Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Higher residual wage dispersion for white workers in post apartheid South Africa, 1995-2006: composition effects or higher skill prices?

Apartheid in South Africa ensured whites received more and better-quality schooling relative to Africans, coloreds, and Asians. It is hence conceivable, consistent with human-capital theory whites would receive relatively higher prices to their measured human-capital skills and would have higher dispersion of their unmeasured human-capital skills. We test this hypothesis. Specifically, we employ a semiparametric procedure to decompose 1995-2006 racial wage differences into regression coefficients, covariates and residuals and extend the literature by decomposing residuals into unmeasured skills and skill prices. Our findings support the theory: whites receive relatively higher prices to measured skills and have relatively higher dispersion of unmeasured skills, with the latter attributed to higher prices of unmeasured skills. We suggest better-quality schooling yielded higher returns to measured human-capital attributes for whites, and higher skills enabled whites to benefit more from on-the-job-training resulting in higher dispersion of their unmeasured human-capital attributes.
Generation of a Mig‐6 conditional null allele

Mitogen‐inducible gene 6 (Mig‐6) is a stress‐induced gene that serves as a negative regulator of epidermal growth factor (EGF) signaling and acts as a tumor suppressor. Ablation of Mig‐6 results in a significant percentage of embryo lethality as well as abnormalities in multiple tissues. To understand the physiological roles of Mig‐6, a conditional null allele, Mig‐6f/f was generated by introducing LoxP sites that flank exons 2 and 4. The Mig‐6f/f allele was validated by generating recombined Mig‐6−/− mice using the Zp3‐Cre system. The conditional null allele was confirmed by assaying for Mig‐6 gene expression in liver, lung, uterus, and skin. The recombined Mig‐6−/− mice developed pathological changes, such as degenerative joint diseases and skin hyperplasia similar to the previously reported Mig‐6 germline null allele. In addition, these mice also had enlarged uteri with endometrial hyperplasia. In summary, this Mig‐6f/f mouse is a useful tool for the functional study of the Mig‐6 gene in a tissue‐specific fashion. genesis 45:716–721, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Overexpression of human lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase in mice offers no protection against diet‐induced atherosclerosis Note

Human lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) is a key enzyme in the metabolism of cholesterol. We have used homozygous transgenic mice overexpressing the human LCAT transgene to study the effect of a “Western‐type” atherogenic diet (30% fat, 5% cholesterol and 2% cholic acid) on their LCAT expression, activity, lipoprotein profile and tendency to develop atherosclerosis. The LCAT activity was 35‐fold higher in serum of the homozygous transgenic mice than in murine control serum, and decreased 11–20% in the transgenic mice when fed the atherogenic diet. The total cholesterol and high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‐C) concentrations were approximately doubled in the transgenic mice compared with the controls when both groups were fed a regular chow diet. In mice on the atherogenic diet, the triglyceride concentration decreased about 50% to the same level in transgenic and control mice. Total cholesterol and HDL‐C concentrations increased and were 60–80% higher in the transgenic mice. The expression of LCAT mRNA in the liver was decreased by 49–60% in the transgenic mice when fed the atherogenic diet. The development of atherosclerosis was similar in transgenic and control mice. Thus, the 14‐ to 27‐fold higher LCAT activity and the higher HDL‐C concentrations in the homozygous LCAT transgenic mice had no significant protective influence on the development of diet‐induced atherosclerosis.
Structural Characterization of the Major Glycosylphosphatidylinositol Membrane-anchored Glycoprotein from Epimastigote Forms of Trypanosoma cruzi Y-strain (*)

We have investigated the structure of the glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor and the O-linked glycan chains of the 40/45-kDa glycoprotein from the cell surface of the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. This glycoconjugate is the major acceptor for sialic acid transferred by trans-sialidase of T. cruzi Y-strain, epimastigote form. The GPI anchor was liberated by treatment with hot alkali, and the phosphoinositol-oligosaccharide moiety was characterized and shown to have the following structure. Usually the glucosamine was 6-O-substituted with 2-aminoethylphosphonate, and 2-aminoethylphosphonate was also present on the third mannose residue distal to glucosamine, partially replacing the ethanolamine phosphate. The β-eliminated reduced oligosaccharide chains showed that two novel classes of O-linked N-acetylglucosamine oligosaccharide were present. The first series had the structures Galpβ1-3GlcNAc-ol; Galpβ1-6(Galpβ1-3)GlcNAc-ol; and Galpβ1-2Galpβ1-6(Galpβ1-3)GlcNAc-ol, whereas the other series had a 1-4 linkage to N-acetylglucosaminitol and had structures Galpβ1-4GlcNAc-ol, Galpβ1-6(Galpβ1-4)GlcNAc-ol, and Galpβ1-2Galpβ1-6(Galpβ1-4)GlcNAc-ol. We have also investigated the kinetics of in vitro sialylation of these O-linked oligosaccharides by the T. cruzi trans-sialidase and have shown that incorporation of one molecule of sialic acid hinders entry of a second molecule when two potential acceptor sites are present.
Comparison of an informally structured triage system, the emergency severity index, and the manchester triage system to distinguish patient priority in the emergency department.

