Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FIW – Working Paper Incomplete specialization and offshoring across Europe

Recent empirical studies have been searching for evidence on and driving forces for offshoring. Frequently, this has been done by analyzing gross trade flows related to offshore activities using gravity equations augmented by ad hoc measures of supply-side country differences. This paper suggests that gravity formulations of this sort are mis-specified, due to theoretically unmotivated attempts to allow for both complete and incomplete specialization influences on gross trade flows within the same gravity framework. We suggest an alternative specification rooted in incomplete specialization that views bilateral gravity equations as statistical relationships constrained on countries’ multilateral specialization patterns. This view reveals that countries’ multilateral specialization incentives drive bilateral trade, corresponding to and competing with the role of multilateral trade resistance. Our results support evidence for offshoring activities across Europe, driven by countries’ multilateral specialization incentives, as expressed by supply-side country differences relative to the rest of the world. JEL-Classification: F14, F16, L24
Multidivisional Firms, Internal Competition, and the Merger Paradox

Traditional modelling of mergers has the merged firms (insiders) cooperate and maximize joint profits. This approach has several unappealing results in quantity-setting games, for example, mergers typically are not profitable for insiders, but are profitable for non-merging firms (outsiders). We take a different approach and allow for a parent company that can play each insider off one another. In quantity-setting games, with our approach mergers are profitable for insiders, unprofitable for outsiders, socially beneficial, and involve (in a non-monopolizing merger) a small number of firms. Finally, we find that the optimal strategy depends on whether firms compete in quantity or prices.
Intrauterine ductus arteriosus constriction: analysis of a historic cohort of 20 cases.

OBJECTIVE To describe the relative incidence, presentation, and evolvement of fetuses with early ductus constriction. METHODS Twenty fetal echocardiograms indicating ductus constriction were reviewed in a population of 7000 pregnants. RESULTS The cases were divided into group A (related to maternal use of cyclooxygenase inhibitors [n=7] and group B (idiopathics [n=13]). Mean gestational age was 32.5 +/- 3.1 (27-38) weeks and maternal age was 28.2 +/- 8.5 (17-42) years. Mean systolic velocity in the ductus was 2.22 +/- 0.34 (1.66-2.81) m/s, diastolic velocity 0.79 +/- 0.28 (0.45-1.5) m/s, and pulsatility index 1.33 +/- 0.36 (0.52-1.83). Two cases of ductal occlusion were noted. In 65% of the cases, an increase occurred in the right cavities; in 90% of the cases, tricuspid or pulmonary regurgitation, or both, occurred, with functional pulmonary atresia in 1 case. Diastolic velocity was greater in group A (1.13 +/- 0.33) than in group B (0.68 +/- 0.15) (P=0.008). The other data were similar in the 2 groups. The evolvement was not favorable in 4 patients from group B, including 1 death and 2 cases of persistent pulmonary hypertension. CONCLUSION The high incidence of idiopathic constriction of the ductus arteriosus suggests that its diagnosis is underestimated and that many cases of persistence of fetal circulation in newborns may be related to constriction of the ductus arteriosus not diagnosed during intrauterine life. Group B had a lower severity but a risk of an unfavorable evolvement, suggesting a distinct alteration.
Prognostic factors of spontaneously ruptured hepatocellular carcinoma.

