Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The histone deacetylase inhibitor suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid reduces cardiac arrhythmias in dystrophic mice.

AIMS The effect of histone deacetylase inhibitors on dystrophic heart function is not established. To investigate this aspect, dystrophic mdx mice and wild-type (WT) animals were treated 90 days either with suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA, 5 mg/kg/day) or with an equivalent amount of vehicle. METHODS AND RESULTS The following parameters were evaluated: (i) number of ventricular arrhythmias in resting and stress conditions (restraint test) or after aconitine administration; (ii) cardiac excitability, conduction velocity, and refractoriness; (iii) expression and distribution of connexins (Cxs) and Na(v)1.5 sodium channel. Ventricular arrhythmias were negligible in all resting animals. During restraint, however, an increase in the number of arrhythmias was detected in vehicle-treated mdx mice (mdx-V) when compared with SAHA-treated mdx (mdx-SAHA) mice or normal control (WT-V). Interestingly, aconitine, a sodium channel pharmacologic opener, induced ventricular arrhythmias in 83% of WT-V mice, 11% of mdx-V, and in 57% of mdx-SAHA. Epicardial multiple lead recording revealed a prolongation of the QRS complex in mdx-V mice in comparison to WT-V and WT-SAHA mice, paralleled by a significant reduction in impulse propagation velocity. These alterations were efficiently counteracted by SAHA. Molecular analyses revealed that in mdx mice, SAHA determined Cx remodelling of Cx40, Cx37 and Cx32, whereas expression levels of Cx43 and Cx45 were unaltered. Remarkably, Cx43 lateralization observed in mdx control animals was reversed by SAHA treatment which also re-induced Na(v)1.5 expression. CONCLUSION SAHA attenuates arrhythmias in mdx mice by a mechanism in which Cx remodelling and sodium channel re-expression could play an important role.
The Eects of Short-Selling and Margin Trading: a Simulation Analysis

This paper examines the eects of introducing and removing short sale constraints and margin requirements on a stock market using a multiagent simulation model. We focused on the influence of these kinds of restrictions on daily price volatility and on traders long-run wealth distribution. We performed analysis both in a closed market and in an open market, where there is random cash inflow or outflow ten simulation days apart. Considering the closed market, we found that if short selling and margin trading are not banned, volatility tend to slightly increase. Also, we found that, if short selling and margin trading are allowed, there is a chance that some traders declare bankrupt and leave the market. Generally, the open and the closed market have similar features, except for the fact that in an open market the number of bankrupts increases. External factors, such as sudden variations of prices and wealth, damage traders who are in debt positions much more than the other traders.
PUZZLE: Enhancing Throughput by Covering Neighbor's Blanks

The coexistence between Long Term Evolution in an Unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U) and Wi-Fi has been widely recognized by the many worldwide telecommunication organizations as an urgent problem which needs to be solved. Carrier Sense Adaptive Transmission (CSAT) is an adaptive time division scheme, proposed by Qualcomm, which straightforwardly avoids signal collision between LTE-U and Wi-Fi under the 5GHz frequency domain. However, in this paper, we first illustrate how CSAT negatively impacts on Wi-Fi. Furthermore, we propose another novel concept, PUZZLE, to enhance the function of CSAT in both Wi-Fi and the overall throughput. The novelty of PUZZLE is in where it exploits the feasibility of sharing the medium from the frequency space. PUZZLE is supported by a series of logical Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) experiments and tested under a given spectral scenario. The final result shows that, according to the five kinds of spectral utilization scenarios we define and when compared to the traditional time division approaches, the maximum average enhancements on throughput are almost 40% on Wi-Fi and 28% on the overall network.
A Dynamic Model of Prices and Margins in the LCD TV Industry

Inter-temporal tradeoffs are an important part of the consumer decision making process. These tradeoffs are especially important in markets for high-tech consumer goods where prices and costs fall rapidly over time. These tradeoffs are important not only for understanding consumer behavior, but for understanding firm pricing behavior as well. Prices in markets for durable goods may be low for one of several reasons. For example, prices may be low because costs are low, prices may be low because high-value consumers have already made purchases, or prices may be low because consumers anticipate lower prices in the future. This paper estimates a dynamic model of demand and supply in order to measure the relative magnitudes and importance of these effects in the market for LCD Televisions. This paper contributes to the existing empirical literature on dynamic durable goods in three ways. It improves the estimation by employing an empirical likelihood estimator instead of a generalized method of moments estimator. It improves the computation by recasting the problem in the language of constrained optimization, which makes the dynamic problem only slightly more difficult to solve than the static problem. Finally, it makes use of reliable marginal cost data from the LCD television industry, which makes it possible to recompute markups under counterfactual scenarios without worrying about recovering marginal costs from the model.
Teacher Disposition and Career Choice Motivation in Transitioning Teachers

