Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Value Creation in Scene-based Music Production: The Case of Electronic Club Music in Germany

abstract The focus of this article is on the variability of value creation in the popular music industry. Recent trends in electronic music have been based on both the valorization of global tastes and of local specialities in performance and production. Depending on musical styles and market niches, local scenes have become important forces behind heterogeneous “globalocal” markets. At the same time, technological change and the virtualization of music production and distribution contribute to increasingly differentiated configurations of value creation. It is therefore necessary to reconstruct theoretically and empirically the new interplay among the local music production, digital media markets, and virtual communities that are involved. On the basis of empirical explorations in a German hot spot of electronic club-music production (the city of B erlin), the article indentifies local interaction practice and constellations of stakeholders. The findings show that value creation in these rapidly changing production scenes has moved away from the large-scale distribution of producer-induced media to audience-induced live performance and interactive soundtrack production. This change involves the rising importance of cultural embeddings such as taste building, reputation building among artists and producers, and local community building. Starting from an open theoretical problematization of value creation with regard to fluid scenes and shifting modes of production, the results of first empirical reconstructions are taken as inputs to an evolving discussion on the configurations of value creation in consumer-based strands of music production.
Assembling Jobs: A Model of How Tasks Are Bundled Into and Across Jobs

How are tasks bundled into and across jobs within organizations? In this paper, I develop a model of this process of job design by drawing on a multisite qualitative study of task allocation following the installation of a DNA sequencer. The model that emerges is one of the assembly of tasks through multiple subassembly processes with multiple assemblers. Four activities produced requirements and requests for job designs and propositions about how to meet these: actively searching, passively receiving, doing work, and invoking preexisting ideas. The ideas that emerge from these processes are further transformed through reconciliation, interpretation, and performance. My observations show that this overall process is far reaching and incorporates many elements, not all of which are explicitly intended for job designs. The arrangements that emerge from this process are not the product of a deliberate and controlled job design process within the boundaries of a single organization.
Synaptic Acidification Enhances GABAA Signaling

To determine the role of cellularly generated protons in synaptic signaling, we recorded GABA miniature IPSCs (mIPSCs) from cultured rat cerebellar granule cells (CGCs) while varying the extracellular pH buffering capacity. Consistent with previous reports, we found that increasing pH from 7.4 to 8.0 sped mIPSC rise time and suppressed both amplitude of the current and total charge transferred. Conversely, acidification (from pH 7.4 to 6.8) slowed the rise time and increased current amplitude and total charge transferred. In a manner consistent with alkalinization, increasing the buffering capacity from 3 to 24 mm HEPES at pH 7.4 resulted in faster mIPSC rise time, a 37% reduction in amplitude, and a 48% reduction in charge transferred. Supplementing the normal physiological buffers (24 mm HCO3 −/5%CO2) with 10 mm HEPES similarly diminished mIPSCs in a manner consistent with alkalinization, resulting in faster rise time, a 39% reduction in amplitude, and a 51% reduction in charge transferred. These findings suggest the existence of an acidifying synaptic force that is overcome by commonly used concentrations (10 mm) of HEPES buffer. Here we show that Na+/H+ exchanger (NHE) activity appears to, in part, contribute to this synaptic acidification because inhibition of NHE by amiloride or lithium under physiological or weak buffering conditions alters mIPSCs in a manner consistent with alkalinization. These results suggest that acidification of the synaptic cleft occurs physiologically during GABAergic transmission and that NHE plays a critical role in generating the acidic nano-environment at the synapse.
Surgery and transplantation – Guidelines on Parenteral Nutrition, Chapter 18