AIM To evaluate the prognostic factors in patients with spontaneously ruptured hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS Seventy-nine patients experiencing spontaneous rupture of HCC between April 2004 and August 2014 were enrolled in this study. The clinical features, treatment modalities and outcomes were reviewed. The statistical methods used in this work included univariate analysis, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis with log-rank tests, and multivariate analysis using a Cox regression hazard model. RESULTS Of the 79 patients with HCC rupture, 17 (21.5%) underwent surgery, 32 (40.5%) underwent transarterial embolization (TAE), and 30 (38%) received conservative treatment. The median survival time was 125 d, and the mortality rate at 30 d was 27.8%. Multivariate analysis revealed that lesion length (HR = 1.46, P < 0.001), lesion number (HR = 1.37, P = 0.042), treatment before tumor rupture (HR = 4.36, P = 0.019), alanine transaminase levels (HR = 1.0, P = 0.011), bicarbonate levels (HR = 1.18, P < 0.001), age (HR = 0.96, P = 0.026), anti-tumor therapy during the follow-up period (HR = 0.21, P = 0.008), and albumin levels (HR = 0.89, P = 0.010) were independent prognostic factors of survival after HCC rupture. The Barcelona-Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage was also an important prognostic factor; the median survival times for BCLC stages A, B and C were 251, 175 and 40 d, respectively (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION Anti-tumor therapy during the follow-up period, without a history of anti-tumor therapy prior to HCC rupture, small tumor length and number, and early BCLC stage are the most crucial predictors associated with satisfactory overall survival. Other factors play only a small role in overall survival.
Applicant Communicative (In)Competence in the Temporary Employment Interview: Unpacking How the Expression of Identity in Social Interaction and Problems Which Occur During this Speech Event Influence Outcomes for Applicants Hired and Not Hired

This research study investigated communication in job interviews in an employment agency from a practical perspective and a critical perspective by conducting an interpretive discourse analysis which characterizes the job interview as a speech event and analyzes interactional strategies the applicant uses to make a positive impression, communicative problems which occur during social interaction in this context, and how identity influences social interaction and the outcomes of job interviews. The job interview is a test of the applicant's verbal skills, and the interviewer's expectations for those skills are analyzed and defined as Applicant Communicative Competence (ACC). This discourse analysis identified communicative patterns for 20 applicants in temporary employment interviews and found that identity is a factor which can cause problems between interlocutors with dissimilar identities.
Risk, Proportionality, and Sentencing

In response to increased fear and attention to the sexual victimization of children, coupled with the proliferation of child pornography on the Internet, Congress has increased the severity of federal sentencing guidelines for child pornography offenses. Recently, federal judges have publicly questioned the appropriateness of these guidelines, arguing that the guidelines do not properly reflect proportionality with regard to the level of harm and risk posed by child pornography offenders. Child pornography cases have the highest rates of guideline departure in the federal court system. Within the legal versus democratic subcultural framework, this study analyzes the factors influencing sentencing decisions in federal child pornography and sexual abuse cases. Our primary focus is on the impact of differences between guideline-generated sentencing recommendations compared with the sentences outlined in the criminal statutes. We find that although a greater divergence between the guidelines and statutes increases the likelihood and magnitude of downward departures generally, this effect is more pronounced in child pornography cases. This finding suggests that judges may face greater difficulty in synthesizing conflicting cues from the legal and democratic subcultures in these types of cases.
Gay men as parents: Analysing resistant talk in South African mainstream media accounts of queer families

There is increasing visibility of dissident sexualities and genders in media debates about families, including resistant discourses that challenge delegitimising claims about queer families. There remains, however, a lack of research that assesses the ways in which discourses seeking to defend queer parenthood function to challenge or, at times, reinforce hetero-gendered norms. Families formed by gay men have generally received less attention, both in the media as well as academic scholarship. In this paper, we explore resistant discourses deployed in mainstream print media, attending particularly to news reports about queer fathers and their children. Through a critical thematic analysis of South African newspapers, informed by feminist discursive psychology, we identify four themes in resistant ways of talking: de-gendering parenthood, normalising queer parents, valorising queer parenting, and challenging the heteronormative gold standard. We conclude with the political implications of such resistant talk, as part of a project of transforming restrictive hetero-gendered norms.
Prognostic factors of neurological sequel in adult patients with tuberculous meningitis.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the predictors of neurological sequel in tuberculous meningitis (TBM). METHODS This study was carried out at the Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Haseki Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey, between January 1998 and March 2009. Neurological sequels at 6 months of 160 adult patients with TBM who had been followed up were assessed retrospectively. The prognostic role of various demographic, clinical, laboratory, and radiological findings on admission, in prediction of neurological sequel development, were studied using a multivariate logistic regression. Clinical and therapeutic outcomes at 6 months were determined using a modified Barthel Index. RESULTS Twenty-seven (17%) patients died and 20 (13%) survivors had neurological sequelae at 6 months. Cranial nerve palsy, presence of tuberculoma, younger age, and basal meningitis were found to be significant predictors of neurological sequelae in univariate analysis, but only younger age (odds ratio [OR] 2.9, 95% confidence intervals [CI] 1.0-8.6, p=0.049), cranial nerve palsy (OR 3.9, 95% CI 1.8-8.8, p=0.001), and presence of tuberculoma (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.0-4.2, p=0.048) were found to be significant predictors using multivariable logistic regression analysis. CONCLUSION Neurological sequelae were more common in patients with tuberculoma and cranial nerve palsy on admission. Development of neurological complications may be seen despite timely and effective anti-tuberculous therapy especially in younger patients.
Dynamic price competition on the internet: advertising auctions

