Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of sustained high altitude on asthma patients

Due to factors such as allergen avoidance and the decrease of air pollution, sustained stays in a high-altitude climate have been recommended for asthma patients for a long time. There are also documented effects and favorable influence on the health of permanent residents at high altitude; for example, the frequency of allergic sensitization to house dust mite in asymptomatic subjects is much lower than at sea level. In the context of this article, ‘high altitude’ means 1500–2500 m above sea level. The aim of the review is to summarize the available data on the effects of a sustained stay of asthmatic patient data between 1500–1800 m above sea level in alpine altitudes (Europe). Climatic conditions in South America or in Africa are completely different from the altitudes discussed in this review. We conclude that the available evidence suggests a significant benefit of high altitude for asthmatic patients, particularly in steroid-dependent patients.
Going different ways? Right-wing parties and the immigrant issue in Denmark and Sweden

This contribution analyses centre-right parties' attitudes and positions on immigration and integration in Denmark and Sweden. Despite the two countries being socio-economically and culturally similar, there are some significant political and structural differences which help to explain why immigration has played a much more prominent role in Danish politics compared to Swedish politics. The article argues that this can be explained with reference to, on the one hand, the stability of bloc party politics and, on the other, the extent to which centre-right parties have exploited ‘the immigration issue’ as a profiling tool. The findings suggest that even though Denmark has adopted a much tougher stance on immigration and integration compared to Sweden, the political climate in the latter has also undergone a number of changes in the past decade which have allowed centre-right and radical right parties to use immigration to challenge the prevailing cross-party consensus on the issue by suggesting a more market-oriented integration policy.
A (nearly) global look at the dynamics of youth smoking initiation and cessation: the role of cigarette prices

This study investigates the role of cigarette prices on smoking initiation and cessation among youth in a sample of eight primarily non-Western low, middle, and high income countries, with a particular focus on a subsample of 40 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Using split-population duration models on longitudinally-transformed individual data from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS), the average impact of cigarette prices in the presence of unobserved country heterogeneity and shifting cultural norms within countries is identified by the variation of cigarette prices within countries over time. Price increases are found to effectively reduce initiation in early youth, and girls are considerably more responsive than boys. The price elasticity of initiation in LMICs is −0.82 for the combined gender analysis, −0.46 for boys only and −1.5 for girls only. There is some indication that youths in developing countries may be slightly less responsive to price changes than in high-income countries. No evidence is found that cigarette prices increase quitting rates in youth, which may be due to the difficulty of defining true quitting among smokers in early life.
Negotiation, Cultural Differences, and Planning in Mergers and Acquisitions

Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have proven to be a significant and increasingly popular strategy used by a large number of firms in many regions across the globe despite the consistent evidence on negative post-merger performance. While many studies focus on the pre-merger stage, the literature on post-merger integration processes is limited and it is rarely possible to find a study on the negotiation stage. The article explores the crucial yet neglected factors that influence negotiation outcomes. It provides a theoretical framework that provides opportunities for systematic research on the relationships between cultural differences, negotiation planning, and their interrelationship, and on negotiation outcomes.
Non-Separable Preferences and Frisch Labor Supply: One Solution to a Fiscal Policy Puzzle

This paper proposes a theoretical explanation of the empirical finding that private consumption increases in response to an increase in government spending. The explanation requires two ingredients. First, labor demand expands (e.g. prices are sticky). Second, general non-separable preferences over consumption and leisure should be such that Frisch labor supply elasticity is lower than the constant-consumption elasticity; this implies that constant-consumption labor supply shifts left. Existing empirical evidence on the relative magnitudes of the two elasticities supports this hypothesis. The parametric conditions under which the result occurs are consistent with restrictions of concavity and non-inferiority of consumption and leisure.
Identity, Literacy, and English-Language Teaching

In the field of English-language teaching, there has been increasing interest in how literacy development is influenced by institutional and community practice and how power is implicated in language-learners’ engagement with text. In this article, I trace the trajectory of my research on identity, literacy, and English-language teaching informed by theories of investment and imagined communities. Data from English-language classrooms in Canada, Pakistan, and Uganda suggest that if learners have a sense of ownership over meaning-making, they will have enhanced identities as learners and participate more actively in literacy practices. The research challenges English teachers to consider which pedagogical practices are both appropriate and desirable in the teaching of literacy and which will help students develop the capacity for imagining a wider range of identities across time and space. Such practices, the research suggests, will necessitate changes in both teachers’ and students’ identity.
PORTER′S (1980) GENERIC STRATEGIES IN PORTUGAL