OBJECTIVES The objective was to compare the validity of an existing informally structured triage system with the Emergency Severity Index (ESI) and the Manchester Triage System (MTS). METHODS A total of 900 patients were prospectively triaged by six trained triage nurses using the three systems. Triage ratings of 421 (48%) patients treated only by emergency department (ED) physicians were compared with a reference standard determined by an expert panel. The percentage of undertriage, the sensitivity, and the specificity for each urgency level were calculated. The relationship between urgency level, resource use, hospitalization, and length of stay (LOS) in the 900 triaged patients was determined. RESULTS The percentage of undertriage using the ESI (86 of 421; 20%) was significantly higher than in the MTS (48 of 421; 11%). When combining urgency levels 4 and 5, the percentage of undertriage was 8% for the informally structured system (ISS), 14% for the ESI, and 11% for the MTS. In all three systems, sensitivity for all urgency levels was low, but specificity for levels 1 and 2 was high (>92%). Sensitivity and specificity were significantly different between ESI and MTS only in urgency level 4. In all 900 patients triaged, urgency levels across all systems were associated with significantly increased resource use, hospitalization rate, and LOS. CONCLUSIONS All three triage systems appear to be equally valid. Although the ESI showed the highest percentage of undertriage and the ISS the lowest, it seems preferable to use a verifiable, formally structured triage system.
Education and Economic Growth: an Empirical Analysis of Interdependencies and Impacts Based on Panel Data

The paper focuses particularly on proving that education can lead to economic growth within five groups of EU Member States. Our study reviews the human capital from its quantitative (years of study) and qualitative (education quality) dimensions, the empirical panel data analysis being based on three double-log models developed and processed through random and fixed effects. The main explanatory variables comprise the GDP per capita, the physical capital, the average number of years of schooling (for all three levels, especially tertiary education), the quality of education measured through scores on skill tests, the degree of international openness, life expectancy and inflation rate. Our results highlight that education is extremely important in positively influencing economic growth. Within this framework, the results emphasize that within the European Union there is a strong positive influence of education on economic growth, expressed mainly through an increase in GDP per capita growth rate, especially when the human capital is expressed by qualitative variables, while the quantitative variable’s importance is being greatly reduced.
Mindfulness-Based Processes of Healing for Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

OBJECTIVE U.S. veterans are at increased risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Prior studies suggest a benefit of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) for PTSD, but the mechanisms through which MBSR reduces PTSD symptoms and improves functional status have received limited empirical inquiry. This study used a qualitative approach to better understand how training in mindfulness affects veterans with PTSD. DESIGN Qualitative study using semistructured in-depth interviews following participation in an MBSR intervention. SETTING Outpatient. INTERVENTION Eight-week MBSR program. OUTCOME MEASURE Participants' narratives of their experiences from participation in the program. RESULTS Interviews were completed with 15 veterans. Analyses identified six core aspects of participants' MBSR experience related to PTSD: dealing with the past, staying in the present, acceptance of adversity, breathing through stress, relaxation, and openness to self and others. Participants described specific aspects of a holistic mindfulness experience, which appeared to activate introspection and curiosity about their PTSD symptoms. Veterans with PTSD described a number of pathways by which mindfulness practice may help to ameliorate PTSD. CONCLUSIONS MBSR holds promise as a nontrauma-focused approach to help veterans with PTSD.
Market Segmentation Strategies and Service Sector Productivity

Conventional explanations for lagging U.S. service sector productivity focus on the difficulties of measuring service output, a lack of sufficient competition in service industries, and poor management skills. Drawing on data collected in 95 service establishments in the banking and hotel industries in the U.S., UK, and Germany, this article suggests an alternative explanation. U.S. service companies may effectively be achieving low levels of labor productivity by design. The U.S. service establishments in this study are productivity leaders in low value-added market segments but productivity laggards in higher value-added market segments. They have consciously chosen to adjust the labor intensity of service delivery to the business potential of different customer segments. Varying the design of service processes by customer segment has lowered measured productivity levels but may be supporting higher levels of business performance.
Increased sediment transport via bioturbation at the last glacial-interglacial transition

