Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does Internationalization Affect Union Bargaining Power? An Empirical Study for Five EU Countries

In this paper, we assess the impact of international trade on union bargaining power in five EU countries, using a two-step estimation procedure. In the first step, we use firm-level data to estimate union bargaining power at sector level within a production function framework. We simultaneously test for the bargaining regime and estimate, rather than impose, union preferences. We find that a labour-hoarding regime is clearly favoured over an efficient bargaining or a right-to-manage framework. Overall, unions appear to be wage-oriented. In the second step, the bargaining power estimates are regressed on variables reflecting the level of foreign competitiveness of OECD countries and Newly Industrialized Countries (NIC), as well as on a number of other potential determinants of union power. We find a significant negative impact of internationalization on union bargaining power that is comparable in NIC and OECD countries. Copyright 2006, Oxford University Press.
Transient Febrile Reaction After Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) in a Young Adult With Intellectual Disability and Bipolar Disorder

Abstract We report the case of a 27-year-old man with mild-moderate intellectual disability (ID) and bipolar disorder treated with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). He was psychiatrically hospitalized for agitation, aggression, and manic symptoms including insomnia, rapid and pressured speech, and hyperactivity. After multiple medication trials, ECT was recommended. The treatment was delayed owing to the need to obtain evaluation for incapacity and then substituted consent from the patient’s mother. He received 2 ECT treatments with marked improvement but complicated by transient fevers, which resolved without treatment. Fever workup was unremarkable. The patient became calm and cooperative and was discharged home. He was readmitted 3 weeks later, again in an agitated manic state. He received 5 additional ECT treatments, but this time with no post-ECT fevers. Once again, his manic symptoms resolved, and he was safely discharged. Whereas patients with ID pose special challenges, our case is in keeping with the previous literature, which supports the use of ECT in patients with ID and comorbid psychiatric disorders.
A adição do Fator de Risco Momento ao Modelo de Precificação de Ativos dos Três Fatores de Fama & French aplicado ao mercado acionário brasileiro

RESUMO O objetivo do presente artigo e investigar a validade do “Modelo de Precificacao de Ativos dos Quatro Fatores” no mercado acionario brasileiro. Esse modelo e definido pela adicao do Fator de Risco Momento ao Modelo dos Tres Fatores de Fama e French. Dessa forma, os quatro fatores sao: o Mercado, conforme indicado pelo CAPM; o Tamanho da Empresa, definido pelo valor de mercado do patrimonio liquido; o Indice Book-to-Market ou B/M, definido pela relacao entre o valor contabil e o de mercado do patrimonio liquido; e o Momento, definido pelo desempenho acumulado dos retornos das acoes. A metodologia utilizada foi a mesma adotada por Fama e French (1993). Foram usadas as acoes listadas na Bolsa de Valores do Estado de Sao Paulo (BOVESPA) no periodo de 1995 a 2006. Testou-se a significância de cada fator utilizando-se a estatistica t de Student . A validade do modelo foi testada por meio da analise dos coeficientes de determinacao, R 2 , das regressoes temporais. Os resultados verificados apresentaram evidencias de que o Modelo dos Quatro Fatores e valido para o mercado acionario brasileiro, sendo superior ao Modelo dos Tres Fatores, e tambem ao CAPM, na explicacao das variacoes dos retornos das acoes da amostra. A relevância de cada fator de risco variou de acordo com as caracteristicas das carteiras.
Test-Retest Reliability of Contingent Valuation with Independent Sample Pretest and Posttest Control Groups

Test-retest, the standard method used to investigate reliability of contingent valuation, is limited because when the time period between the two surveys is relatively short the study may exhibit testing recall. Conversely, when the time between the two surveys increases there is an increased chance the true value will change. The test-retest design cannot isolate these effects. Independent pretest and posttest control groups allow testing of reliability even when recall occurs or the true value changes. Using this design, we found ex post estimates of Hicksian surplus are reliable regardless of whether respondents have direct experience with an activity.
Anatomical study of the infraorbital foramen

