Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Country Funds: A Channel for Emerging Equity Markets Integration

This paper examines the financial links of a group of Pacific-Basin countries with U.S. and Japan by estimating the multivariate cointegration model in both the autoregressive and moving average forms over the period 1980-1998. The former allows us to examine the long-run relationships of these markets, and the latter the potential drivers of the system. Finally, the recursive analysis helps to identify the evolution of integration of these markets. The results for the early part of the period indicate that the relaxation of foreign ownership restrictions is not sufficient for capital market integration and that other factors must affect the portfolio diversification decision of foreign investors. On the other hand, the results of the more recent period suggest that the relaxation of the restrictions might have strengthened international market interrelations. Furthermore, investors have used alternative financial vehicles, such as Country Funds, to access highly regulated capital markets and strengthen their integration with world markets.
Combining partial direct measurements with an information-theoretic approach to estimate traffic matrix

Traffic matrices are essential for many traffic engineering tasks such as network management and capacity planning. However, it is difficult and cost to measure them accurately. The estimation of traffic matrix has usually been treated as a pure statistical inference problem. For example, infer the traffic matrix from the link load measurements and routing information. In practice, however, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) could measure partial traffic flows directly nowadays. In this paper, we propose a method to combine partial direct measurements of traffic matrix with one of the noticing method, the Minimum Mutual Information (MMI) method, to estimate the traffic matrix. Evaluation on real network data have demonstrated that with few levels of direct measurements of traffic flows could largely improve the performance of estimation, also the experiments have shown that choosing some large traffic flows to measure directly could have a great improvement on performance.
SERUM URIC ACID AS MARKER FOR DIAGNOSING PREECLAMPSIA

Hypertensive disorders are important causes of premature delivery, IUGR and intra uterine fetal death. It accounts for 15% to 20% of maternal deaths in developing as well as developed nations. An association of serum uric acid with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. The main objective of the present study was measuring and evaluating serum uric acid values in normal pregnant and preeclamptic and eclamptic cases to see the trend in the rise of serum uric acid in toxemic cases. Therefore we planned this study. The present study was conducted on Control (15 Normal non pregnant healthy women) and 140 cases they were further sub divided as, 60 Normal pregnant women in different trimesters, 60-Preeclampticcases, 20Eclampticcases. Then Preeclampsia was divided into3groups (Mild preeclampsia – BP at least 140/90 mmHg. Moderate preeclampsia – BP more than 140/90 but <160/110mmHg. Severe preeclampsia – BP>160/110 mmHg but without convulsions). Estimation of serum uric acid was done at Department of Biochemistry, Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, Ranchi, Jharkhand during June 2008 to Sept.2009. The cases were selected from outdoor, indoor and emergency of department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, RIMS, Ranchi. The serum value of uric acid was studied in 60 preeclamptic cases and 20 cases of eclampsia. The mean ± S.D. values of serum uric acid in normal non pregnant cases was 3.68±0.66, in normal pregnant cases in 1 trimester was 3.60±0.78, normal pregnant cases in 2 trimester was 3.40±0.33, normal pregnant cases in 3 trimester was 4.64±0.70. in preeclamptic patients, the mean was 6.70±0.78 and in eclamptic patients it was 7.52±0.95. on doing analysis of this it shows significant changing patterns in serum uric acid level between normal non-pregnant cases and normal pregnant cases in the 3 trimester. Also there is a good significance between normal cases in 3 trimester and preeclamptic cases as a whole. The above study undertaken shows a definite rise in serum uric acid level in diseased subjects as early as first and early second trimester, although difference rise in serum uric acid in mild cases when compared to normal cases was not statistically significant. But, it can be concluded that serum uric acid measurement is one of the best markers of the diagnosis as well as severity of preeclampsia and will be a useful index for the management of the same.
Assessment of Macular Peripapillary Nerve Fiber Layer and Choroidal Thickness Changes in Pregnant Women with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus, Healthy Pregnant Women, and Healthy Non-Pregnant Women

Background Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a risk factor for the development of type II diabetes and it causes maternal and child morbidity. Screening for diabetic retinopathy (DR) is important because patients who develop DR have no symptoms until macular edema and/or proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) are already present. The aim of this study was to determine the early retinal findings of GDM. Material/Methods This study was conducted in a tertiary research center. We conducted a prospective cross-sectional study with 3 groups: Group 1 consisted of 36 pregnant women with GDM, Group 2 consisted of 24 healthy pregnant women, and Group 3 consisted of 38 healthy non-pregnant women of reproductive age. Spectralis optical coherence tomography (OCT) was used for the assessment. Macular, choroid, and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thicknesses were evaluated in patients with GDM and comparisons were made among pregnant women with GDM, healthy pregnant women, and healthy non-pregnant women for these parameters. Results The nasal part of the RNFL was significantly thinner in the GDM group than in the healthy pregnant group. None of the patients had retinopathy or macular edema at the time of examination. Conclusions Decreased nasal part of RNFL thickness may be the first retinal change in patients with GDM. Our study suggests that OCT should be performed for the patients with GDM for detection of early retinal changes associated with GDM.
Supply of Human Capital in Times of Skill Biased Technological Change / Die Reaktion des Humankapitalangebots auf qualifikationsverzerrten technischen Fortschritt