States that the usefulness of theory, developed in the United States, in international settings, is of particular interest. The wider the domain to which theory can be applied, the greater its value to the body of knowledge to which it belongs. Examines the applicability of Michael Porter′s Three Generic Strategy Typology (1980) in the developing manufacturing nation of Portugal. It was concluded that the typology is an excellent representation of the strategic orientations of manufacturing firms in Portugal. The existence of the strategic options of cost leadership, differentiation and focus were identified, in their pure form, through factor analysis. Regardless of the apparent lack of formal strategic planning processes, Portuguese manufacturing firms appear to be following internally consistent business level strategies.
State-federal relations in Nigerian agriculture

An analysis of state-federal relations in developing agricultural economies must first address such issues as the overall role of government, the need for public administrative suppport and the relative roles of state and federal governments during agricultural transformation. After examining the historical antecedents of local-state-federal relations in agricultural development, this paper presents an analytical normative model suggesting guidelines for assigning fiscal responsibilities for agricultural programs among tiers of the government. It then examines empirical evidence against the background of the analytical model; isolates the critical issues in government relations in Nigerian agriculture; and makes some recommendations that may guide relationships in the future. The next sections present a brief sketch of historical antecedents and an analytical model of the criteria for assigning responsibilities for agriculture between state and federal governments. The paper then examines the empirical evidence, while the final section isolates the critical issues in local-state-federal relations in Nigerian agriculture.
A neural network approach to inflation forecasting: the case of Italy

In this paper, a Divisia monetary index measure of money is constructed for the Italian economy and its inflation forecasting potential is compared with that of its traditional simple sum counterpart. The powerful and flexible Artificial Intelligence technique of neural networks is used to allow a completely flexible mapping of the variables and a greater variety of functional form than is currently achievable using conventional econometric techniques. Results show that superior tracking of inflation is possible for networks that employ a Divisia M2 measure of money. During a period of high financial innovation in Italy Divisia outperforms simple sum at both the AL and M2 levels of monetary aggregation. This support for Divisia is entirely consistent with findings based on standard econometric techniques. Divisia monetary aggregates appear to offer advantages over their simple sum counterparts as macroeconomic indicators. Further, the combination of Divisia measures of money with the artificial neural network offers a promising starting point for improved models of inflation.
Depth, ambition and width in regional economic organizations

ABSTRACT Many have argued that international agreements face a trade-off between width and depth: that is, that having more members (and greater diversity among those members) tends to lead to lower levels of co-operation within an organization. Recent theoretical literature has called into question the nature of this trade-off, and has even questioned its existence. In this contribution, we seek to uncover the empirical relationship between width and depth using a cross-sectional dataset on regional economic organizations (REOs). We use expert survey data to capture information on key dimensions that taps into the depth of co-operation. We demonstrate that there is no empirical relationship between the number of members in an organization and the depth of co-operation. However, organizations with more members tend to have more ambitious goals and broader scope. This may contribute to the perception of a depth and breadth tradeoff.
What Can Company Data Tell Us About Financing and Investment Decisions?

Capital markets play an important role in financing UK companies. Since 2009, corporate bond issuance has been strong, and yet aggregate UK business investment has remained weak. In part, this pattern of company behaviour can be explained by companies choosing to issue bonds in order to reduce other forms of debt, such as bank loans. But company-level data show that there is considerable heterogeneity in companies’ investment behaviour. Companies that use capital markets have increased their investment significantly since the trough in 2009. Their investment growth, however, fell in 2012, suggesting that other factors besides access to finance were also influencing companies’ investment decisions at the time.
Interferon-Gamma Producing Regulatory T Cells as a Diagnostic and Therapeutic Tool in Organ Transplantation