Detailed knowledge of variations of the infraorbital foramen (IOF) and the establishment of a constant reference point for needle insertion are important for safe and successful regional block and for avoiding iatrogenic injury to the nerve during surgery in the midfacial region. Infraorbital foramina from 133 sides of 67 dry intact adult skulls of undetermined gender were examined for variations in shape, number, location in relation to bony landmarks, and relationship to the maxillary teeth. The angles of needle insertion in the sagittal and Frankfurt planes were determined. The infraorbital foramina were located at an average distance of 6.33 ± 1.39 mm below the infraorbital margin, 25.69 ± 2.37 mm from the median plane, 15.19 ± 1.70 mm from the lateral margin of the piriform aperture, and 28.41 ± 2.82 mm above the maxillary alveolar border. The average angles of needle insertion through the IOF with the sagittal and Frankfurt planes were 21.14° ± 10.10° and 31.79° ± 7.68°, respectively. Multiple foramina were found in 21% of the hemi‐skulls. The foramen was less than 2 mm in size in 23.31% of the hemi‐skulls. The position of the IOF with respect to the maxillary teeth varied from the interval between the canine and first premolar to the first molar, but in half of the specimens it lay in line with the second maxillary premolar tooth. The observations made in this study should be useful for planning infraorbital nerve block or surgery around the IOF. Clin. Anat. 28:753–760, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Vampire bats exhibit evolutionary reduction of bitter taste receptor genes common to other bats

The bitter taste serves as an important natural defence against the ingestion of poisonous foods and is thus believed to be indispensable in animals. However, vampire bats are obligate blood feeders that show a reduced behavioural response towards bitter-tasting compounds. To test whether bitter taste receptor genes (T2Rs) have been relaxed from selective constraint in vampire bats, we sampled all three vampire bat species and 11 non-vampire bats, and sequenced nine one-to-one orthologous T2Rs that are assumed to be functionally conserved in all bats. We generated 85 T2R sequences and found that vampire bats have a significantly greater percentage of pseudogenes than other bats. These results strongly suggest a relaxation of selective constraint and a reduction of bitter taste function in vampire bats. We also found that vampire bats retain many intact T2Rs, and that the taste signalling pathway gene Calhm1 remains complete and intact with strong functional constraint. These results suggest the presence of some bitter taste function in vampire bats, although it is not likely to play a major role in food selection. Together, our study suggests that the evolutionary reduction of bitter taste function in animals is more pervasive than previously believed, and highlights the importance of extra-oral functions of taste receptor genes.
Insider Trading and Share Repurchases: Do Insiders and Firms Trade in the Same Direction?

Signaling undervaluation is often considered a primary motive for repurchasing stock, but insider trading activity by repurchasing firms is not always consistent with undervaluation. Net insider buying and selling are both more frequent in quarters when firms are repurchasing non-trivial amounts of stock, with the odds of observing a repurchase the highest in quarters with net insider selling. In multinomial logit models, shares repurchases associated with net insider selling are positively related to illiquidity, option exercises by insiders, and pre-repurchase returns and negatively correlated with industry-adjusted book to market ratios when compared to other repurchases. Hence, repurchases when insiders are selling stock are more likely done to support share prices or avoid dilution and are less likely undervaluation signals. We find that insider trades either validate or mitigate the undervaluation signal of the repurchase. Abnormal returns of repurchasing firms with net insider buying versus net insider selling in a given quarter are significantly higher for the quarter immediately after the repurchase and the three subsequent years. For repurchases accompanied by net insider selling, abnormal returns are negligible after only one year.
First Impressions From Faces