Summary This paper analyses the skill supply consequences of skill biased technological change. In a simple microeconomic model it is shown that higher skill wage mark-ups as well as higher relative unskilled unemployment - frequently attributed to skill biased technological change - induce overqualification. Therefore over-qualification is an equilibrium mechanism when skill rents increase. A shift-share analysis on the basis of representative German individual data (the Mikrozensus) shows indeed that the qualification levels for jobs with given characteristics increased between 1991 and 1995 in Germany. The job characteristics analysed are type of activity mainly pursued, place of activity or position in the enterprise. These findings are interpreted as evidence for increasing over-qualification in the wake of skill biased technological change. Zusammenfassung Dieser Beitrag analysiert die Auswirkungen von technischem Fortschritt, der den Einsatz von höher qualifizierten Mitarbeitern fördert, auf das Humankapitalangebot. In einem einfachen mikroökonomischen Modell wird gezeigt, dass sowohl höhere Lohnaufschläge für qualifizierte Tätigkeiten als auch eine erhöhte relative Arbeitslosigkeit von niedrig Qualifizierten zu einem Anreiz führen, sich zu überqualifizieren. Somit ist Überqualifizierung ein möglicher Gleichgewichtsmechanismus wenn sich in Folge des technischen Fortschritts die Bildungsrendite bei adäquat Beschäftigten erhöht. Auf der Basis einer Shift-Share Analyse mit Individualdaten des Mikrozensus wird gezeigt, dass in der Tat die Qualifikationsniveaus bei gegebenen Arbeitsplatzcharakteristiken wie Art der Tätigkeit, Ort der Tätigkeit innerhalb der Firma und Position steigt. Dieses Ergebnis wird als Beleg für eine steigende Überqualifikation im Gefolge eines den Einsatz von höher qualifizierten Mitarbeitern fördernden technischen Fortschritts interpretiert.
Occurrence and Distribution of Phytochemicals in the Leaves of 17 In vitro Cultured Hypericum spp. Adapted to Outdoor Conditions

A plethora of plants belonging to the genus Hypericum have been investigated so far owing to the biological efficacies of pharmacologically important secondary metabolites produced by several Hypericum species. However, there is currently a dearth of information about the localization (accumulation) of these compounds in the plants in situ. In particular, the biosynthetic and ecological consequence of acclimatization of in vitro cultured Hypericum spp. to outdoor conditions is not fully known. Herein, we report an application of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization high-resolution mass spectrometry (MALDI-HRMS) to reveal the distribution of major naphthodianthrones hypericin, pseudohypericin, protohypericin, and their proposed precursor emodin as well as emodin anthrone, along with the phloroglucinol derivative hyperforin, the flavonoids quercetin, quercitrin, rutin and hyperoside (and/or isoquercitrin), and chlorogenic acid in Hypericum leaves. Plants encompassing seventeen Hypericum species classified into eleven sections, which were first cultured in vitro and later acclimatized to outdoor conditions, were studied. We focused both on the secretory (dark and translucent glands, other types of glands, and glandular-like structures) as well as the non-secretory leaf tissues. We comparatively analyzed and interpreted the occurrence and accumulation of our target compounds in different leaf tissues of the seventeen species to get an intra-sectional as well as inter-sectional perspective. The naphthodianthrones, along with emodin, were present in all species containing the dark glands. In selected species, hypericin and pseudohypericin accumulated not only in the dark glands, but also in translucent glands and non-secretory leaf tissues. Although hyperforin was localized mainly in translucent glands, it was present sporadically in the dark glands in selected species. The flavonoids quercetin, quercitrin, and hyperoside (and/or isoquercitrin) were distributed throughout the leaves. Rutin was present only within sections Hypericum, Adenosepalum, Ascyreia, and Psorophytum. Our study provides insights into the prospects and challenges of using in vitro cultured Hypericum plants, further adapted to field conditions, for commercial purposes.
A bounded memory allocator for software-defined global address spaces

