Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Do Academics Doubt Their Own Research?

When do experts doubt or question their own previously published research and why? An online survey was designed and distributed across academic staff and postgraduate research students at different universities in Great Britain. Respondents (n = 202 - 244) identified the likelihoods of six different (quasi) hypothetical occurrences causing them to doubt or question work they have published in peer reviewed journals. They are: two objective and two semi-objective citation based metrics, plus two semi- objective metrics based on verbalised reactions. Only limited support is found from this study to suggest that the authors of primary research would agree with any judgements made by others about their research based on these metrics. The occurrence most likely to cause respondents to doubt or question their previously published research was where the majority of citing studies suggested mistakes in their work. In a multivariate context, only age and nationality are significant determinants of doubt beyond average likelihoods. Understanding and acknowledging what makes authors of primary research doubt their own research could increase the validity of those who pass judgement.
Adaptive containment control for a class of multi-agent systems with unknown actuator failures

In this paper, an adaptive containment control scheme is proposed for a class of high-order nonlinear multi-agent systems with unknown actuator failures. With the aid of a matrix factorization, only the signs of leading principal minors of the control gain matrices need to be known. A two-step design method fusing the ideas of sliding mode control and backstepping control is developed to construct the controllers, and a similarity transformation and a bound estimation approach are introduced to handle the actuator failures. The proposed scheme allows the total number of failures to be infinite and is able to guarantee global stability of the overall closed-loop system. Moreover, it is proved that the containment errors can converge to an arbitrarily small residue set. Simulation results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
Tariff, Growth, and Welfare

We develop a two-country (Home and Foreign) by two-good (consumption good and investment good) by one factor (capital) endogenous growth model with international knowledge spillover to study the relationship between an import tariff and economic growth and welfare. First, unlike the past literature, we do not need to make an assumption such that the growth rates between countries are identical in a balanced growth path (BGP). Second, we show that there exists a unique and saddle-point BGP with both countries being incompletely specialized. Third, a higher import tariff on the consumption good in the domestic country may boost (reduce) the rate of economic growth when the foreign (domestic) country has an absolute advantage in the investment good. Finally, a rise in the tariff rate by one country may improve world welfare under some parameter spaces.
WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR REDUCING CROWDING EFFECT DAMAGES IN MARINE PARKS IN MALAYSIA

Marine Parks are established to protect an area of the sea zoned as a sanctuary for the protection of its marine eco-systems, especially coral reef and its associated fauna and flora, like sea grass bed, mangrove and the sea shore. In Malaysia, there are 6 marine parks to-date. The establishment of marine parks also attracts more tourists to the areas. For example, the number of visitors to Payar Marine Park increased tremendously from 3,668 visitors in 1990 to 133,775 visitors in 2002. However, too many tourists are thought by scientists to have damaged the coral reefs. This paper will estimate how much visitors are willing to pay to reduce damages to three marine parks in Malaysia; Payar, Redang and Tioman Marine Park. Willingness to pay estimates were obtained from the visitors using a double-bounded dichotomous choice version of the Contingent Valuation method.
Integration of human resource management and competitive priorities of manufacturing strategy

This article investigates the relationship between the functional areas of manufacturing and human resources by analysing the practices of human resource management associated with the competitive priorities of manufacturing strategy, e.g. quality, delivery performance, flexibility and cost. Within strategic business management, both the competitive priorities of manufacturing and the practices of human resource management need to be observed by the whole organisation. In this way, this study presents how human resource management practices are aligned to business strategies based on cost reduction, quality, delivery performance and product innovation. These practices may also be arranged in different ways in a particular competitive strategy.
Does Organic Agriculture Lead to Better Health among Organic and Conventional Farmers in Thailand? An Investigation of Health Expenditure among Organic and Conventional Farmers in Thailand

The study attempts to empirically examine whether the adoption of organic farming practices leads to better health. As a proxy for health status, a comparison of the health expenditure patterns of organic and conventional rice-farming households in North and Northeast Thailand is done. Using data from a 2006 household survey covering 626 households in eight provinces, we calculate catastrophic health expenditures as out-of-pocket (OOP) medical expenditures exceeding a specified percentage of the household budget. [ADBI WP 129].
Der westfälische Agrarmarkt im Integrationsprozeß 1780-1880. Phasen und Einflußfaktoren der Marktentwicklung in historischen Transformationsprozessen