Although cultural wisdom warns us not to judge a book by its cover, we seem unable to inhibit this tendency even though it can lead to inaccurate impressions of people’s psychological traits and has significant social consequences. One explanation for this paradox is that first impressions from faces reflect overgeneralizations of adaptive impressions of categories of people with structurally similar faces (including babies, familiar or unfamiliar people, evolutionarily unfit people, and people expressing a variety of emotions). Research testing these overgeneralization hypotheses has elucidated why we form first impressions from faces, what impressions we form, and what cues influence these impressions. This article focuses on commonalities in impressions across diverse perceivers, with additional brief attention given to individual differences in impressions and impression accuracy.
Astrocyte chemoreceptors: mechanisms of H+ sensing by astrocytes in the retrotrapezoid nucleus and their possible contribution to respiratory drive

Central chemoreception is the mechanism by which CO2/pH‐sensitive neurons (i.e. chemoreceptors) regulate breathing, presumably in response to changes in tissue pH. A region of the brainstem called the retrotrapezoid nucleus (RTN) is thought to be an important site of chemoreception; select neurons (i.e. chemoreceptors) in this region sense changes in CO2/H+ and send excitatory glutamatergic drive to respiratory centres to modulate the depth and frequency of breathing. Purinergic signalling may also contribute to chemoreception; for instance, it was shown in vivo that CO2/H+ facilitates ATP release within the RTN to stimulate breathing, and recent evidence suggests that CO2/H+‐sensitive RTN astrocytes are the source of this purinergic drive to breathe. In this review, we summarize evidence that RTN astrocytes sense changes in CO2/H+, identify mechanisms that are likely to confer CO2/H+ sensitivity to RTN astrocytes, including inhibition of heteromeric Kir4.1–Kir5.1 channels and activation of a depolarizing inward current generated by the sodium bicarbonate cotransporter, and discuss the extent to which astrocytes contribute to respiratory drive.
Characteristics and Career Path Barriers of Women Superintendents in Ohio

Judith A. Zimmerman, Advisor Despite Ella Flagg Young's positive outlook for women achieving the superintendency, stating in 1909 that "women are destined to rule the schools of every city" (as cited in Keller, 1999, ¶53), women have never dominated the top position in America's public school systems (Violette, 2006). Though women largely outnumber men as classroom teachers, men continue to lead more school systems (Shakeshaft, 1989; Glass, 2000; Grogan & Brunner, 2005). The Census Bureau similarly characterized the position of superintendent of schools in the United States as the most male-dominated executive position of any profession (Sharp, Malone, Walter, & Supley, 2000). While research exists that seeks to identify barriers that women in leadership positions in schools face, little or no research goes beyond simply naming such barriers. The purpose of this study was to 1) identify differences in personal demographics and career paths of women superintendents in Ohio and the barriers they have experienced while attaining the superintendency, and 2) examine the district differences, personal demographics, and personal differences in knowledge, skills, and abilities and career path barriers of women superintendents in Ohio. A six-part, 46-item survey was developed for this research to capture the perceptions, practices, and backgrounds of a total population of Ohio women superintendents. Of the 120 women superintendents in Ohio who lead public city, local, and exempted village school districts, and career technical/JVSD and Educational Service Centers, 77 (64.2%) women completed and submitted the electronic survey.
GABAA Receptor Modulation by Compounds Isolated from Salvia triloba L.

Salvia triloba, traditionally known as Greek sage, has been used to enhance memory, as a sedative and to treat headaches. Pharmacological evaluation of purified extracts and isolated compounds of S. triloba were carried out on functional assays using two-electrode voltage clamp methods on recombinant GABA receptors expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes. Bio-assay guided fractionation led to seven compounds being isolated from S. triloba: ursolic acid, carnosol, oleanolic acid, salvigenin, rosmanol, cirsimaritin and hispidulin. The purified extracts of S. triloba inhibited 54% of the current produced by 300 μM GABA at α1β2γ2L GABAA receptors. Ursolic acid, carnosol, oleanolic acid and rosmanol also acted as negative allosteric modulators. The flavonoids salvigenin, cirsimaritin and hispidulin acted as positive modulators when applied in the presence of low concentrations of GABA but in the presence of high concentrations of GABA acted as negative modulators, demonstrating a biphasic action. These results are consistent with the concept that Salvia triloba may have cognition enhancing properties. In most cases these activities are likely to be occurring via different modulatory sites on GABAA receptor complexes. It may be that the combination of these activities permits cognition enhancement whilst offering protection from convulsant activity.
Corruption and marketization: Formal and informal rules in Chinese public procurement

