Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Do Depositors Punish Banks for 'Bad' Behavior? Market Discipline in Argentina, Chile, and Mexico

This paper examines the existence of market discipline in the banking industries of Argentina, Chile, and Mexico during the 1980s and 1990s. Using a bank panel data set, we test for the presence of market discipline by studying whether depositors punish risky banks by withdrawing their deposits. We find that across countries and across deposit insurance schemes, market discipline exists even among small, insured depositors. Standardized coefficients and variance decomposition of deposits indicate that bank fundamentals are at least as important as other factors affecting deposits. GMM estimations confirm that the results are robust to the potential endogeneity of bank fundamentals.
Different Measures of Print Exposure Predict Different Aspects of Vocabulary.

The authors examined whether different measures of print exposure assess the same underlying concept and how these different measures relate to vocabulary breadth and depth. One hundred forty-seven students attending the third year of kindergarten in Jining, China, were assessed on nonverbal IQ, vocabulary breadth and depth, and their knowledge of book titles. Parents also participated in the study by filling out a questionnaire on the frequency of shared book reading and the number of children's books at home, recording their daily parent–child reading activities (diary), and completing the children's title and author recognition checklists. Results of exploratory factor analysis indicated that the measures of print exposure were loading on three interrelated factors. The items measuring the frequency of shared book reading at home along with diary formed one factor, the children's title recognition checklist and number of children's books at home formed a second factor, and children's knowledge of book titles formed a third factor. In addition, the results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that whereas all factors accounted for unique variance (3–6%) in vocabulary breadth, only children's knowledge of book titles predicted vocabulary depth, after controlling for children's age, parents’ education and income, and children's nonverbal IQ. Taken together, these findings suggest that different measures of print exposure may capture different aspects of print exposure and that these aspects may exert a different role in vocabulary breadth and depth.
Effect of plant growth promoting fungal inoculant on the growth of arachis hypogea (L.) and it’s role on the induction of systemic resistance against rhizoctonia solani.

Beneficial plant microbe interactions in the rhizosphere are primary determinants of plant health and soil fertility. Plant growth promoting fungi have great effect towards the growth of plant crops. Soil borne pathogenic fungi cause heavy crop losses all over the world. As the use of chemicals for disease control and fertilization causes environmental problems, there is a need for alternative control measures. The most important and economically cultivated plant pea-nut was selected to test the growth promotion by antagonistic microorganisms with or with our pathogen Rhizoctonia solani . This necessitates a study on Plant Growth Promoting Fungi (PGPF) as adequate work has gone on rhizobacteria. The present investigation was conducted to study the effect of PGPF on the growth of Arachis hypogea (L.) and its role of induction of systemic resistance against Rhizoctonia solani. Forty five rhizosphere fungal isolates were obtained from 12 different cultivated field crops and were screened for their potential to promote growth in Arachis hypogea (L.). The isolate (Cc 2 ) obtained from Cucumis sativus (L.). Duch.ex. poir was identified as the potential plant growth promoting fungus. The effect of soil inoculation with the selected isolate Cc 2 on the growth of healthy plants of Arachis hypogea (L.) and those challenged with Rhizoctonia solani was studied by pot culture experiment. The overall vegetative growth of plant (Root and Shoot development, Dry matter accumulation) and reproductive growth (Pod and Seed development) were studied. The fungal inoculants improved effectively the growth both in plants challenged and unchallenged with Rhizoctonia solani. The soil inoculation of Cc 2 has improved the chlorophyll, carotenoid, anthocyanins ,total soluble sugar and protein content compare to the untreated plants (T 0 ) and plants infected by Rhizoctonia solani (T 1 ). The phenol and proline contents were found to be higher in plants challenged with Rhizoctonia solani. Growth hormone production ability of the selected isolate was determined. Results revealed that the selected isolate could produce Indole Acetic Acid and Gibberellic Acid. The in vitro study by dual culture method revealed that there was a negative interaction (Antibiosis) between the plant growth promoting fungal inoculant (Cc 2 ) and the pathogen Rhizoctonia solani. It could be concluded that the selected isolate Cc 2 proved to be a potential fungus in promoting plant growth and yield in Arachis hypogea (L.) and in inducing systemic resistance in Arachis hypogea (L.) against Rhizoctonia solani. Finally Cc 2 was identified as
Student teachers’ emotional landscapes in self- and co-regulated learning