The development of Internet advertising is phenomenal. In merely five years, its market size has grown from the 1999’s $3.5 billion to 2005’s $12.9 billion. Among the different types of online advertising, keyword auctions, where positions in a search engine’s result pages are sold to advertisers through auctions, has grown most rapidly and is widely credited for the revitalization of the search engine business. These keyword auctions offer one way for us to study dynamic price competition. In reality, firms react to each other continually. Some firms check the prices of their competitors and make adjustments. Some others even offer price-match guarantees that whenever a competitor offers a lower price, they will match the difference. With the advent of the Internet, these types of price reactions become even more prevalent. In this paper, we propose to use a Markovian framework to study dynamic price competition in the keyword auctions market.
The suburban bias of American society?

ABSTRACT Past research has characterized countries as displaying the traits of urban or rural bias. Neither concept fits the United States well. We propose, as a hypothesis for research, that it may better be understood as displaying a suburban bias vis-à-vis both urban and rural populations. Drawing on the urban and rural bias literatures, we discuss two forms that suburban bias might take, allocational and dispositional, and the ways in which they might be identified. We offer initial evidence of a prevailing suburban bias in the United States in two spheres, those of judicial interpretation and American planning history, and conclude with suggestions for further research on the hypothesis.
The U1 snRNP Base Pairs with the 5′ Splice Site within a Penta-snRNP Complex

ABSTRACT Recognition of the 5′ splice site is an important step in mRNA splicing. To examine whether U1 approaches the 5′ splice site as a solitary snRNP or as part of a multi-snRNP complex, we used a simplified in vitro system in which a short RNA containing the 5′ splice site sequence served as a substrate in a binding reaction. This system allowed us to study the interactions of the snRNPs with the 5′ splice site without the effect of other cis-regulatory elements of precursor mRNA. We found that in HeLa cell nuclear extracts, five spliceosomal snRNPs form a complex that specifically binds the 5′ splice site through base pairing with the 5′ end of U1. This system can accommodate RNA-RNA rearrangements in which U5 replaces U1 binding to the 5′ splice site, a process that occurs naturally during the splicing reaction. The complex in which U1 and the 5′ splice site are base paired sediments in the 200S fraction of a glycerol gradient together with all five spliceosomal snRNPs. This fraction is functional in mRNA spliceosome assembly when supplemented with soluble nuclear proteins. The results argue that U1 can bind the 5′ splice site in a mammalian preassembled penta-snRNP complex.
Soluble vertebrate lectins: ubiquitous but inscrutable proteins.