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Financial Crisis of Finland, Sweden, Norway and Japan

The aim of the paper is to research the financial crisis occurred in Nordic countries and Japan in the early 1990s. The Nordic countries’ experiences of bubble, bust, and financial crisis are compared with Japan’s experience. These countries had suffered from the mounting nonperforming loans after the bust of the bubble. The Nordic countries successfully achieved renewed economic growth, while the Japanese recession had been prolonged. The first part of the paper will analyze the mechanism and the background behind the emergence and bust of the bubble in Nordic countries and Japan. In the second part of the paper, on the full awareness of the chorological explain of the development of the crisis, the Vector Error Correction Model will be applied into Finland and Japan. The model will examine whether or not there exists a long-run equilibrium relationship between the money stock and economic activity, paying attention to the precautionary money demand caused by the financial anxiety. People are expected to increase the precautionary demand, facing the financial crisis. The survey data will be used to quantify the financial anxieties in both countries. The estimation results suggest that the cointegration property still hold in both countries.
Case Law versus Statute Law: An Evolutionary Comparison

Case law develops gradually through the rulings of appellate judges who have heterogeneous preferences but are partially bound by stare decisis. We show that its evolution converges toward more efficient and predictable legal rules. Since statutes do not share this evolutionary property, case law is the best system when the efficient rule is time invariant, even if the legislature is more democratically representative than individual judges are. In the presence of social change, the ideal legal system includes both legislation and judicial decisions as complementary sources of law. Our model thus explains the modern history of common law and the observed cross‐country correlation between legal origins and economic outcomes. It also predicts the gradual convergence of civil law and common law toward a mixed system.
Applying Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process to Evaluate and Select Product of Notebook Computers

ability, portability and mobility of a notebook computer are important factors that causes the notebook computers to be used widely. To buy a notebook computer, one should look for a product that packs together best features at an affordable price. However, highly competitive business of notebook computers makes the difficulty for buyers to determine. Therefore, using the experts' decision making in evaluating and selecting the alternative among the current products of notebook computers is the beneficial way to help the buyers choose the best one. The objective of this paper is to apply the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (fuzzy AHP) in determining the relative importance of the decision criterion in order to eventually select the best product of notebook computers. The real numerical finding results have also been demonstrated. Both the theoretical and practical background of this paper have shown that fuzzy AHP is capable to efficiently handle the fuzziness of the data involved in the multi-criteria decision making problem of this study.
Does Venture Capital Spur Economic Growth? Evidence from Israel

Venture capital cannot only promote technological innovation and the development of high-tech industries, but also makes contribution to economic growth. Having a good reputation as the "Silicon Valley in Middle East", Israel is one of the most successful countries in developing venture capital. It is worth studying the impact of Israeli venture capital on its economic growth. We take Israel as example to establish an economic growth model with venture capital, which is taken as an endogenous variable in this paper. The results show that venture capital plays a significant role in the country’s economic growth.
The Effects of Debt Intolerance and Public Debt Sustainability on Credit Ratings: Evidence From European Economies

The question whether a government’s fiscal policy is consistent with an intertemporal budget constraint has been motivated a number of empirical studies. The econometric approach focuses on the circumstances under which a government is able to sustain its budget deficits without defaulting on its debt. In this contribution, by linking the different motives on long-run sustainability of public debt, we develop a compact step-wise test algorithm and apply that to the PIIGS countries and United Kingdom. Secondly, we introduce phase-space reconstruction methodology in order to locate the path for debt dynamics, which enables us to observe fiscal policy implications in short and medium-term. We conclude that Greece, Ireland, Portugal are characterized by unsustainable debt policies. For Italy, Spain and United Kingdom, we could not reach clear cut results. For those economies while the outcome of test algorithm indicates the sustainability of debt policy, phase-space examination shows that the reaction of the governments to diverging debt stock GDP ratio cannot be sufficient to stabilize the path for debt dynamics. Last, we measure relative credit ratings of 25 OECD countries, including Turkey and eurozone economies. Our measurement method is based on the fundamentals used for measuring public debt sustainability: GDP per capita, change in Consumer prices (CPI), and GDP ratios of; General government budget balance, General government primary balance, General government gross debt stock, Current account balance, Public foreign currency debt stock. For each country, these seven inter-related criteria are examined during three non-overlapping periods: 2005-2010, 2011 and 2012-2013. We conclude that the countries that have trouble with debt sustainability have overestimated sovereign credit ratings and hence they will eventually be revised.
Juridification and Social Citizenship in the Welfare State