Abstract Self- and co-regulation are central elements in skillful student-teacher learning. Studies have confirmed the interrelation between positive academic emotions and student engagement in self-regulated learning. There are also indicators of student-teachers experiencing co-regulative learning activities as highly significant. Yet, we know surprisingly little about the emotional landscape of the self- and co-regulation of learning among student-teachers. Hence, in this study, we explore the kinds of academic emotions that primary school student-teachers experience during self- and co-regulated learning. Altogether 19 Finnish primary school student-teachers were interviewed. The data were qualitatively content analyzed. The results showed that both self- and co-regulated learning experiences were emotionally activating. Student-teachers reported primarily positive emotions (80%) in self- and co-regulated learning. The results also showed that positive activating emotions, such as enthusiasm, were emphasized in all regulatory phases: goal setting and task analysis, strategy use and monitoring, and reflection. Our findings on the high frequency of various positive emotions embedded in self- and co-regulated learning confirmed that positive activating emotions are essential elements in student-teachers self- and co-regulated learning. The findings imply that self- and co-regulated learning can trigger a positive cycle in student-teacher learning in terms of both emotions and productive learning.
Ten years of tiotropium: clinical impact and patient perspectives

Tiotropium bromide is an anticholinergic agent that has gained worldwide acceptance as a first-line, once daily maintenance therapy for patients with moderate-to-severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The purpose of this review is to synthesize the evidence base in the past 10 years on the development of tiotropium and its efficacy compared to other able interventions such as long-acting beta agonists (LABAs), as well as to assess its safety profile and its effects on health-related outcomes in patients with COPD. Treatment with tiotropium bromide has generally improved patients’ health-related quality of life, reduced the number of patients suffering from acute exacerbations, decreased the number of hospitalizations, improved dyspnea, and reduced adverse events compared to placebo. In the past decade, several studies have examined the safety and efficacy of tiotropium in comparison to placebo and to LABAs (salmeterol, formoterol, and indacaterol) over periods ranging from 3 months to 48 months of follow-up. Head-to-head comparisons of tiotropium 18 μg (once daily) with salmeterol 50 μg (twice daily) in well-controlled trials demonstrated that tiotropium was superior in reducing acute exacerbation events and in improving quality of life. In a few short-term studies, indacaterol was comparable to tiotropium in its efficacy in improving health-related outcomes. Although the safety record of tiotropium has been exemplary in comparison to placebo, anticholinergic events such as dry mouth can be encountered in some patients. While the long-term safety of tiotropium when delivered in the HandiHaler® has been well documented, its delivery using the Respimat® Soft Mist Inhaler™ was associated with an elevated risk of cardiovascular complications, including increased mortality when compared to placebo. The exact mechanism for this is not known but is being investigated in a large multinational study that will evaluate the long-term safety of different doses of tiotropium delivered by the Respimat® soft mist inhaler versus the HandiHaler®. Further studies are required to investigate the efficacy and safety of tiotropium in comparison with novel LABAs such as indacaterol and vilanterol, and with other emerging novel anticholinergic agents such as aclidinium bromide and NVA237 (glycopyrronium bromide).
Brain-inspired sensor fusion for navigating robots

Current state of the art robot mapping and navigation systems produce impressive performance under a narrow range of robot platform, sensor and environmental conditions, in contrast to animals such as rats that produce “good enough” maps that enable them to function under an incredible range of situations. In this paper we present a rat-inspired featureless sensor-fusion system that assesses the usefulness of multiple sensor modalities based on their utility and coherence for place recognition, without knowledge as to the type of sensor. We demonstrate the system on a Pioneer robot in indoor and outdoor environments with abrupt lighting changes. Through dynamic weighting of the sensors, the system is able to perform correct place recognition and mapping where the static sensor weighting approach fails.
Contextual RNN-GANs for Abstract Reasoning Diagram Generation

Understanding object motions and transformations is a core problem in computer science. Modeling sequences of evolving images may provide better representations and models of motion and may ultimately be used for forecasting or simulation. Diagrammatic Abstract Reasoning is an avenue in which diagrams evolve in complex patterns and one needs to infer the underlying pattern sequence and generate the next image in the sequence. For this, we develop a novel Contextual Generative Adversarial Network based on Recurrent Neural Networks (Context-RNN-GANs), where both the generator and the discriminator modules are based on contextual history and the adversarial discriminator guides the generator to produce realistic images for the particular time step in the image sequence. We employ the Context-RNN-GAN model (and its variants) on a novel dataset of Diagrammatic Abstract Reasoning as well as perform initial evaluations on a next-frame prediction task of videos. Empirically, we show that our Context-RNN-GAN model performs competitively with 10th-grade human performance but there is still scope for interesting improvements as compared to college-grade human performance.
Functions of the French initial accent: a preliminary study

Previous studies have proposed that the French phonological system includes an Initial Accent on lexical words, which has rhythmic functions. Descriptions of English prosody propose that phonological phrases may have an early accent as a boundary marker. We report results from a preliminary production experiment, which tested the structural and rhythmic functions of the F0 of initial syllables. Our results showed that the F0 is used in French as a (left) phrase boundary marker, and that its value appeared to be correlated to prosodic constituent length.
Loss of Magel2, a Candidate Gene for Features of Prader-Willi Syndrome, Impairs Reproductive Function in Mice