It is not widely appreciated that lectins are at least as abundant in vertebrate as in plant tissues. The literature is muddied by a confusion over the definition of a lectin and by a wide variety of conflicting nomenclature. Lectins have also rather lacked credibility because in very few cases has there been a clear demonstration of the functionally important interaction of a lectin with its endogenous carbohydrate ligand. Nevertheless, it is now clear that vertebrate lectins are involved in a wide diversity of cellular activities. While this undoubtedly makes them very important molecules, it also makes it difficult to delineate their individual functions. Lectins were originally defined as multivalent, non-immunoglobulin, carbohydrate binding molecules (Goldstein et al. 1980), operationally defined by their ability to agglutinate cells bearing appropriate saccharide structures. More recently it has seemed appropriate to include proteins with a single carbohydrate binding site (Barondes, 1988; Gabius, 1991) and this pragmatically modified definition is becoming generally accepted. This interpretation extends the term lectin to a large number of other molecules with a well-characterised carbohydrate binding activity that were not originally isolated as lectins, for example fibronectin, and results in a broader picture of the great diversity of lectin function.
Influence of age on cognition and scopolamine induced memory impairment in rats measured in the radial maze paradigm

Abstract The influence of age on (1) cognition and (2) scopolamine (CAS 51-34-3) induced memory impairment in female rats was measured in the radial maze paradigm (RAM). (1) First training trials were done with3 and 12 months old rats. Rats were trained to find all eight food baits in the RAM without errors and within 1 min. Both 3- and 12-month old rats need about 15 trials for the first-time learning of the RAM task. After intervals of 3 and6 months, respectively, initially young rats were re-trained with an age of 6 and12 months. Surprisingly, re-trained rats successfully completed the maze runs already after one re-training trial. Thus the phenomenon of preserved spatial memory was approved for female rats. (2) Memory impairment by scopolamine in the RAM was tested for the first time in rats with an age of 3 months. After a control run, the rats received an i. p. injection of either scopolamine hydrochloride (0.05 mg/100 g b. wt.) or saline vehicle. The effect of scopolamine on working memory was measured 20 min after administration. Training procedure and scopolamine administration were repeated at an age of 6, 12, 18, and 24 months in the same manner. The cognition impairment after scopolamine (number of errors: control: ≤ 1; scopolamine: 5–6) remains constant between 3 and 24 months of age. The only significant difference was the increase in run time in rats older than 18 months caused by degenerative changes developing with age. It can be concluded that the drug effect on cognition and working memory can be measured in young and old-aged female rats with the same results.
Computational methods are significant determinants of the associations and definitions of insulin resistance using the homeostasis model assessment in women of reproductive age.

BACKGROUND Insulin resistance (IR) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), but identification of insulin-resistant individuals is difficult. The homeostasis model assessment (HOMA), a surrogate marker of IR, is available in 2 computational models: HOMA1-IR (formula) and HOMA2-IR (computer program), which differ in incorporated physiological assumptions. This study evaluates the associations of the 2 models as markers of IR, the metabolic syndrome (MS), and PCOS. METHODS Anthropometric, hormonal, and biochemical parameters were measured in 92 PCOS women and 110 controls. HOMA1 and HOMA2 were used to assess IR. Regression analyses were used to find the associations of the 2 models with different variables, MS, and PCOS. RESULTS The cutoff levels for definition of IR were HOMA1-IR ≥2.9 and HOMA2-IR ≥1.7. Mean HOMA1-IR (2.79) and HOMA2-IR (1.42) differed substantially. The difference (HOMA1-IR - HOMA2-IR) was significantly correlated with insulin, fasting plasma glucose, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, waist circumference, leptin, and adiponectin (all P < 0.05). HOMA1-IR and HOMA2-IR were significantly associated with MS (odds ratio 5.7 and 4.2, respectively) and PCOS (odds ratio 3.7 and 3.5, respectively). CONCLUSIONS HOMA computational methods significantly affect the associations and cutoff values used for definition of IR. The correlations of the difference in the computational methods corroborate differences in captured physiological mechanisms. As precise identification of IR in PCOS patients is of practical importance, practitioners and researchers should be aware of these differences in the HOMA computational methods.
Training volume and performance of young Spanish national and international level swimmers

