Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
What's Going on? Digitization and Global Music Trade Patterns Since 2006

The objective of this paper is to document the evolution of cross-border music trade patterns in this transition period and to explain what drives digital music trade patterns. The shift from analogue to digital music distribution has substantially reduced trade costs and has enlarged the choice sets of music consumers around the world. Using comprehensive data on digital track sales in the US, Canada, and 16 European countries, 2006-2011, we document patterns of music trade in the digital era and contrast it with what’s known from elsewhere about trade in popular music for the past half century. While home bias in music consumption among the top 100 songs had grown in the pre-digital distribution period prior to 2006, home bias has declined since then. We find that the share of imported songs in music consumption has grown in all countries except in the US. Moreover, although the number of European songs available has risen faster than the number of US songs, the market share of the US in digital music sales has increased while the market shares of European repertoires have fallen. US repertoire holds the largest market share in almost every country. Home bias is lower in the long tail than at the top end of the distribution. We consider four candidate explanations for the shift away from domestic music: a) that growth in availability of particular repertoires explains their growth in total sales and market shares, b) that changes in the effect of distance-related trade costs on trade made possible by digitization explain changed patterns of trade, c) that changed preferences toward particular origin repertoires explains changed patterns, and d) that recent vintages of particular repertoires have grown more appealing to world consumers. We conclude that a combination of c) and d) offers the most credible explanation for the observed patterns.
Focal EEG Findings in Juvenile Absence Syndrome and the Effect of Antiepileptic Drugs

The presence of focal EEG abnormalities in juvenile absence syndrome (JAS) may cause it to be misdiagnosed as focal epilepsy. The purpose of our study was to determine the presence of focal EEG abnormalities in patients with JAS and to ascertain whether some clinical features or antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) have an effect on focality. Serial EEGs of 52 consecutive patients with JAS were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into two groups according to whether they were treated with valproic acid and/or lamotrigine (VA-LTG) or not during the times of these EEG recordings. The relationship between the presence of EEG focality and the use of AEDs in addition to other risk factors was examined. Two or three consecutive EEGs (total 100) of the 52 patients were evaluated. Among these, the rates of focal EEG abnormalities were 18%, 36%, and 25% during the follow-up EEGs without AEDs (5/27) and first (16/45) and second EEGs (7/28) with AEDs, respectively. The last two EEGs showed a tendency towards a higher proportion of EEG focality in patients who received other AEDs (47%-45%) compared with those that received VA-LTG (13%-12%). The proportion of JAS patients with focal EEG findings in serial EEGs tended to decrease with an increasing rate of VA-LTG use. As a hypothetical explanation, changes in EEG focality may reflect the effect of AEDs other than VA and/or LTG, in addition to a developing hyperexcitable cortical area.
Dividend Policy and Firm Performance: A Study of Listed Firms in Nigeria

This study basically investigates the relationship between the financial performance and dividend payout among listed firms’ in Nigeria. It also looks at the relationship between ownership structure, size of firms and the dividend payouts. The annual reports for the period 2006-2010 were utilized as the main source of data collection for the 50 sampled firms. The regression analysis method was employed as a statistical technique for analysing the data collected. We find that there is a significant positive association between the performance of firms and the dividend payout of the sampled firms in Nigeria. The study also revealed that ownership structure and firm’s size has a significant impact of the dividend payout of firms too.
Search for Specific Biomarkers of IFNβ Bioactivity in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Myxovirus A (MxA), a protein encoded by the MX1 gene with antiviral activity, has proven to be a sensitive measure of IFNβ bioactivity in multiple sclerosis (MS). However, the use of MxA as a biomarker of IFNβ bioactivity has been criticized for the lack of evidence of its role on disease pathogenesis and the clinical response to IFNβ. Here, we aimed to identify specific biomarkers of IFNβ bioactivity in order to compare their gene expression induction by type I IFNs with the MxA, and to investigate their potential role in MS pathogenesis. Gene expression microarrays were performed in PBMC from MS patients who developed neutralizing antibodies (NAB) to IFNβ at 12 and/or 24 months of treatment and patients who remained NAB negative. Nine genes followed patterns in gene expression over time similar to the MX1, which was considered the gold standard gene, and were selected for further experiments: IFI6, IFI27, IFI44L, IFIT1, HERC5, LY6E, RSAD2, SIGLEC1, and USP18. In vitro experiments in PBMC from healthy controls revealed specific induction of selected biomarkers by IFNβ but not IFNγ, and several markers, in particular USP18 and HERC5, were shown to be significantly induced at lower IFNβ concentrations and more selective than the MX1 as biomarkers of IFNβ bioactivity. In addition, USP18 expression was deficient in MS patients compared with healthy controls (p = 0.0004). We propose specific biomarkers that may be considered in addition to the MxA to evaluate IFNβ bioactivity, and to further explore their implication in MS pathogenesis.
Some Options for L1-subspace Signal Processing