There is increasing evidence that IFNg plays a major role in both induction of Tregs as well as immunosuppression mediated by IFNg-producing Tregs. The present review focuses on a small subset of iTregs that produces IFNg, comprises only 0.04% of all CD4+ T lymphocytes in the blood of healthy individuals, and increases strongly during an immune response. IFNg+ Tregs are induced by IFNg and IL12, making them sensors for inflammatory cytokines. They develop rapidly during inflammation and represent the first line of Tregs that suppress initial immune responses. The pool of IFNg+ Tregs consists of activated stable immunosuppressive thymus-derived nTregs as well as peripherally proliferating iTregs with in part only transient immunosuppressive function, which limits their diagnostic and therapeutic usefulness in organ transplantation. Apparently, a part of IFNg+ Tregs dies during the immune response, whereas others, after efficient immunosuppression with resolution of the immune response, differentiate toward Th1 lymphocytes. Goals of further research are the development of appropriate diagnostic tests for rapid and exact determinination of immunosuppressive IFNg+ iTregs, as well as the induction and propagation of stable immunosuppressive IFNg+ Tregs that establish and maintain good long-term graft function in transplant recipients.
Transnational Liftoff and Juridical Touchdown: The Regulatory Function of Private International Law in an Era of Globalization

Globalization is sometimes considered to have led to the liftoff of international business transactions from national regulatory oversight. This Article is concerned with the connection between a liftoff of transnational business processes and the laws related to international economic transactions. In particular, the Article examines the "governing" role that national private laws play in transnational business relations through an examination of the regulatory function of private international law.The Article describes how recent "internationalist" reforms in private international law contribute to a possible liftoff and discusses representative policy justifications for these reforms, such as the facilitation of international commerce, the attainment of interstate cooperation, and the promotion of cosmopolitan fairness to parties. It then explores reasons why the traditional regulatory function of private international law has been obscured in recent internationalist reform, in particular by its ready, if misleading, identification with parochialism. To address such concerns, the Article describes a cosmopolitan account of the regulatory function of private international law in the contemporary era of globalization. It identifies the nature of the regulatory challenges that face private international law in the current international system and makes proposals for the kinds of regulatory role that private international law could play in the constitution of a pluralistic system of governance that might address some of the excesses of economic globalization.
Analysis of nodularin‐R in eider (Somateria mollissima), roach (Rutilus rutilus L.), and flounder (Platichthys flesus L.) liver and muscle samples from the western Gulf of Finland, northern Baltic Sea

Nodularin (NODLN) is a cyanobacterial hepatotoxin that may cause toxic effects at very low exposure levels. The NODLN‐producing cyanobacterium Nodularia spumigena forms massive blooms in the northern Baltic Sea, especially during the summer. We analyzed liver and muscle (edible meat) samples from common eider (Somateria mollissima), roach (Rutilus rutilus L.), and flounder (Platichthys flesus L.) for NODLN‐R by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC‐MS) and enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Thirty eiders, 11 roach, and 15 flounders were caught from the western Gulf of Finland between September 2002 and October 2004. Eiders from April to June 2003 were found dead. The majority of samples were analyzed by LC‐MS and ELISA from the same sample extracts (water:methanol:n‐butanol, 75:20:5, v:v:v). Nodularin was detected in 27 eiders, nine roach, and eight flounders. Eider liver samples contained NODLN up to approximately 200 μg/kg dry weight and muscle samples at approximately 20 μg/kg dry weight, roach liver samples 20 to 900 μg NODLN/kg dry weight and muscle samples 2 to 200 μg NODLN/kg dry weight, and flounder liver samples approximately 5 to 1,100 μg NODLN/kg dry weight and muscle samples up to 100 μg NODLN/kg dry weight. The NODLN concentrations found in individual muscle samples of flounders, eiders, and roach (1–200 μg NODLN/kg dry wt) indicate that screening and risk assessment of NODLN in Baltic Sea edible fish and wildlife are required for the protection of consumer's health.
Hedonic prices for Spanish red quality wine

In this paper, market values for most of wine attributes are measured through the estimation of a hedonic price function, which relates the price of a wine to its various attributes. As more expensive wines are also associated with higher recognition of wine attributes, results also reflect consumers’ valuation of wine attributes. Data used in this paper comes from a wine catalogue in which only price categories are available. As independent variables, the following wine attributes have been considered: region of production, the year vintage, grape variety, alcoholic content and expert quality ratings. Due to the nature of available data, the hedonic price function has been estimated in the form of a Multinomial Logit model. Results indicate that the two first variables (region of production and the year vintage) are the main market price determinants while grape variety and the alcoholic contents are not significantly correlated with red wine prices.
A hedonic price model of office rents