In surgery, indications for artificial nutrition comprise prevention and treatment of catabolism and malnutrition. Thus in general, food intake should not be interrupted postoperatively and the re-establishing of oral (e.g. after anastomosis of the colon and rectum, kidney transplantation) or enteral food intake (e.g. after an anastomosis in the upper gastrointestinal tract, liver transplantation) is recommended within 24 h post surgery. To avoid increased mortality an indication for an immediate postoperatively artificial nutrition (enteral or parenteral nutrition (PN)) also exists in patients with no signs of malnutrition, but who will not receive oral food intake for more than 7 days perioperatively or whose oral food intake does not meet their needs (e.g. less than 60-80%) for more than 14 days. In cases of absolute contraindication for enteral nutrition, there is an indication for total PN (TPN) such as in chronic intestinal obstruction with a relevant passage obstruction e.g. a peritoneal carcinoma. If energy and nutrient requirements cannot be met by oral and enteral intake alone, a combination of enteral and parenteral nutrition is indicated. Delaying surgery for a systematic nutrition therapy (enteral and parenteral) is only indicated if severe malnutrition is present. Preoperative nutrition therapy should preferably be conducted prior to hospital admission to lower the risk of nosocomial infections. The recommendations of early postoperative re-establishing oral feeding, generally apply also to paediatric patients. Standardised operative procedures should be established in order to guarantee an effective nutrition therapy.
THE EVOLUTION OF THE MBH–σ RELATION INFERRED FROM THE AGE DISTRIBUTION OF LOCAL EARLY-TYPE GALAXIES AND ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI EVOLUTION

We utilize the local velocity dispersion function (VDF) of spheroids, together with their inferred age distributions, to predict the VDF at higher redshifts (0 < z ≲ 6), under the assumption that (1) most of the stars in each nearby spheroid formed in a single episode and, (2) the velocity dispersion σ remained nearly constant afterward. We assume further that a supermassive BH forms concurrently with the stars, and within ±1 Gyr of the formation of the potential well of the spheroid, and that the relation between the mass of the BH and host velocity dispersion maintains the form MBH ∝ σβ with β ≈ 4, but with the normalization allowed to evolve with redshift as ∝(1 + z)α. We compute the BH mass function associated with the VDF at each redshift, and compare the accumulated total BH mass density with that inferred from the integrated quasar luminosity function (LF; the so-called Sołtan argument). This comparison is insensitive to the assumed duty cycle or Eddington ratio of quasar activity, and we find that the match between the two BH mass densities favors a relatively mild redshift evolution, with α ∼ 0.33, with a positive evolution as strong as α ≳ 1.3 excluded at more than 99% confidence level. A direct match between the characteristic BH mass in the VDF-based and quasar LF-based BH mass functions also yields a mean Eddington ratio of λ ∼ 0.5–1 that is roughly constant within 0 ≲ z ≲ 3. A strong positive evolution in the MBH–σ relation is still allowed by the data if galaxies increase, on average, their velocity dispersions since the moment of formation due to dissipative processes. If we assume that the mean velocity dispersion of the host galaxies evolves as σ(z) = σ(0) × (1 + z)−γ, we find a lower limit of γ ≳ 0.23 for α ≳ 1.5. The latter estimate represents an interesting constraint for galaxy evolution models and can be tested through hydro simulations. This dissipative model, however, also implies a decreasing λ at higher z, at variance with several independent studies.
IKKβ Activation Is Sufficient for RANK-Independent Osteoclast Differentiation and Osteolysis