We describe ways to define and calculate $L_1$-norm signal subspaces which are less sensitive to outlying data than $L_2$-calculated subspaces. We focus on the computation of the $L_1$ maximum-projection principal component of a data matrix containing N signal samples of dimension D and conclude that the general problem is formally NP-hard in asymptotically large N, D. We prove, however, that the case of engineering interest of fixed dimension D and asymptotically large sample support N is not and we present an optimal algorithm of complexity $O(N^D)$. We generalize to multiple $L_1$-max-projection components and present an explicit optimal $L_1$ subspace calculation algorithm in the form of matrix nuclear-norm evaluations. We conclude with illustrations of $L_1$-subspace signal processing in the fields of data dimensionality reduction and direction-of-arrival estimation.
Toward Large-Scale Computational Fluid-Solid-Growth Models of Intracranial Aneurysms

Complementary advances in medical imaging, vascular biology, genetics, biomechanics, and computational methods promise to enable the development of mathematical models of the enlargement and possible rupture of intracranial aneurysms that can help inform clinical decisions. Nevertheless, this ultimate goal is extremely challenging given the many diverse and complex factors that control the natural history of these lesions. As it should be expected, therefore, predictive models continue to develop in stages, with new advances incorporated as data and computational methods permit. In this paper, we submit that large-scale, patient-specific, fluid-solid interaction models of the entire circle of Willis and included intracranial aneurysm are both computationally tractable and necessary as a critical step toward fluid-solid-growth (FSG) models that can address the evolution of a lesion while incorporating information on the genetically and mechanobiologically determined microstructure of the wall.
OF SOIL HEALTH INDICATORS FOR LABORATORY USE IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN SUGAR INDUSTRY VAN ANTWERPEN

To assess the health of a soil requires analysis of a short list of parameters to be quantified, with the cost and practicality of the assessment kept in mind. The aim of this paper is to assess soil parameters for possible inclusion within a reliable, yet user-friendly soil health assessment package. Soil chemical, physical and biological parameters were discussed, and the effect of common agricultural practices on soil health considered. Other areas covered include threshold values and the minimum number of soil health indicators. A short list of soil health indicators for use in the South African sugar industry was suggested.
PAPR reduction in the OFDM system employing tone reservation based on FFT/IFFT

A new tone reservation (TR) scheme for the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) reduction in the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system is proposed. Different from the conventional TR scheme, the cancellation signals are generated by using FFT/IFFT iteration. Simulation results show that the new TR scheme based on FFT/IFFT has a perfect PAPR reduction performance and the number of iteration is significantly reduced.
Transformational Leadership and its Impact on School Climate and Teachers’ Self-Efficacy in Indonesian High Schools

This study examined the relationships between principals’ leadership, school climate, and teachers’ sense of self-efficacy. Drawing on existing scales, this study examined six aspects of principal leadership (professional interaction, participatory decision-making, individual support, intellectual stimulation and moral perspective) and four school climate factors (staff collegiality, goal consensus, work pressure, resource adequacy, and staff freedom). The participants included 604 Indonesian teachers drawn from 27 high schools. The data were analysed using Structural Equation Modeling. The results indicated statistically significant and positive relationships between leadership style, school climate, and teacher self-efficacy. With the exception of individual support, the relationships between principal leadership and teacher self-efficacy were largely indirect, mediated through staff collegiality and goal consensus.
Correlates of Non-suicidal Self-Injury and Suicide Attempts in Bulimic Spectrum Disorders

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the implication of personality, impulsivity, and emotion regulation difficulties in patients with a bulimic-spectrum disorder (BSD) and suicide attempts (SA), BSD patients with non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), and BSD patients without these behaviors. Method: One hundred and twenty-two female adult BSD patients were assessed using self-report questionnaires. Patients were clustered post-hoc into three groups depending on whether they presented BSD without NSSI or SA (BSD), BSD with lifetime NSSI (BSD + NSSI) or BSD with lifetime SA (BSD + SA). Results: The BSD + NSSI and BSD + SA groups presented more emotion regulation difficulties, more eating and general psychopathology, and increased reward dependence in comparison with the BSD group. In addition, BSD + SA patients specifically showed problems with impulse control, while also presenting higher impulsivity than both the BSD and BSD + NSSI groups. No differences in impulsivity between the BSD and BSD + NSSI groups were found. Conclusions: The results show that BSD + NSSI and BSD + SA share a common profile characterized by difficulties in emotion regulation and low reward dependence, but differ in impulsivity and cooperativeness. This suggests that self-injury, in patients without a history of suicide attempts (i.e., BSD + NSSI), may have a regulatory role rather than being due to impulsivity.
Growth, Volume 2: Energy, the Environment, and Economic Growth