Background MAGEL2 is one of several genes typically inactivated in the developmental obesity disorder Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS). The physiological consequences of loss of MAGEL2, but without the concurrent loss of other PWS genes, are not well understood. Gene-targeted mutation of Magel2 in mice disrupts circadian rhythm and metabolism causing reduced total activity, reduced weight gain before weaning, and increased adiposity after weaning. Principal Findings We now show that loss of Magel2 in mice causes reduced fertility in both males and females through extended breeding intervals and early reproductive decline and termination. Female Magel2-null mice display extended and irregular estrous cycles, while males show decreased testosterone levels, and reduced olfactory preference for female odors. Conclusions Our results suggest that loss of MAGEL2 contributes to the reproductive deficits seen in people with PWS, and further highlights the role of normal circadian rhythm in the maintenance of fertility.
Particles in a Murine Model for Ovalbumin Effects of Aerosolized Diesel Exhaust Thiol Antioxidants Inhibit the Adjuvant

Nicholas Brechun, David Diaz-Sanchez and Andre E. NelMarcus A. Horwitz, Sally K. Nelson, Lawrence D. Horwitz, Michael J. Whitekus, Ning Li, Min Zhang, Meiying Wang,http://www.jimmunol.org/content/168/5/2560J Immunol€2002; 168:2560-2567; ;Referenceshttp://www.jimmunol.org/content/168/5/2560.full#ref-list-1This article cites 60 articles, 28 of which you can access for free at: Subscriptionshttp://jimmunol.org/subscriptionsInformation about subscribing to The Journal of Immunology is online at: Permissionshttp://www.aai. org/ji/copyright.htmlSubmit copyright permission requests at: Email Alertshttp://jimmunol.org/cgi/alerts/etocReceive free email-alerts when new articles cite this article. Sign up at:
Capacity of a Class of Linear Binary Field Multisource Relay Networks

In this paper, we study a layered linear binary field network with time-varying channels, which is a simplified model reflecting broadcast, interference, and fading natures of wireless communications. We observe that fading can play an important role in mitigating interuser interference effectively for both single-hop and multihop networks. We propose new coding schemes with randomized ergodic channel pairing, which exploit such channel variations, and derive their achievable ergodic rates. By comparing them with the cut-set upper bound, the capacity region of single-hop networks and the sum capacity of multihop networks are characterized for some classes of channel distributions and network topologies.
Sharp thresholds for the random-cluster and Ising models

A sharp-threshold theorem is proved for box-crossing probabilities on the square lattice. The models in question are the random-cluster model near the self-dual point psd(q)=√q∕(1+√q), the Ising model with external field, and the colored random-cluster model. The principal technique is an extension of the influence theorem for monotonic probability measures applied to increasing events with no assumption of symmetry.
Social Norms , Information , and Trust among Strangers : An Experimental Study

Trust and reciprocity have been recognized as a means of reducing transaction cost and achieving mutually beneficial outcomes when legal contracts and third-party enforcement are absent or too costly. Some economic activities require trust and reciprocity among agents who are not familiar with each other and only have economic interactions at randomly determined times. One example is e-commerce transactions. In online markets, agents are essentially anonymous, and transactions take place between strangers who have no contact except through cyberspace. Usually the buyer needs to make the payment first, and then the seller delivers the item. If it is a one-shot transaction, a self-interested seller has an incentive to deliver nothing or an item far less valuable than promised, and a rational buyer will not send the payment in the first place. We observe, however, millions of transactions every day on the Internet. Another example is the credit market. The credit card company needs to trust the consumer’s accountability to repay the credit, especially when the consumer is new to the market. On the other hand, we observe in both markets that there is an information system that records and disseminates information about agents’ transaction history. For example, many online markets employ the “feedback” mechanism, and most credit card companies share information about consumers’ credit history. This paper reports the findings of an experiment which uses a similar environment to the one described above; that is, subjects are completely anonymous and randomly matched with each other to play a trust game in each period. We provide evidence to answer the questions of whether or not the social norm of trust and reciprocity can be sustained in this environment, and whether or not information is effective and necessary to sustain the social norm of trust and reciprocity. Previous literature on repeated games (Fudenberg and Maskin, 1986) shows that any mutually beneficial outcome can be sustained as a subgame perfect equilibrium if the same set of players plays the same stage game ad infinitum. In this case, reputation is an effective means of enforcing cooperative behavior. When each agent is anonymous and interacts only at randomly determined times with any other particular agent in the finite population, Kandori (1992) shows that the social norm of cooperation can be sustained as a sequential equilibrium in the Prisoners’ dilemma game, if the deviation triggers a contagious reaction and the consequence of the eventual destruction of the norm is sufficiently severe. Lee and Xie (2007) theoretically extend Kandori’s (1992) results to the trust game
Domains of stress and coping strategies used by 1st year medical students