Monocytes differentiate into osteoclasts through stimulation of receptor activator of NF‐κB (RANK). Many downstream effectors of RANK play a positive role in osteoclastogenesis, but their relative importance in osteoclast differentiation is unclear. We report the discovery that activation of a single pathway downstream of RANK is sufficient for osteoclast differentiation. In this regard, introduction of constitutively activated IKKβ (IKKβSSEE) but not wild‐type IKKβ into monocytes stimulates differentiation of bona fide osteoclasts in the absence of RANK ligand (RANKL). This phenomenon is independent of upstream signals because IKKβSSEE induced the development of bone‐resorbing osteoclasts from RANK and IKKα knockout monocytes and in conditions in which NEMO‐IKKβ association was inhibited. NF‐κB p100 and p105, but not RelB, were critical mediators of this effect. Inflammatory autocrine signaling by tumor necrosis factor α (TNF‐α) and interleukin 1 (IL‐1) were dispensable for the spontaneous osteoclastogenesis driven by IKKβSSEE. More important, adenoviral gene transfer of IKKβSSEE induced osteoclasts and osteolysis in calvariae and knees of mice. Our data establish the sufficiency of IKKβ activation for osteolysis and suggest that IKKβ hyperactivation may play a role in conditions of pathologic bone destruction refractory to RANK/RANKL proximal therapeutic interventions. © 2010 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research
Quantitative Gene Expression of Peroxidase, Polyphenoloxidase and Catalase as Molecular Markers for Resistance against Ralstonia solanacearum

Brown rot or bacterial wilt of potato caused by Ralstonia solanacearum, is an economically important disease. Potato, cv. Nicola, was found to be relatively highly resistant to the infection with R. solanacearum and showed 15.12% wilt disease index, meantime, cv. Kara showed intermediate resistance with 37.40% disease index while, cv. Spunta was susceptible and showed 80.33% disease index. The role of defense-related enzymes in imparting resistance in potato against R. solanacearum was investigated by quantifying enzymes activity and gene expression of three defense- related enzymes, peroxidase, polyphenol oxidase and catalase. Peroxidase showed maximum activity 0.488 min-1&middotg-1 early at 12 h after pathogen inoculation in the cv. Nicola, whereas in susceptible cultivar Spunta showed lower activity of maximum 0.226 min-1&middotg-1 later at 48 h after inoculation. While, the moderately resistant cultivar Kara showed intermediate activity for the peak and its time. Meanwhile, polyphenol oxidase showed similar trends to that of peroxidase. On the contrary, catalase showed the highest activity values in the susceptible, cv. Spunta, while, in relatively highly resistant (cv. Nicola) and the moderately resistant (cv. Kara) showed lower values of activity and up to 96 h after inoculation. Meanwhile, gene expression of related enzymes the RT-PCR was used. At zero time, the relatively highly resistant potato cultivar, Nicola, showed the highest values of gene expression for both Peroxidase (POD) and Poly Phenol Oxidase (PPO). While, the susceptible potato cultivar, Spunta showed the lowest values. On the contrary, Catalase (CAT) gene expression was the highest in the susceptible, cv. Spunta, and was the lowest in the relatively highly resistant, cv. Nicola, while, was of intermediate values in the intermediate resistance, cv. Kara. Results show that peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase activities can be used as biochemical markers to reveal the resistance and susceptibility nature of potato cultivars against bacterial wilt disease of potato caused by R. solanacaerum.
Decreased Bone Formation Explains Osteoporosis in a Genetic Mouse Model of Hemochromatosiss

Osteoporosis may complicate iron overload diseases such as genetic hemochromatosis. However, molecular mechanisms involved in the iron-related osteoporosis remains poorly understood. Recent in vitro studies support a role of osteoblast impairment in iron-related osteoporosis. Our aim was to analyse the impact of excess iron in Hfe-/- mice on osteoblast activity and on bone microarchitecture. We studied the bone formation rate, a dynamic parameter reflecting osteoblast activity, and the bone phenotype of Hfe−/− male mice, a mouse model of human hemochromatosis, by using histomorphometry. Hfe−/− animals were sacrificed at 6 months and compared to controls. We found that bone contains excess iron associated with increased hepatic iron concentration in Hfe−/− mice. We have shown that animals with iron overload have decreased bone formation rate, suggesting a direct impact of iron excess on active osteoblasts number. For bone mass parameters, we showed that iron deposition was associated with bone loss by producing microarchitectural impairment with a decreased tendency in bone trabecular volume and trabecular number. A disorganization of trabecular network was found with marrow spaces increased, which was confirmed by enhanced trabecular separation and star volume of marrow spaces. These microarchitectural changes led to a loss of connectivity and complexity in the trabecular network, which was confirmed by decreased interconnectivity index and increased Minkowski’s fractal dimension. Our results suggest for the first time in a genetic hemochromatosis mouse model, that iron overload decreases bone formation and leads to alterations in bone mass and microarchitecture. These observations support a negative effect of iron on osteoblast recruitment and/or function, which may contribute to iron-related osteoporosis.
The Effect of Old Age Assistance on Retirement

