scores into a final rating without knowledge of the true affect. The baseline data is preferably labeled as neutral, but some initial evidence is provided to suggest that no labeled data is required in certain cases. The proposed method is compared to a state-of-the-art supervised technique which employs a high-dimensional feature set. The proposed framework achieves highly-competitive performance with additional benefits. The measure is interpretable, scale-continuous as opposed to discrete, and can operate without any affective labeling. An accompanying Matlab tool is made available with the paper.
ESSAYS ON THE ECONOMICS OF MIGRATION FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

The aim of this thesis is to study through four essays the economics of migration from developing countries. The rst chapter assesses the e¤ect of natural disasters (mainly due to climate change), in developing countries, on migration rates and looks at how this e¤ect varies according to the level of education of people. Our results show that natural disasters are positively associated with emigration rates and also involve the migration of highly skilled people. The second chapter presents the di¤erent channels explaining the intention to migrate illegally. One of the novelties of the analysis is that it uses a tailor-made survey among urban Senegalese individuals. We nd that potential illegal migrants are willing to accept a substantial risk of death and tend to be young, single and with a low level of education. We also show that the price of illegal migration, migrant networks, high expectations, tight immigration policies and the preferred destination country all play a role in the willingness to migrate illegally. The third chapter completes the second one by studying the role of risk-aversion and discount rate in illegal migration from Senegal. Our results show that these individual preferences matter in the willingness to migrate illegally and to pay a smuggler. Finally in the fourth chapter, we are interested in the e¤ect of migrants on credit markets in a rural Senegalese context. According to our results, having a migrant in a household increases both the likelihood of having a loan and its size, whether the loan is formal or informal. We also nd that this positive e¤ect remains signi cant no matter if the loan is taken for professional activities or simply to buy food.
Getting to grips with stress in the workplace

Purpose – This paper aims to describes the causes of stress, how it is manifested in the workplace and strategies for reducing it.Design/methodology/approach – Explains what stress is, how to recognize it and how to incorporate programs in order to reduce its negative impact.Findings – Reveals that the main areas that influence the level of chronic stress felt in the workplace are perception of job demands, individual differences and social demands. Although stress management is often considered important by businesses, action is rarely taken until the damage has been done.Practical implications – Advances the view that management needs to carefully and regularly monitor stress levels in the workplace, identify what is causing unnecessary stress and implement policies and procedures that will help to both manage and reduce stress.Social implications – Claims that, while social demands can be psychologically distressing, social support from friends, colleagues and family tends to benefit psychological well.
Why ThreaTs Trigger CompensaTory reaCTions: The neeD for CoherenCe anD qUesT for self-verifiCaTion

There is considerable agreement that threatening people's beliefs may trigger compensatory activity designed to reaffirm the beliefs that have been challenged. Disagreement reigns, however, regarding the nature of the mechanism that underlies such compensatory activity. We propose that the desire for coherence that motivates self-verification processes underlies these processes. For example, research on self-verification has demonstrated that just as people with positive self-views react to negative evaluations by amplifying their efforts to confirm their positive self-views, people with negative self-views react to positive evaluations by amplifying their efforts to confirm negative self-views. Further, whereas past research on self-verification strivings demonstrate that coherence strivings motivate efforts to confirm negative as well as positive self-views, recent work on meaning maintenance activities indicates that people work to verify implicit as well as explicit self-views.
Sequential Exporting Facundo Albornoz University of Birmingham

Firms need to incur substantial sunk costs to break in foreign markets, yet many give up exporting shortly after their rst experience, which typically involves very small sales. Conversely, other new exporters shoot up their foreign sales and expand to new destinations. We investigate a simple theoretical mechanism that can rationalize these patterns. A rm discovers its pro tability as exporter only after actually engaging in exporting. The pro tability is positively correlated over time and across destinations. Accordingly, once the rm learns how good it is as an exporter, it adjusts quantities and decides whether to exit and whether to serve new destinations. Thus, it is the possibility of pro table expansion at both the intensive and extensive margins what makes incurring the sunk costs to enter a single foreign market worthwhile despite the high failure rates. Using a census of Argentinean rm-level manufacturing exports from 2002 to 2007, we nd empirical support for several implications of our proposed mechanism, indicating that the practice of “sequential exporting” is pervasive. Sequential exporting has broad but subtle implications for trade policy. For example, a reduction in trade barriers in a country has delayed entry e ects in its own market, while also promoting entry in other markets. This trade externality poses challenges for the quanti cation of the e ects of trade liberalization programs, while suggesting neglected but critical implications of international trade agreements. JEL Codes: L21, F13, F15, D83
Poland on the dole: unemployment benefits, training, and long-term unemployment during transition

We analyse the duration of unemployment spells in Poland using data from the Polish Labour Force Survey of August 1994. The effects on the duration of unemployment of important socio-economic and demographic characteristics are explored besides the impacts of the unemployment benefit system and training schemes. Finally, we investigate whether prior unemployment influences one's chances to find a job. Entitlements to unemployment benefits prolong unemployment spell durations significantly. This effect is roughly of the same magnitude under the two benefit regimes that existed between 1990 and 1994, although the generosity of the unemployment benefit system has been reduced drastically in 1992. The results give credence to the view that the unlimited entitlement period of the old regime was not the main culprit for the widespread incidence of long-term unemployment. Training programmes organised by labour offices should not be regarded as a panacea for the problems of the long-term unemployed. The results suggest that active labour market policies should perhaps be seen more as a tool for social rather than economic policy. People with previous unemployment spells must expect to stay unemployed far longer than people who become unemployed for the first time. On the other hand, controlling for unobserved individual heterogeneity, we find that the probability of finding a job increases, especially for men, with the duration of unemployment.
Isolation of Enteric Nervous System Progenitor Cells from the Aganglionic Gut of Patients with Hirschsprung’s Disease

Enteric nervous system progenitor cells isolated from postnatal human gut and cultured as neurospheres can then be transplanted into aganglionic gut to restore normal patterns of contractility. These progenitor cells may be of future use to treat patients with Hirschprung’s disease, a congenital condition characterized by hindgut dysmotility due to the lack of enteric nervous system ganglia. Here we demonstrate that progenitor cells can also be isolated from aganglionic gut removed during corrective surgery for Hirschsprung’s disease. Although the enteric nervous system marker calretinin is not expressed in the aganglionic gut region, de novo expression is initiated in cultured neurosphere cells isolated from aganglionic Hirschsprung bowel. Furthermore, expression of the neural markers NOS, VIP and GFAP also increased during culture of aganglionic gut neurospheres which we show can be transplantation into cultured embryonic mouse gut explants to restore a normal frequency of contractility. To determine the origin of the progenitor cells in aganglionic region, we used fluorescence-activated cell sorting to demonstrate that only p75-positive neural crest-derived cells present in the thickened nerve trunks characteristic of the aganglionic region of Hirschsprung gut gave rise to neurons in culture. The derivation of enteric nervous system progenitors in the aganglionic gut region of Hirschprung’s patients not only means that this tissue is a potential source of cells for future autologous transplantation, but it also raises the possibility of inducing the differentiation of these endogenous cells in situ to compensate for the aganglionosis.