The relationship between market liberalization and corruption has attracted scholarly attention in recent years. Conventional wisdom holds that increased economic marketization reduces corruption. China, however, provides evidence to the contrary; corruption has grown as its market-oriented reforms progress. This paradoxical co-development of the market and corruption begs the intriguing questions of how corruption has survived marketization and what explains the failure of government regulation. Extending the conceptual framework of institutional theory about formal and informal rules, and using public procurement in China as an example, this article shows that formal tendering rules and regulations may be modified, circumvented, or replaced by informal ones which facilitate corruption. The article identifies four corruption schemes through which procurement actors may distort competition processes and mechanisms under the guise of formal rules. Consequently, public procurement in China displays the structural outlook of market competition, but not its essential substance.
Cryptosporidium parvum infects human cholangiocytes via sphingolipid‐enriched membrane microdomains

Cryptosporidium parvum attaches to intestinal and biliary epithelial cells via specific molecules on host‐cell surface membranes including Gal/GalNAc‐associated glycoproteins. Subsequent cellular entry of this parasite depends on host‐cell membrane alterations to form a parasitophorous vacuole via activation of phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase (PI‐3K)/Cdc42‐associated actin remodelling. How C. parvum hijacks these host‐cell processes to facilitate its infection of target epithelia is unclear. Using specific probes to known components of sphingolipid‐enriched membrane microdomains (SEMs), we detected aggregation of host‐cell SEM components at infection sites during C. parvum infection of cultured human biliary epithelial cells (i.e. cholangiocytes). Activation and membrane translocation of acid‐sphingomyelinase (ASM), an enzyme involved in SEM membrane aggregation, were also observed in infected cells. Pharmacological disruption of SEMs and knockdown of ASM via a specific small interfering RNA (siRNA) significantly decreased C. parvum attachment (by ∼84%) and cellular invasion (by ∼88%). Importantly, knockdown of ASM and disruption of SEMs significantly blocked C. parvum‐induced accumulation of Gal/GalNAc‐associated glycoproteins at infection sites by ∼90%. Disruption of SEMs and knockdown of ASM also significantly blocked C. parvum‐induced activation of host‐cell PI‐3K and subsequent accumulation of Cdc42 and actin by up to 75%. Our results suggest an important role of SEMs for C. parvum attachment to and entry of host cells, likely via clustering of membrane‐binding molecules and facilitating of C. parvum‐induced actin remodelling at infection sites through activation of the PI‐3K/Cdc42 signalling pathway.
Misreporting of Energy Intake in the Elderly Using Doubly Labeled Water to Measure Total Energy Expenditure and Weight Change

Background: One of the major problems in dietary assessment is inaccuracy in reporting diet. Objective: To examine the association between self-reported energy intake (EI) by food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and energy expenditure (EE), measured by doubly labeled water (DLW), among older persons. Design: EE was assessed in 298 high-functioning, community-dwelling older adults (70–79 years of age) over a 2-week period using DLW. Dietary intake was assessed using a Block FFQ. The ratio between reported EI and total energy expenditure (TEE) was calculated. Misreporting was defined as follows: participants with an EI/TEE ratio of <0.77 were categorized as low energy reporters, while participants with an EI/TEE ratio >1.28 were categorized as high energy reporters. Participants with an EI/TEE ratio of 0.77–1.28 were categorized as “true” energy reporters. One-year percent weight change prior to EE visit was used as another validation indicator. Participants who were low energy reporters but lost >2% of their body weight were categorized as undereaters. Results: Two hundred ninety-six participants provided both FFQ and DLW measurements. Forty-three percent of participants were low energy reporters; among them, almost 30% lost weight and, therefore, were categorized as undereaters. The undereaters consumed significantly fewer calories. No difference in the frequency of low energy reporting was detected between genders or racial groups. Underreporters had significantly higher body weight than “true” or high reporters. Undereaters tended to have higher body mass index than the underreporters. Conclusions: Undereating is prevalent in the elderly and may be falsely perceived as underreporting. It should be further addressed and characterized in future studies.
Technology Diffusion and the Rate of Technical Change