Researchers have devoted considerable attention to analyzing the impact of Social Security on retirement, with mixed findings. However, Old Age Assistance (OAA), a means-tested program established at the same time, dwarfed Social Security until the 1950s and coincided with the early decline in elderly participation. In addition, OAA benefit levels were determined by the states - a key source of policy variation that is missing in the case of Social Security. I estimate the relationship between OAA benefit levels and elderly labor force participation using individual data from the 1940 and 1950 Censuses. The effect of OAA is found to be strong and implies that participation would have risen slightly instead of falling if benefits had not been raised during the 1940s. I also present evidence against the endogeneity of state benefit levels.
Wealth Effects and Russian Money Demand

We examine wealth effects for Russian money demand in a cointegrated vector autoregressive framework. We find that an aggregate wealth variable, as well as the components housing and equity prices included separately, significantly enter the long-run money demand relationship. There are feedback effects from money to wealth. However, the remonetization process lead to high income elasticities even when wealth is included in the model. System instability coincides with the arrival of the global financial crisis in late 2008.
Neuronal populations in primary motor cortex encode bimanual arm movements

Previous studies have shown that activity of neuronal populations in the primary motor cortex (MI), processed by the population vector method, faithfully predicts upcoming movements. In our previous studies we found that single neurons responded differently during movements of one arm vs. combined movements of the two arms. It was, therefore, not clear whether the population vector approach could produce reliable movement predictions also for bimanual movements. This study tests this question by comparing the predictive quality of population vectors for unimanual and bimanual arm movements. We designed a bimanual motor task that requires coordinated movements of the two arms, in which each arm may move in eight directions, and recorded single unit activity in the MI of two rhesus (Macaca mulatta) monkeys during the performance of unimanual and bimanual arm movements. We analysed the activity of 212 MI cells from both hemispheres and found that, despite bimanual related activity, the directional tuning and preferred directions of most cells were preserved in unimanual and bimanual movements. We demonstrate that population vectors, constructed from the activity of MI cells, predict accurately the direction of movement both for unimanual and for bimanual movements even when the two arms move simultaneously in different directions.
Aesthetic Image Enhancement by Dependence-Aware Object Recomposition

This paper proposes an image-enhancement method to optimize photograph composition by rearranging foreground objects in the photograph. To adjust objects' positions while keeping the original scene content, we first perform a novel structure dependence analysis on the image to obtain the dependencies between all background regions. To determine the optimal positions for foreground objects, we formulate an optimization problem based on widely used heuristics for aesthetically pleasing pictures. Semantic relations between foreground objects are also taken into account during optimization. The final output is produced by moving foreground objects, together with their dependent regions, to optimal positions. The results show that our approach can effectively optimize photographs with single or multiple foreground objects without compromising the original photograph content.
Regulating the Rating Agencies