Background: Although many studies have reported elevated levels of stress and psychological morbidity among medical students, there is lack of research on domains of stress, their intensity and coping measures used by medical college students. Addressing stress in the 1st year is important as this a distinct period in a students lifetime; any intervention done now proves highly beneficial. Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study is to find the domains and measure the intensity of stressors prevalent in medical students and study various coping strategies used to overcome them. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional, self-administered questionnaire study was conducted using pre-designed, pre-tested standard questionnaires. Results: Academic and group activity-related stressors were the most common stress causing factors experienced by the 1st year students. Planning, positive reframing, and active coping are most commonly used coping strategies. Conclusions: Various interventional programs can be initiated during the 5-year course of study which reiterates the use of coping strategies, teach the students techniques to effectively balance academic, personal and social demands, and improve their emotional intelligence.
A Novel Algorithm for Learning Sparse Spatio-Spectral Patterns for Event-Related Potentials

Recent years have witnessed brain–computer interface (BCI) as a promising technology for integrating human intelligence and machine intelligence. Currently, event-related potential (ERP)-based BCI is an important branch of noninvasive electroencephalogram (EEG)-based BCIs. Extracting ERPs from a limited number of trials remains challenging due to their low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and low spatial resolution caused by volume conduction. In this paper, we propose a probabilistic model for trial-by-trial concatenated EEG, in which the concatenated ERPs are expressed as a linear combination of a set of discrete sine and cosine bases. The bases are simply determined by the data length of a single trial. A sparse prior on the rank of the spatio-spectral pattern matrix is introduced into the model to allow the number of components to be automatically determined. A maximum posterior estimation algorithm based on cyclic descent is then developed to estimate the spatiospectral patterns. A spatial filter can then be obtained by maximizing the SNR of the ERP components. Experiments on both synthetic data and real N170 ERP from 13 subjects were conducted to test the efficacy and efficiency of the algorithm. The results showed that the proposed algorithm can estimate the ERPs more accurately than the several state-of-the-art algorithms.
Matrix Metalloproteinases as Mediators of Reproductive Function

The organs of the adult reproductive system can undergo extensive remodelling, experiencing rapid changes in tissue mass and function. Much of this matrix remodelling is attributed to the action of matrix metalloproteinases. Matrix metalloproteinase family members are expressed in a highly-regulated manner in many reproductive processes, including menstruation, ovulation, implantation, and uterine, breast, and prostate involution. Metalloproteinase concentrations and activity can be regulated by reproductive hormones, as well as by growth factors and cytokines that participate in reproductive events. In addition to playing a role in the loss of connective tissue mass, the metalloproteinases can influence the phenotype of the cellular components of the tissues, altering basic cellular functions such as proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. This review focuses on the expression of matrix metalloproteinases in reproductive tissues, and discusses the evidence supporting a role for these enzymes in modulating the structure and function of reproductive organs. Introduction described. Next is an examination of the regulation of MMP expression in reproductive organs. Finally, we evaluate how The reproductive organs are distinctive in their requirement MMPs function in reproductive tissues, discussing their influ-for dramatic alterations in structural and functional properties ence on cell growth, death, and differentiation. We contend throughout adult life. These changes, which are orchestrated that the MMPs contribute to the ability of reproductive organs by hormones and frequently mediated by local growth factors to respond rapidly and dramatically to hormones, local growth and cytokines, involve extensive remodelling of connective factors, and cytokines. tissues. Connective tissue constitutes a large portion of the body, contributing to organ shape and volume. It is separated from epithelia by basement membrane (BM), and is composed The matrix metalloproteinase family of the stromal elements: extracellular matrix (ECM), blood and lymph vessels, and cellular components, including The MMP family is a group of structurally-related proteins fibroblasts and macrophages. The structural proteins of the that degrade ECM and BM components in a zinc-dependent ECM and BM are varied and include fibrillar proteins (e.g. manner at a physiological pH (for review, see Birkedal-Hansen collagens and elastin), proteoglycans, and multidomain glyco-They are produced proteins (e.g. fibronectin and laminin). In addition to its role as proenzymes and secreted into the ECM, where they are in cell shape, the ECM plays a dynamic role in metabolic activated by proteolytic cleavage. All MMPs contain three processes, influencing cellular proliferation, differentiation, fundamental domains (Table I; for reviews, see Birkedal-and apoptosis, and serving as …