The way in which the process of technical change is formulated at the macroeconomic level implies generally speaking immediate diffusion or adoption of new technologies. Whether primarily disembodied in nature, accounting for any shift in the production function as in the early technology index formulations, or embodied in new investment as in the subsequent vintage growth models, technical progress will be identified with advances in 'inventiveness' or 'best practice' technologies. At first, this might well seem the most appropriate way to separate out the contribution of the technology production factor from the other production factors. From a straightforward economic point of view though, advances in technology or best practice productivity levels are only relevant to the extent that they have been translated in actual achieved productivity levels. The issue is a well known one in most empirical research on the measurement of the contribution of technical change to economic growth, and has received much attention in the recent productivity slowdown debate (Denison, I 979, Griliches, I980, Nordhaus, I980, and i 98I in particular). There it was generally agreed that 'other' technology factors, including a slowdown in the rate of the 'spread of technology' to use Kendrick's (i 98I) term, were more important than the actual decline in R & D expenditure, in contributing to the overall slowdown in productivity. The importance of the diffusion of innovation rather than the mere 'occurrence' of innovations is of course the major factor underlying most of the microeconomic diffusion literature. The fundamental reasons for delay in adopting the so-called retardation factors have been found to relate both to uncertainty and lack of information about the new technology and the often proprietary nature of the new technology. Since Griliches (I957) and Mansfield's (I96I) seminal papers, most of this literature has focused on the theoretical arguments underlying the traditional, S-shaped 'epidemic' diffusion curve. In more recent research, particularly, the 'mechanical', static nature of these diffusion models has been questioned and various alternative diffusion models suggested, including dynamic supply models (Metcalfe, 1981; i982; Stoneman, I983) in which both the economic characteristics of the innovation and its diffusion environment have been made endogenous to the diffusion process. These latter models in particular allow for an interpretation of the diffusion of technology in a broader macroeconomic growth and structural change perspective.
Regional Convergence and International Integration

In this paper, we analyse the geographic concentration of economic activities within the framework of a two countries and four regions model. Trade both between regions and countries entails transport costs which are differentiated according to the interregional or international nature of the flows. Allowing for regional migration of the population, the model configures the equilibra of this systems as key parameters change. The results obtained suggest that both types of transaction costs affect the incentive for firms to cluster geographically. Consequently, processes of integration between nations such as the one taking place through the constitution of the European Union is identified as a factor possibly favoring the emergence of regional economic agglomeration.
A bacterial two‐hybrid system based on the twin‐arginine transporter pathway of E. coli

We have developed a bacterial two‐hybrid system for the detection of interacting proteins that capitalizes on the folding quality control mechanism of the Twin Arginine Transporter (Tat) pathway. The Tat export pathway is responsible for the membrane translocation of folded proteins, including proteins consisting of more than one polypeptide, only one of which contains a signal peptide (“hitchhiker export”). Here, one protein (bait) is expressed as a fusion to a Tat signal peptide, whereas the second protein (prey) is fused to a protein reporter that can confer a phenotype only after export into the bacterial periplasmic space. Since the prey–reporter fusion lacks a signal peptide, it can only be exported as a complex with the bait–signal peptide fusion that is capable of targeting the Tat translocon. Using maltose‐binding protein as a reporter, clones expressing interacting proteins can be grown on maltose minimal media or on MacConkey plates. In addition, we introduce the use of the cysteine disulfide oxidase DsbA as a reporter. Export of a signal peptide–prey:bait–DsbA complex into the periplasm allows complementation of dsbA− mutants and restores the formation of active alkaline phosphatase, which in turn can be detected by a chromogenic assay.