This paper presents a memory allocator targeting manycore architec- tures with distributed memory. Among the family of Multi Processor System on Chip (MPSoC), these devices are composed of multiple nodes linked by an on-chip network; most nodes have multiple processors sharing a small local memory. While MPSoC typically excel on their performance-per-Watt ratio, they remain hard to program due to multilevel parallelism, explicit resource and memory management, and hardware constraints (limited memory, network topology). Typical programming frameworks for MPSoC leave much target-specific work to the programmer: combining threads or node-local OpenMP, software caching, explicit message passing (and sometimes, routing), with non-standard interfaces. More abstract, automatic frameworks exist, but they target large-scale clusters and do not model the hardware constraints of MPSoC. The memory allocator described in this paper is one component of a larger runtime system, called Givy, to support dynamic task graphs with automatic software caching and data-driven execution on MPSoC. To simplify the programmer’s view of memory, both runtime and program data objects live in a Global Address Space (GAS). To avoid address collisions when objects are dynamically allocated, and to manage virtual memory mappings across nodes, a GAS-aware memory allocator is required. This paper proposes such an allocator with the following properties: (1) it is free of inter-node synchronizations; (2) its node-local performance match that of state-of-the-art shared-memory allocators; (3) it provides node-local mechanisms to implement inter-node software caching within a GAS; (4) it is well suited for small memory systems (a few MB per node).
Early Rifting in the Narragansett Basin, Massachusetts–Rhode Island: Evidence from Late Devonian Bimodal Volcanic Rocks

The basal Wamsutta Formation of the Narragansett Basin, Massachusetts–Rhode Island, contains \documentclass{aastex} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{bm} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{pifont} \usepackage{stmaryrd} \usepackage{textcomp} \usepackage{portland,xspace} \usepackage{amsmath,amsxtra} \usepackage[OT2,OT1]{fontenc} \newcommand\cyr{ \renewcommand\rmdefault{wncyr} \renewcommand\sfdefault{wncyss} \renewcommand\encodingdefault{OT2} \normalfont \selectfont} \DeclareTextFontCommand{\textcyr}{\cyr} \pagestyle{empty} \DeclareMathSizes{10}{9}{7}{6} \begin{document} \landscape $$373\pm 2$$ \end{document} Ma rhyolite that is unexpectedly 60 m.yr. older than sedimentary strata containing late Pennsylvanian floras higher in the basin fill. The transitional alkalic geochemistry of the rhyolite and associated basalt signifies Late Devonian rifting pre‐dating major basin subsidence. Surface rifting was accompanied by voluminous alkalic intrusions of the 380–370 Ma Scituate Igneous Suite into Neoproterozoic basement west of the basin and by ductile extension along shear zones confined to the pluton and neighboring units. The Maritimes Basin and adjoining areas in Atlantic Canada experienced a similar mid‐Paleozoic history.
New Estimates of the Budget Outlook: Plus Ça Change, Plus C'est la Même Chose

Despite substantial attention given to fiscal policy concerns in recent years, the federal government's fiscal status has continued to deteriorate, with the enactment of tax cuts, a massive new Medicare entitlement, increased spending on defense and homeland security, and related economic developments. This paper provides new estimates of the nation's fiscal status over both the 10-year and long-term horizon, based on the most recent (January 2006) Congressional Budget Office official budget figures (CBO 2006). Our general conclusions are not surprising: under plausible assumptions, the nation faces significant short- and medium-term deficits and massive long-term shortfalls. Dealing with these problems will require spending cuts or tax increases that are far beyond the scale of anything currently considered politically palatable.
Pet rats as a source of hantavirus in England and Wales, 2013.

We report the detection of a strain of Seoul hantavirus (SEOV) in pet rats in England and Wales. The discovery followed an investigation of a case of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in Wales. Hantavirus RNA was detected via real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and classic RT-PCR in pet rats belonging to the patient. Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis confirmed the virus to be a SEOV that is similar, but not identical, to a previously reported United Kingdom strain from wild rats.
REALISM: rendering anonymity and lightweight security with mobility in wireless ad hoc and mesh networks

The threat of possible malicious activities that can be executed by adversaries impedes the rapid deployment of wireless networks. Researchers and scientists have rendered various mechanisms in order to preclude or at least mitigate such activities. Many of these strategies necessitate or presume the presence of a trusted authority to actualize their implementation. This, of course, in the wireless networks is quite unmanageable and requires extra messages and management overhead. In this paper, we present a secure and anonymity-friendly mechanism for wireless ad hoc and mesh networks. This approach provides a secure connection establishment based on neighborhood trust. Moreover, it preserves anonymity of any two communication parties using exceedingly lightweight security scheme. In addition, it also offers seamless secure connectivity to mobile nodes. Our proposed solution applies to both mesh and ad hoc networks.
Prevalence of Chlamydial Infections in Fattening Pigs and Their Influencing Factors