Until four days before Enron declared bankruptcy, its debt was still rated investment grade by the major credit rating agencies. Clearly, four days before Enron declared bankruptcy, its debt was highly speculative. The furor over Enron, WorldCom and other recent debacles has led to calls for regulatory change in a number of industries; the rating agency regulatory regime is being revisited as part of this effort. The regulatory regime requires or encourages many investors to buy debt securities highly-rated by a rating agency which has been designated by the SEC as a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (NRSRO); at present, only 4 such agencies exist. There is even more market concentration in the rating agency industry than the existence of only 4 NRSROs suggests. Two of the agencies, Moody's and Standard & Poor's, dominate the market; it is the norm for most issuers to get ratings from both agencies. The regime does not impose substantive oversight over rating agencies. Some critics blame the market concentration and the rating agencies' poor performance in Enron (and, they say, more generally) on the regulatory regime. These critics argue that ratings agencies are selling favorable regulatory treatment rather than information. Such critics favor largely scrapping the regulatory regime. I argue that ratings do provide information, albeit probably of lesser quality than they might provide if the industry were more competitive. I argue, too, that while the present regulatory regime probably ought to be scrapped eventually, doing so immediately might have an opposite effect to the one intended, further entrenching Moody's and Standard & Poor's. No matter what regulatory changes are made, it won't be easy for a new rating agency to be established or gain a significant presence in the market. Market and institutional forces might have dictated market concentration even in the absence of the regulatory regime. A long-standing reputation is of considerable value as well, especially since the rating agency can't feasibly offer monetary guarantees of the caliber of its work. Moreover, agents who make the investment decisions, as well as the firms purchasing ratings, have every incentive to stick with the tried, true, and court- and market-vetted rating agencies. Recognizing that the market may still remain quite concentrated, regulatory reform should encourage rating agencies to be more responsive to the needs of market participants. One promising suggestion contemplates creation of a public forum in which market participants would comment on rating agencies' performance. Less promising are suggestions to begin substantive oversight of rating agency business operations, and to increase the ability of investors and others to sue rating agencies. Finally, conflicts of interest may become a significant problem, especially if the market becomes much less concentrated - an annual certification by rating agencies that they are operating in accordance with procedures to guard against conflicts may be desirable.
What’s next, as Facebook use in UK universities continues to grow?

How widely is Facebook used within higher education? And does ‘liking’ a university’s Facebook page really signify engagement between the student and the institution? Brian Kelly looks at whether the social networking service should be viewed as a digital mailing list, or if it has a role to play as a platform for the development of new services.
Atomic state and characterization of nitrogen at the SiC/SiO2 interface

We report on the concentration, chemical bonding, and etching behavior of N at the SiC(0001)/SiO2 interface using photoemission, ion scattering, and computational modeling. For standard NO processing of a SiC MOSFET, a sub-monolayer of nitrogen is found in a thin inter-layer between the substrate and the gate oxide (SiO2). Photoemission shows one main nitrogen related core-level peak with two broad, higher energy satellites. Comparison to theory indicates that the main peak is assigned to nitrogen bound with three silicon neighbors, with second nearest neighbors including carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen atoms. Surprisingly, N remains at the surface after the oxide was completely etched by a buffered HF solution. This is in striking contrast to the behavior of Si(100) undergoing the same etching process. We conclude that N is bound directly to the substrate SiC, or incorporated within the first layers of SiC, as opposed to bonding within the oxide network. These observations provide insights into the chemistr.
Vertical Specialization in Portuguese International Trade

One of the significant economic trends of the last decades is the strong growth of international trade flows. World trade volume of goods and services exhibited an average annual growth of 6.0 per cent over the period 1970-2005, well above the real growth rate of world GDP of 3.7 per cent (Chart 1). Another important feature of the current globalization phase is the increase in the stock of foreign direct investment (FDI) and the rising importance of multinational corporations in world production. Several explanations for these trends have been put forward in the literature. Firstly, the recent decades have witnessed substantial progress in the liberalization of international trade and capital flows, with the integration of several emerging market economies in world markets. Secondly, the dissemination of information and marketing strategies tends to increase consumers’ taste for variety, intensifying international intra-industry flows of final goods (see Lloyd and Lee (2002)). Thirdly, a new paradigm in the international organization of the productive process has emerged since, for a large share of goods, activity is now vertically decomposed among different countries. Such activities explain part of the increase in world trade because more intermediate goods circulate between countries. The internationalization of production also relates with the increase of FDI because part of these activities are conducted within the structure of multinational corporations as intra-firm trade.