The concept of juridification refers to a diverse set of processes involving shifts towards more detailed legal regulation, regulations of new areas, and conflicts and problems increasingly being framed in legal and rights-oriented terms. This timely book questions the impact international and national regulations have upon vulnerable groups (the unemployed, patients, prisoners, immigrants, and others) in terms of inclusion, exclusion and social citizenship. Focusing on European welfare states, as well as lessons from Latin-America, it considers the implementation of the right to health and the role of international courts. This book brings empirical analysis and multidisciplinary, comparative perspectives to the previously fragmented and largely theoretical debate on juridification in the welfare state.
Dioxin Exposure, from Infancy through Puberty, Produces Endocrine Disruption and Affects Human Semen Quality

Background Environmental toxicants are allegedly involved in decreasing semen quality in recent decades; however, definitive proof is not yet available. In 1976 an accident exposed residents in Seveso, Italy, to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate reproductive hormones and sperm quality in exposed males. Methods We studied 135 males exposed to TCDD at three age groups, infancy/prepuberty (1–9 years), puberty (10–17 years), and adulthood (18–26 years), and 184 healthy male comparisons using 1976 serum TCDD levels and semen quality and reproductive hormones from samples collected 22 years later. Results Relative to comparisons, 71 men (mean age at exposure, 6.2 years; median serum TCDD, 210 ppt) at 22–31 years of age showed reductions in sperm concentration (53.6 vs. 72.5 million/mL; p = 0.025); percent progressive motility (33.2% vs. 40.8%; p < 0.001); total motile sperm count (44.2 vs. 77.5 × 106; p = 0.018); estradiol (76.2 vs. 95.9 pmol/L; p = 0.001); and an increase in follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH; 3.58 vs. 2.98 IU/L; p = 0.055). Forty-four men (mean age at exposure, 13.2 years; median serum TCDD, 164 ppt) at 32–39 years of age showed increased total sperm count (272 vs. 191.9 × 106; p = 0.042), total motile sperm count (105 vs. 64.9 ×106; p = 0.036), FSH (4.1 vs. 3.2 UI/L; p = 0.038), and reduced estradiol (74.4 vs. 92.9 pmol/L; p < 0.001). No effects were observed in 20 men, 40–47 years of age, who were exposed to TCDD (median, 123 ppt) as adults (mean age at exposure, 21.5 years). Conclusions Exposure to TCDD in infancy reduces sperm concentration and motility, and an opposite effect is seen with exposure during puberty. Exposure in either period leads to permanent reduction of estradiol and increased FSH. These effects are permanent and occur at TCDD concentrations < 68 ppt, which is within one order of magnitude of those in the industrialized world in the 1970s and 1980s and may be responsible at least in part for the reported decrease in sperm quality, especially in younger men.
Language History Questionnaire (LHQ3): An enhanced tool for assessing multilingual experience

Abstract The language history questionnaire (LHQ) is an important tool for assessing the linguistic background and language proficiency of multilinguals or second language learners. Previously we developed a generic LHQ based on the most commonly asked questions in published studies (Li, Sepanski & Zhao, 2006) and provided a web-based interface (LHQ 2.0) that has flexibility in functionality, accuracy in data recording, and privacy for users and data (Li, Zhang, Tsai & Puls, 2014). LHQ3 (version 3) introduces new functions, developed in response to many comments/requests from users. One important improvement is the addition of an automatic scoring system, in that the new interface automatically calculates aggregated scores for language proficiency, language dominance, and language immersion levels. Finally, LHQ3 allows researchers to assign different weights to the modules when calculating the aggregated scores, addressing the issue of different focuses that different researchers put on multilingual speakers’ language usage and background.
Pre-operative systemic therapy in locally advanced breast cancer: a single institution experience

Background: Locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) is common in developing countries and it frequently affects younger women. Patients do very poorly when treated by locoregional therapy alone; therefore, pre-operative systemic therapy (PST) is commonly used. Materials and methods: Medical records of 64 Saudi patients with LABC treated with PST in a single institution were retrospectively reviewed. Results: At diagnosis, most patients were young (median age 41 years), and had poor clinicopathological characteristics. Following surgery, complete pathologic response (pCR) in the breast was achieved in 13 patients (20%). Of 62 patients with known nodal status, 22 (34%) had negative axillary nodes. Presence of oestrogen receptor (ER) negative tumour was the only dependent variable that predicted pCR in the breast (p = 0.03). At a median follow-up of 42 months, the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 48 months (95% CI, 20–76 months) and the projected five-year overall survival (OS) was 68%. The recently published scoring system (Jeruss et al (2008) J Clin Oncol 26 2 246–52), was the only variable that independently influenced PFS, while ER negative tumours and presence of lymphovascular space invasion were the only factors that adversely affected OS. Conclusions: despite the use of standard multi-modality approach in the management of patients with LABC, prognosis remains guarded.
MULTILINEAR FOURIER MULTIPLIERS WITH MINIMAL