Chlamydial infections in pigs are associated with respiratory disease, diarrhea, conjunctivitis and other pathologies. The aim of this study was to define the prevalence of Chlamydiaceae in Swiss fattening pigs by applying sensitive and specific detection methods and to correlate prior antibiotic treatment and farm related factors with differences in prevalence. Conjunctival and fecal swabs were collected from 636 pigs in 29 Swiss fattening pig farms with and without antibiotic treatment, at the beginning and the end of the fattening period. The swabs were screened by real-time PCR for Chlamydiaceae. For the chlamydial detection and species-identification, a DNA-microarray analysis was performed. All farms were positive for Chlamydiaceae with 94.3 and 92.0% prevalence in fecal swabs as well as 45.9 and 32.6% in conjunctival swabs at the first and second time points, respectively. Antibiotic treatment could not clear the infection on herd level. Potential contact with wild boars was a significant risk factor, while hygiene criteria did not influence chlamydial prevalence. A correlation of chlamydial positivity to diarrhea, but not to conjunctivitis was evident. Chlamydia suis was the predominant species. Mixed infections with C. suis and C. pecorum were common, with a substantial increase in C. pecorum positivity at the end of the fattening period, and this finding was associated with ruminant contact. C. abortus was detected in one conjunctival swab. In this study, C. suis inhabited the intestinal tract of nearly all examined pigs, implying a long-term infection. C. pecorum was also common and might be transmitted to pigs by ruminants.
Wealth Transfers from Implementing Real-Time Retail Electricity Pricing

Adoption of real-time electricity pricing %u2014 retail prices that vary hourly to reflect changing wholesale prices %u2014 removes existing cross-subsidies to those customers that consume disproportionately more when wholesale prices are highest. If their losses are substantial, these customers are likely to oppose RTP initiatives unless there is a supplemental program to offset their loss. Using data on a random sample of 636 industrial and commercial customers in southern California, I show that RTP adoption would result in significant transfers compared to a flat-rate tariff. When compared to the time-of-use rates (simple peak/offpeak tariffs) that these customers already face, however, the transfers drop by nearly half; even under the more extreme price volatility scenario that I examine, 90% of customers would see changes of between a 9% bill reduction and a 14% bill increase. Though customer price responsiveness reduces the loss incurred by those with high-cost demand profiles, I also demonstrate that this offsetting effect is unlikely to be large enough for most customers with costly demand patterns to completely offset their lost cross-subsidy. The analysis suggests that adoption of real-time pricing may be difficult without a supplemental program that compensates the customers who are made worse off by the change. I discuss how "two-part RTP" programs, which allow customers to purchase a baseline quantity at regulated TOU rates, can reduce the transfers associated with adoption of RTP.
Can the spotlight of attention be shaped like a doughnut? Evidence from steady-state visual evoked potentials.

Visual attention enables observers to extract and process high-priority information in the visualfield. Controversy remains as to whether or not observers can ignore information that falls within the spatial beam of attention. We used an objective physiological measure, the steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP), to investigate this question. A stream of flickering small, uppercase letters was embedded in the center of a stream of large, uppercase letters. A unitary beam would result in no difference of the SSVEP amplitude elicited by the small letter stream when it was attended versus ignored (i.e., when subjects attended the large letter stream). Contrary to this prediction, SSVEP amplitude increased by almost 100% when the small letter stream was attended compared with when it was ignored. The results support the notion that the attentional spotlight can be formed like a doughnut, processing central information differentially depending on whether it is attended or ignored.
Commodity prices, wages, and U.S. inflation in the twentieth century

We consider the impact of primary commodity prices and wages on U.S. inflation in the context of markup pricing. We estimate separate equations for world commodity prices, wage rates, and domestic finished goods prices using annual data for 1900 to 2001. We find complete pass-through of commodity prices and wages into inflation of finished goods prices, with both input prices having a positive and statistically significant impact. Demand has a direct negative impact on finished goods prices, a delayed and temporary positive impact on wages (through the unemployment rate), and a strong positive impact on primary commodity prices.
Stability of the Demand for Money in an Unstable Country: Russia

Although Goldfeld found stable money demand for the United States, other researchers paid close attention to the question when they employed data from the post-I970 period. These later studies tried to identify different factors that could contribute to instability of the money demand function. For example, Enzler, Johnson, and Paulus (1976) attributed the shift in money demand to financial innovation in the United States that resulted in ratchets on interest rates and income. 1 In addition to financial innovations in the United States, Boughton (1981) attributed the instability of the money demand to a shift in the exchange rate regime. Arango and Nadiri (1981), however, not only argued for a change in exchange rate regime, but also attributed the instability to the closing down of the foreign exchange market in the wake of the OPEC oil embargo. This point was also recognized by Gorden (1984, p. 404), who stated that, "some of the post-1973 instability in the short-run money demand function may be the side effect of shifts in the Phillips curve that occurred as a result of supply shocks in 1973-75. " Finally, Girton and Roper (1981) show that currency substitution produces instability,