Volume 1: Econometric General Equilibrium Modeling presents an econometric approach to general equilibrium modeling of the impact of economic policies. Earlier approaches were based on the "calibration" of general equilibrium models to a single data point. The obvious disadvantage of calibration is that it requires highly restrictive assumptions about technology and preferences, such as fixed input-output coefficients. These assumptions are contradicted by the massive evidence of energy conservation in response to higher world energy prices, beginning in 1973. The econometric approach to general equilibrium modeling successfully freed economic policy analysis from the straitjacket imposed by calibration. As a consequence of changes in energy prices and new environmental policies, a wealth of historical experience has accumulated over the past two decades. Interpreted within the framework of the neoclassical theory of economic growth, this experience provides essential guidelines for future policy formation. Volume 2: Energy, the Environment, and Economic Growth presents a new econometric general equilibrium model of the United States that captures the dynamic mechanisms underlying growth trends and responses to energy and environmental policies. Jorgenson uses the model to analyze the impacts of environmental regulations on US economic growth and tax policies for controlling US emissions of carbon dioxide.
Understanding Data Linkage Consent in Longitudinal Surveys

We explore the cognitive process by which respondents decide whether or not to consent to havingÂ their survey data linked to administrative records. Using data from the Understanding Society household panel study we document the extent of inconsistencies in respondentsâ€™ consent decisions, between data domains and over time, and the impact of the mode of data collection on consent. To understand the reasons for inconsistencies and why the mode affects consent, we report on qualitative in-depth interviews that examine how respondents understand the consent request and which factors influence their decision.
The EEG as an index of neuromodulator balance in memory and mental illness

There is a strong correlation between signature EEG frequency patterns and the relative levels of distinct neuromodulators. These associations become particularly evident during the sleep-wake cycle. The monoamine-acetylcholine balance hypothesis is a theory of neurophysiological markers of the EEG and a detailed description of the findings that support this proposal are presented in this paper. According to this model alpha rhythm reflects the relative predominance of cholinergic muscarinic signals and delta rhythm that of monoaminergic receptor effects. Both high voltage synchronized rhythms are likely mediated by inhibitory Gαi/o-mediated transduction of inhibitory interneurons. Cognitively, alpha and delta EEG measures are proposed to indicate automatic and flexible strategies, respectively. Sleep is associated with marked changes in relative neuromodulator levels corresponding to EEG markers of distinct stages. Sleep studies on memory consolidation present some of the strongest evidence yet for the respective roles of monoaminergic and cholinergic projections in declarative and non-declarative memory processes, a key theoretical premise for understanding the data. Affective dysregulation is reflected in altered EEG patterns during sleep.
Turbulent convection in liquid metal with and without rotation

The magnetic fields of Earth and other planets are generated by turbulent, rotating convection in liquid metal. Liquid metals are peculiar in that they diffuse heat more readily than momentum, quantified by their small Prandtl numbers, . Most analog models of planetary dynamos, however, use moderate fluids, and the systematic influence of reducing is not well understood. We perform rotating Rayleigh–Bénard convection experiments in the liquid metal gallium over a range of nondimensional buoyancy forcing and rotation periods (E). Our primary diagnostic is the efficiency of convective heat transfer . In general, we find that the convective behavior of liquid metal differs substantially from that of moderate fluids, such as water. In particular, a transition between rotationally constrained and weakly rotating turbulent states is identified, and this transition differs substantially from that observed in moderate fluids. This difference, we hypothesize, may explain the different classes of magnetic fields observed on the Gas and Ice Giant planets, whose dynamo regions consist of and fluids, respectively.
Learning about inclusion from developing countries : using the index for inclusion

There is a need for a more critical perspective and reporting about the value of taking a model of inclusion developed in western countries and based upon the human rights ethos applying it in developing countries. This chapter will report firstly on how the Index for Inclusion (hereinafter referred to as the Index) was used in Australia as a tool for review and development; and secondly how the process of using the Index is adjusted for use in the Pacific Islands and other developing nations in collaborative and culturally sensitive ways to support and evaluate progress towards inclusive education. Examples are provided from both contexts to demonstrate the impact of the Index as an effective tool to support a more inclusive response to diversity in schools.
Rhombic dodecahedron shape for self-assembling robots

A self-assembling robotic system capable of approximating arbitrary three dimensional shapes utilizing repeated rhombic dodecahedron shaped modules is presented. This shape allows very simple rotational motions about its edges. Using this shape and the motion constraints it imposes, a distributed algorithm using localized information is created and simulated. The algorithm causes each module to move in an efficient manner without explicitly planning the entire motion of each module before hand. For most shapes the algorithm achieves full completion of the desired goal configuration. Example of a tea cup shape utilizing 441 modules with 100% completion is shown.
Early sport dropout: high performance in early years in young athletes is not related with later success.