The objective of the present study was to determine the volume of training of young national and international level swimmers, how it evolves andits relationship with performance. The sample comprised of 202 swimmers (11to 18 years old), selected by the Royal Spanish Swimming Federation. The volumes of pool and dry-land training were evaluated together with the swimmer's performance during the season (LEN score). In general, there was a progression in pool training volume from the youngest swimmers (males 13to 14 years; females 11to 12 years),to the next age category (males 15to 16 years; females 13to 14 years). Training volume was related to performance only for the youngest swimmers, the possible reason being that, after this age, intensity is the most relevant aspect of the training load. Keywords: Planning; Training load; Swimming South African Journal for Research in Sport, Physical Education and Recreation , 2013, 35(2): 163-172
Karl Mannheim and the sociology of scientific knowledge: Toward a new agenda

In previous decades, a regrettable divorce has arisen between two currents of theorizing and research about knowledge and science: the Mannheimian and Wittgensteinian traditions. The radical impulse of the new social studies of science in the early 1970s was initiated not by followers of Mannheim, but by Wittgensteinians such as Kuhn, Bloor, and Collins. This paper inquires whether this Wittgensteinian program is not presently running into difficulties that might be resolved to some extent by reverting to a more traditional and broader agenda of research. A social theory of knowledge (or social epistemology) along Mannheimian lines would not only reinstate the "magic triangle" of epistemology, sociology, and ethics, and hence revive the vexed problem of "ideology critique," but would also need to reincorporate the social analysis of science into a broader macrosocial theory about the "knowledge society. "
Diagnostic and prognostic value of the methylation status of secreted frizzled-related protein 2 in colorectal cancer.

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic and prognostic significance of the methylation status of secreted frizzled-related protein 2 (SFRP2) in colorectal cancer (CRC). METHODS Methylation-specific PCR assay was performed to analyze SFRP2 promoter methylation in solid tissue, stool and serum samples collected from 169 CRC patients, 63 patients with advanced adenomas, 46 patients with non-adenomatous polyps and 30 normal healthy controls. RESULTS Methylated SFRP2 was frequently detected in CRC tissues and precancerous lesions. The sensitivity of SFRP2 methylation levels in tissue, fecal and serum DNA for the detection of CRC was similar, ranging from 66.9 to 88.2%; however, serum SFRP2 methylation levels showed a markedly higher specificity in discriminating CRCs from benign adenomas than those of SFRP2 methylation levels in tumor and fecal DNA. Moreover, serum SFRP2 methylation was significantly associated with poor differentiation grade (P=0.019), serosal/subserosal invasion (P < 0.001), lymph node metastasis status (P < 0.001) and TNM stage (P < 0.001) of CRC. CRC patients with SFRP2 hypermethylation in tumor, stool and serum samples had a significantly shorter overall survival than those negative for SFRP2 methylation (P=0.0216, 0.0219, and 0.0255, respectively). Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that SFRP2 promoter methylation in tumor samples was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival. CONCLUSION Our data suggest that serum SFRP2 methylation status represents a promising, non-invasive marker for CRC detection and staging. Hypermethylated SFRP2 may have prognostic relevance in patients with CRC.
Evidence for Intergalactic Absorption in the TeV Gamma-Ray Spectrum of Markarian 501

The recent High-Energy Gamma-Ray Array (HEGRA) observations of the blazar Mrk 501 show strong curvature in the very high energy γ-ray spectrum. Applying the γ-ray opacity derived from an empirically based model of the intergalactic infrared background radiation field to these observations, we find that the intrinsic spectrum of this source is consistent with a power law: dN/dE∝E, with α=2.00±0.03 over the range 500 GeV-20 TeV. Within current synchrotron self-Compton scenarios, the fact that the TeV spectral energy distribution of Mrk 501 does not vary with luminosity, combined with the correlated, spectrally variable emission in X-rays as observed by the BeppoSAX and Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer instruments, also independently implies that the intrinsic spectrum must be close to α=2. Thus, the observed curvature in the spectrum is most easily understood as resulting from intergalactic absorption.