Global sedimentation rates increased during the Quaternary due to frequent landscape adjustment to climatic oscillations. Although high rates of sediment transport are commonly associated with glacial conditions in mountainous terrain, the infl uence of climate and vegetation on geomorphic response is poorly constrained outside of glaciated settings. Along a low-gradient (<30%) hillslope-valley transect on a moderately dissected, loess-mantled fl uvial terrace in the Charwell Basin, New Zealand, we coupled records of colluvial infi lling and vegetation change (via phytoliths) to show that late Pleistocene sediment fl ux was ~0.0012 m 3 m ‐1 a ‐1 under a shrubland/grassland mosaic and Holocene sediment fl ux was ~0.0022 m 3 m ‐1 a ‐1 under forest. This near doubling through the last glacial-interglacial transition appears to refl ect increased bioturbation and downslope soil transport associated with a forest ecosystem. Such an increase in sediment transport contrasts with a contemporaneous decrease inferred for adjacent steep, landslide-prone catchments, suggesting that geomorphic response to climate change is heavily modulated by biology, topography, and geological substrate. Our fi ndings appear to contradict the commonly cited notion that forest colonization universally stabilizes soils and suppresses erosion. Instead, over long time scales, bioturbation associated with forests may increase transport along gentle portions of the landscape not subject to slope instability or erosion by overland fl ow.
Water reuse for irrigation: agriculture, landscapes and turf grass

This compilation provides guidelines that facilitate the successful planning and operation of water reuse projects. Offering the information, analysis, and proven experience for agricultural and landscape irrigation, it bridges the gap between fundamental science and relatively uncharted areas of economic, institutional, and liability issues. It delivers a synthesis of information recently emerging in both the science and the practice of irrigation with reclaimed water. The book compiles guidelines, recommendations, and codes of best practices from around the world for all types of recycled water uses, and it examines recent concerns about adverse effects on plants, groundwater, and public health.
Need and support: determinants of intra-familial financial transfers in Sweden

Lennartsson C. Need and support: determinants of intra-familial financial transfers in Sweden Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 66–74 © 2010 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and International Journal of Social Welfare. This study examined downward inter-generational intra-family financial transfers in Sweden made in the form of money transactions or gifts. The research questions focus on whether recipients of intra-family financial transfers are children in ‘need’ of such support, and whether early family environment has any consequences for later financial transfers. Using data from a nationally representative survey, the results suggest that childhood disadvantages have long-term consequences in connection with intra-family financial transfers. Disadvantages and inequalities in childhood are likely to remain into adulthood, and children who experience adverse childhood conditions are less often recipients of later intra-family financial support. Intra-family transfers are also related to the ‘needs’ of the younger generation. Single parents and students from higher social class families are more often beneficiaries of financial support. In contrast, family support was no higher for unemployed children, for children lacking financial security in the form of a cash margin or for children reporting poor health.
Determinants of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 envelope glycoprotein oligomeric structure

Oligomerization of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 envelope (env) glycoproteins is mediated by the ectodomain of the transmembrane glycoprotein gp41. We report that deletion of gp41 residues 550 to 561 resulted in gp41 sedimenting as a monomer in sucrose gradients, while the gp160 precursor sedimented as a mixture of monomers and oligomers. Deletion of the nearby residues 571 to 582 did not affect the oligomeric structure of gp41 or gp160, but deletion of both sequences resulted in monomeric gp41 and predominantly monomeric gp160. Deletion of residues 655 to 665, adjacent to the membrane-spanning sequence, partially dissociated the gp41 oligomer while not affecting the gp160 oligomeric structure. In contrast, deletion of residues 510 to 518 from the fusogenic hydrophobic N terminus of gp41 did not affect the env glycoprotein oligomeric structure. Even though the mutant gp160 and gp120 molecules were competent to bind CD4, the mutations impaired fusion function, gp41-gp120 association, and gp160 processing. Furthermore, deletion of residues 550 to 561 or 550 to 561 plus 571 to 582 modified the antigenic properties of the proximal residues 586 to 588 and the distal residues 634 to 664. Our results indicate that residues 550 to 561 are essential for maintaining the gp41 oligomeric structure but that this sequence and additional sequences contribute to the maintenance of gp160 oligomers. Residues 550 to 561 map to the N terminus of a putative amphipathic alpha-helix (residues 550 to 582), whereas residues 571 to 582 map to the C terminus of this sequence.
Changes in Bone Scans after Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