Abstract. Objective : to analyze the career (based on the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation (RFEA) rankings) and/or dropout rates of the top 10 athletes aged14 to 19 years, during the period 2004-2014. Equipment and methods : Top 10 finishers in different athletic disciplines in the time range from 2004 to 2014 were selected after consulting the yearly national ranking database of the RFEA, published on its website (www.rfea.es). Results : There were 1,144 participants, 594 males and 550 females. All athletes, at the time of their presence in the top 10 in 2004, were between 14-19 years old, belonging to the following categories: cadet (14-15 years), youth (16-17 years) and juniors (19-19 years), in both sexes. There was a significant reduction of athletes in the top 10 from 2004 to 2014. Of the 1,144 athletes taken into consideration in 2004, 1,104 (96.50%) were considered as dropouts from high performance in 2014: 543 (98.72%) were women, and 561 (94.45%) were men. From the overall analysis and taking into account the athletic disciplines, sprint and hurdles in males (99.4%), and middle/long running and walks in females (100%), showed the highest percentage of dropouts. These results oppose the idea that success at a young age (i.e., the top 10 ranking) ensures later success. Therefore, in athletics where peak performance is achieved close to the senior category, early specialization should be questioned. Resumen. Objetivo : analizar la carrera deportiva (basandonos en los rankings reportados por la Real Federacion Espanola de Atletismo - RFEA) y las tasas de abandono de los atletas encuadrados en el top 10, con una edad entre 14-19 anos, entre los anos 2004 a 2014. Metodo : basandonos en la base de datos aportada por la RFEA a traves de su web (www.rfea.es) desde 2004, han sido seleccionados el top 10 en diferentes disciplinas atleticos entre los anos 2004-2014. Resultados : participaron 1144 participantes, 594 varones y 550 mujeres. Todos los atletas, en el momento de su presencia en el top 10 en 2004 tenian entre 14-19 anos, y pertenecian a las categorias: cadetes (14-15 anos), juvenil (16-17 anos) y junior (18-19 anos) en ambos sexos. Se hallo una reduccion significativa de atletas presentes en el top 10, entre 2004-2014. De los 1144 atletas considerados en 2004, 1104 (96.50%) abandonaron el top10 en 2014: 543 (98.72%) fueron mujeres, y 561 (94.45%) hombres. Considerando las disciplinas atleticas, las pruebas de sprint y vallas (99.4%) y la carrera de medio fondo y marcha en mujeres (100%) mostraron la mayor tasa de abandono. Conclusion : estos resultados muestran que el exito a edades jovenes no asegura el rendimiento en etapas posteriores del desarrollo. Por tanto, en disciplinas deportivas en las que el pico de rendimiento se alcanza a edad adulta, la especializacion precoz se debe poner en duda.
Enabling D2D Communications Through Neighbor Discovery in LTE Cellular Networks

This work studies the problem of neighbor discovery for device-to-device (D2D) communications of LTE user equipments (UEs) in a modern cellular network. By listening to cellular uplink transmissions, UEs can detect potential D2D partners through a neighbor discovery process compatible with the standard LTE network protocol. We focus on neighbor discovery utilizing sounding reference signal (SRS) channel, which can be accessed by peer UEs that are LTE-compliant. Under the constraint of unknown channel statistics during uplink hearing, we propose joint neighbor detection and D2D channel estimation for listening UEs using the framework of sparse channel recovery. Composite hypothesis testing methods are further developed to refine neighbor detection accuracy. We evaluate the performance of our neighbor discovery methods under various network parameters to facilitate practical design and implementation of D2D in 4G cellular networks.
Thyroid Hormone-dependent Gene Expression Program for Xenopus Neural Development*

Although thyroid hormone (TH) plays a significant role in vertebrate neural development, the molecular basis of TH action on the brain is poorly understood. Using polymerase chain reaction-based subtractive hybridization we isolated 34 cDNAs for TH-regulated genes in the diencephalon of Xenopus tadpoles. Northern blots verified that the mRNAs are regulated by TH and are expressed during metamorphosis. Kinetic analyses showed that most of the genes are up-regulated by TH within 4-8 h and 13 are regulated by TH only in the brain. All cDNA fragments were sequenced and the identities of seven were determined through homology with known genes; an additional five TH-regulated genes were identified by hybridization with known cDNA clones. These include five transcription factors (including two members of the steroid receptor superfamily), a TH-converting deiodinase, two metabolic enzymes, a protein disulfide isomerase-like protein that may bind TH, a neural-specific cytoskeletal protein, and two hypophysiotropic neuropeptides. This is the first successful attempt to isolate a large number of TH-target genes in the developing vertebrate brain. The gene identities allow predictions about the gene regulatory networks underlying TH action on the brain, and the cloned cDNAs provide tools for understanding the basic molecular mechanisms underlying neural cell differentiation.