We find optimal conditions on m-linear Fourier multipliers to give rise to bounded operators from a product of Hardy spaces Hj , 0 < pj ≤ 1, to Lebesgue spaces Lp. The conditions we obtain are necessary and sufficient for boundedness and are expressed in terms of L2-based Sobolev spaces. Our results extend those obtained in the linear case (m = 1) by Calderón and Torchinsky [1] and in the bilinear case (m = 2) by Miyachi and Tomita [14]. We also prove a coordinate-type Hörmander integral condition which we use to obtain certain extreme cases.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN IRANIAN EFL TEACHERS SENSE OF SELF-EFFICACY ANDTHEIR PEDAGOGICAL SUCCESS IN LANGUAGE INSTITUTES

The following study, in the first place, attempted to examine the relationship between EFL teachers' self-efficacy and their pedagogical success in Language Institutes. In the second place, the role of teachers' years of teaching experience in their selfefficacy was investigated. Finally, the relationship between teachers' age and their self-efficacy was studied. For this purpose, 89 EFL teachers were selected according to available sampling from the different Language Institutes in Mashhad, a city in the Northeast of Iran. Near the end of the term, the teachers were asked to complete the “Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale”. Simultaneously, a questionnaire which is called the “Characteristics of Successful EFL Teachers Questionnaire” was filled in by the teachers’ students (N=779). Through this questionnaire, the teachers' performance Asian EFL Journal Volume 13 Issue 2 250 was evaluated by their students. The subsequent data analysis and statistical calculations via correlation revealed that there is a significant relationship between teachers' success and their self-efficacy. Furthermore, significant correlations were found between teachers' self-efficacy, their teaching experience, and age. The conclusions and implications of the research are further discussed with reference to earlier findings.
Identifying Software Process Management Challenges: Survey of Practitioners in a Large Global IT Company

Process mining consists of mining event logs generated from business process execution supported by Information Systems (IS). Process mining of software repositories has diverse applications because vast data is generated during Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and archived in IS such as Version Control System (VCS), Peer Code Review (PCR) System, Issue Tracking System (ITS), and mail archives. There is need to explore its applications on different repositories to aid managers in process management. We conduct two phase surveys and interviews with managers in a large, global, IT company. The first survey and in-person interviews identify the process challenges encountered by them that can be addressed by novel applications of process mining. We filter, group and abstract responses formulating 30 generic problem statements. On the basis of process mining type, we classify identified problems to eight categories such as control analysis, organizational analysis, conformance analysis, and preventive analysis. The second survey asks distinct participants the importance of solving identified problems. We calculate proposed Net Importance Metric (NIM) using 1262 ratings from 43 participants. Combined analysis of NIM and first survey responses reveals that the problems mentioned by few practitioners in first survey are considered important by majority in the second survey. We elaborate on possible solutions and challenges for most frequent and important problems. We believe solving these validated problems will help managers in improving project quality and productivity.
Accretion onto the Supermassive Black Hole in M87

Chandra X-ray observations of the giant elliptical galaxy M87 resolve the thermal state of the hot interstellar medium into the accretion (Bondi) radius of its central 3 × 109 M☉ black hole. We measure the X-ray gas temperature and density profiles and calculate the Bondi accretion rate, Bondi ~ 0.1 M☉ yr-1. The X-ray luminosity of the active nucleus of M87 observed with Chandra is LX,0.5-7 keV ~ 7 × 1040 ergs s-1. This value is much less than the predicted nuclear luminosity, LBondi ~ 5 × 1044 ergs s-1, for accretion at the Bondi rate with a canonical accretion radiative efficiency of 10%. If the black hole in M87 accretes at this rate it must do so at a much lower radiative efficiency than the canonical value. The multiwavelength spectrum of the nucleus is consistent with that predicted by an advection-dominated flow. However, as is likely, the X-ray nucleus is dominated by jet emission then the properties of flow must be modified, possibly by outflows. We show that the overall energetics of the system are just consistent with the predicted Bondi nuclear power. This suggests that either most of the accretion energy is released in the relativistic jet or the central engine of M87 undergoes on-off activity cycles. We show that, at present, the energy dumped into the ISM by the jet may reduce the accretion rate onto the black hole by a factor ∝ (vj/cs)-2, where vj is the jet velocity and cs the ISM sound speed, and that this is sufficient to account for the low nuclear luminosity.