Background Whether anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction retards the progression of osteoarthrosis is not established. Bone scintigraphy can be useful for monitoring the course of osteoarthrosis. Bone scan findings are abnormal in the majority of patients with anterior cruciate ligament deficiency. Three uptake patterns can be distinguished. Hypothesis Reconstruction corrects the three abnormal bone scan patterns seen in patients with anterior cruciate ligament deficiency. Study Design Prospective cohort study. Methods We performed bone scintigraphy in 80 patients, before and 2 years after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Results Reconstruction consistently corrected type 2 bone scan pattern (meniscus scan) but not type 1 and 3 patterns (osteoarthrosis and cartilage ulcer scan). Correction of all three patterns decreased among patients who had longer duration of anterior cruciate ligament deficiency and was more reliable for the combined uptake of all three patterns among patients who had less than 6 months of deficiency. Conclusion These findings indicate anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction protects the menisci. Reconstruction may be best performed within 6 months after injury.
Household production and the household economy

Household production is the production of the goods and services by the members of a household, for their own consumption, using their own capital and their own unpaid labor. Goods and services produced by households for their own use include accommodation, meals, clean clothes, and child care. The process of household production involves the transformation of purchased intermediate commodities into final consumption commodities. Households use their own capital and their own labor.
Cinema attendance in Europe

Although there exists a large body of literature which has empirically investigated the impact of various determinants on cinema attendance, studies that analyse the addictive component of cinema consumption seem to be relatively rare. The aim of this article is to empirically investigate the addictive component of cinema consumption by adopting a cross-country focus. To this aim, the Becker and Murphy's rational addiction model has been tested using a pooled cross-section and time-series data on 12 European countries over the period 1989 to 2004. Results provide evidence that cinema consumption seems to conform to a rational addiction hypothesis.
Blockholder Scarcity, Takeovers, and Ownership Structures

Agency problems in firms are prevalent because of a scarcity of wealthy principals with corporate governance ability, whom we call “restructuring specialists. ” We investigate how this scarce resource, “agency cost-free capital,” is allocated. We show that the restructuring specialists may acquire blocks only in those states of the worls in which they can increase firm value the most, which corresponds to a takeover. Firms with dispersed ownership and firms with a financial intermediary as a blockholder can coexist, although they are otherwise identical. The moderl can explain differences in corporate ownership structures and restructuring mechanisms across economies.
Underwriter Reputation, Earnings Management and the Long-Run Performance of Initial Public Offerings

This study contributes to the extant literature on the nature of earnings management surrounding initial public offerings (IPOs) by investigating the role of underwriter reputation. We argue that prestigious underwriters will protect their reputation by carefully monitoring and certifying financial information on IPO firms, thereby limiting any potential earnings manipulation. As a result, those IPO firms that are associated with more prestigious underwriters are likely to exhibit substantially less-aggressive earnings management. Conversely, we find the existence of a negative relationship between earnings management and the post-offer performance of an IPO firm’s stocks only for those firms associated with less-prestigious underwriters.
Individual Variation in Alcohol Intake Predicts Reinforcement, Motivation, and Compulsive Alcohol Use in Rats.

BACKGROUND Alcohol is one of the most commonly used psychoactive substances. Prolonged alcohol use can result in alcohol use disorder (AUD), characterized by excessive and compulsive alcohol consumption. Importantly, however, the development of AUD only happens in a minority of individuals who consume alcohol. To understand the individual vulnerability for AUD, models that capture both the individual variability in alcohol consumption and the transition from casual to compulsive alcohol use are essential. METHODS Individual variability in voluntary alcohol intake and the preference for alcohol were assessed under continuous alcohol access (CAA) and intermittent-every-other-day alcohol access (IAA) schedules in the home cage using outbred Lister Hooded rats. Subsequently, the reinforcing properties of alcohol were tested in an operant setting. In subsequent experiments, we performed a quinine adulteration experiment to assess inflexible alcohol consumption and blood alcohol levels (BALs) were assessed after voluntary alcohol consumption. RESULTS We found marked individual differences in alcohol consumption and preference under both access schedules, whereby subgroups of high- and low-alcohol-drinking rats (HD and LD) could be identified. HD with IAA increased their alcohol intake over days in the first month, whereas LD did not. Moreover, when alcohol access time was extended from 7 to 24 h/d for rats with IAA, alcohol intake profoundly increased in HD with IAA, whereas LD with IAA maintained low levels of alcohol intake. Furthermore, HD earned more alcohol than LD under both fixed ratio and progressive ratio schedules of reinforcement. We further found that HD continued their intake of a quinine-adulterated alcohol solution to a larger extent than LD and HD showed higher BALs after 30 minutes of alcohol consumption. CONCLUSIONS These profound individual differences in alcohol intake, reinforcement, motivation, and AUD-like behavior provide a promising tool to unravel the neurobehavioral underpinnings of individual vulnerability for AUD.