The primary objective of this study is to apply hedonic regression techniques to an office market to identify and quantify the significant contribution of the different attributes to office rents. This technique is widely used in the analysis of housing markets but an extensive literature review reveals little application in commercial property markets. The study analyses a sample of 477 asking rents, together with a series of locational and physical attributes, for the City of Glasgow. The results explain approximately 60 per cent of variation in rents across the city, emphasizing the importance of age and location as principal determinants of rents.
The Effects of Reforming the Chinese Dual-Track Price System*

We formulate a microeconomic model of the dual-track price system for Households and use it to analyze 'transitional policy' reforms, which we characterize as a rise in plan-track price and a reduction in the plan-track quantity. Each of these reforms has a negative effect on market price, but a positive effect on the weighted average price (CPI). When households are homogeneous, transitional policy reform reduces welfare (if profits are not fully distributed). Under fairly mild assumptions, if households are heterogeneous and resale of goods can occur, transitional policy reform creates losers (state employees) as well as winners (non-state employees).
Gamma synuclein: subcellular localization in neuronal and non-neuronal cells and effect on signal transduction.

Synucleins are small, highly conserved proteins in vertebrates, especially abundant in neurons and typically enriched in presynaptic terminals. alpha-Synuclein protein and a fragment of it, called NAC, have been found in association with pathological lesions of neurodegenerative diseases. Recently, mutations in a alpha-synuclein gene have been reported in families susceptible to an inherited form of Parkinson's diseases. In addition, alpha-synuclein has been implicated in the pathophysiology of other neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease and multiple system atrophy. Far less is known about other members of the synuclein family, beta- and gamma-synucleins. gamma-synuclein is up-regulated in several types of cancer and may affect the integrity of the neurofilament network, while its bovine ortholog, synoretin, activates the Elk-1 signal transduction pathway. In this paper, we present data about the localization and properties of human and bovine gamma-synuclein in several neuronal and non-neuronal cell cultures derived from ocular tissues. We show that gamma-synuclein is present in the perinuclear area and is localized to centrosomes in several types of human interphase cells and in bovine retinal pigment epithelium. In mitotic cells, gamma-synuclein staining is localized to the poles of the spindle. Further, overexpression of synoretin in retinoblastoma cells up-regulates MAPK and Elk-1. These results support the view that gamma-synuclein is a centrosome protein that may be involved in signal transduction pathways.
Discovering Markov Blanket from Multiple interventional Datasets

In this paper, we study the problem of discovering the Markov blanket (MB) of a target variable from multiple interventional datasets. Datasets attained from interventional experiments contain richer causal information than passively observed data (observational data) for MB discovery. However, almost all existing MB discovery methods are designed for finding MBs from a single observational dataset. To identify MBs from multiple interventional datasets, we face two challenges: (1) unknown intervention variables; (2) nonidentical data distributions. To tackle the challenges, we theoretically analyze (a) under what conditions we can find the correct MB of a target variable, and (b) under what conditions we can identify the causes of the target variable via discovering its MB. Based on the theoretical analysis, we propose a new algorithm for discovering MBs from multiple interventional datasets, and present the conditions/assumptions which assure the correctness of the algorithm. To our knowledge, this work is the first to present the theoretical analyses about the conditions for MB discovery in multiple interventional datasets and the algorithm to find the MBs in relation to the conditions. Using benchmark Bayesian networks and real-world datasets, the experiments have validated the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed algorithm in the paper.
Mortality and cancer incidence in 263 patients with ataxia-telangiectasia.

Mortality and cancer incidence were measured retrospectively in 263 ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) homozygotes. For white and black A-T patients, respectively, all-cause mortality was 50 and 147 times higher than expected based on U.S. mortality rates. There were 52 primary cancers, representing a 61-fold cancer excess for white probands and a 184-fold excess for black probands. The cancer excess was most pronounced for lymphoma, with 252- and 750-fold excesses observed for whites and blacks, respectively. All the age-specific mortality and cancer incidence rates for blacks exceeded those for whites, and overall mortality was 3.0 times higher for black probands than for whites (P less than .001), whereas cancer incidence was 2.2 times higher (P less than .06). Among the white A-T patients, 36% of those who had died had lived at least until 20 years of age, and 33% of those still living were at least 20 years old.