Deutschland entwickelte sich im 19. Jahrhundert zu einer hochintegrierten, marktwirtschaftlich organisierten Volkswirtschaft. Dieser Prozeß war bereits um 1800 in vollem Gange, doch beschleunigte er sich in den nachfolgenden Jahrzehnten erheblich. Die Integration des Agrarsektors in eine arbeitsteilige Volkswirtschaft über Märkte im Vorfeld und während der Industrialisierung hatte erheblichen Einfluß auf die landwirtschaftliche Entwicklung. Die Entfaltung von Marktstrukturen und -beziehungen als entscheidenden Faktor für anhaltendes Wachstum im Agrarsektor herauszuarbeiten, beinhaltet dabei auch, die strukturellen Veränderungen des Marktgeschehens selbst zu analysieren. ' Erst dann läßt sich die Frage beantworten, welche Veränderungen bzw. Mechanismen die Angebotsseite motivierten, auf eine zunehmende Nachfrage in den Bedarfszentren zu reagieren. Gemäß des „Law of one price" ist der Integrationsprozeß zum einen als die räumliche Ausdehnung eines Marktraumes anzusehen. Lokale isolierte Märkte verschmelzen zu einem größeren Marktgebiet mit einheitlicher Preisbildung. Sind marktwirtschaftliche Strukturen erst im Entstehen begriffen, so gilt es weiterführend zu untersuchen, ob und inwieweit die Marktorientierung und -abhängigkeit der Produzenten und Konsumenten innerhalb des Marktgebietes zunimmt und überregionale Entwicklungen einen immer größeren Einfluß auf die landwirtschaftliche Produktion und Ernährungssicherung gewinnen. Das Resultat des Zeit beanspruchenden Prozesses der Marktintegration läßt sich für die Zwecke dieser Arbeit komprimiert definieren als zunehmende Unabhängigkeit der örtlichen Agrarpreisbildung vom lokalen Ernteausgang. Einem Begriffspaar der modernen Integrationstheorie folgend sind zwei Integrationsstrategien zu unterscheiden: „negative policy integration" und „positive policy integration. " Erstere umfaßt Empfehlungen, die aus der klassischen Außenhandelstheorie abgeleitet sind und nur die Beseitigung von Handelsund Mobilitätshemmnissen beinhalten (Abschaffung von Zöllen usw.). Eine solche Politik erschöpft sich allein in Deregulierungsmaßnahmen. Die letztgenannte zielt dagegen u.a. darauf ab, durch Schaffung bzw. Modifizierung von Marktinstitutionen und Investitionen in die Infrastruktur die Transportund Transaktionskosten innerhalb eines Gebietes zu senken. Sie orientiert sich bezogen auf die Infrastruktur eher an raumwirtschaftlichen Theorien. '
Macrophage paraoxonase 2 (PON2) expression is upregulated by unesterified cholesterol through activation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway

Abstract Advanced atherosclerotic lesions are characterized by a progressive increase in the unesterified cholesterol (UC) content and a decrease in its cholesteryl ester (CE) content. In the present study, we examined mechanisms involved in the effect of UC and CE on the expression of paraoxonase 2 (PON2) in macrophages. J774A.1 macrophages were enriched with CE or UC by incubation for 14–48 h with 50 μg acetylated low-density lipoprotein in the absence or presence of the acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT) inhibitor 58035 (50 μg/ml), respectively. Macrophage PON2 mRNA expression, protein abundance and activity were increased only in the UC-enriched cells. In UC-enriched cells, inhibition of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K; using wortmannin or LY294002) attenuated the increase in PON2 mRNA expression by 50%, compared to untreated cells. In addition, we evidenced an increased phosphorylation of Akt in UC-enriched cells. Thus, we conclude from our data that macrophage PON2 expression is upregulated in UC-enriched macrophages through activation of the PI3K signal pathway.
Democratizing transition in Taiwan

At 6:05 on the evening of September 28, 1986, Taiwan opposition leader Fei Hsi-p'ing stood up in a meeting room of Taipei's Grand Hotel and announced, "The Democratic Progressive Party is established! " Capping a series of remarkable moves by both the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) and the non-party opposition (tang-wai, hereafter TW), this announcement and its aftermath marked a potentially epochal step in Taiwan's political evolution. It also broke precedent in the worldwide evolution of Leninist-style political systems, none of which has ever before tolerated the formation of a significant opposition party. The bold changes in Taiwan drew attention on the other side of the Taiwan Straits, where political reform was also a focus of attention, and raised questions for U.S. foreign policy. Taiwan's party system reform warrants a careful examination of the participants' motives, the reform process, the potential impact within Taiwan and outside, and the reforms' theoretical significance.
The adoption of farm level soil conservation practices in developed countries: a meta-analytic review

Many researchers have been investigating factors that influence farmers' adoption of soil conservation practices. This paper presents an exhaustive review of the empirical literature since 1980. It reviews and meta-analyses 69 empirical studies on the adoption of soil conservation practices. The main results prove disappointing for nation-wide policy arrangements, as there are almost no universal patterns to discover. In fact, variables that are since decades regarded as classic adoption of innovation variables actually converge to an insignificant influence. We list some of the methodological weaknesses of many past adoption studies, which may account for a significant proportion of insignificant results and inconsistency. We offer several suggestions for future adoption researchers and derive opportunities for policy makers.
The Role of Internal and International Relative Deprivation in Global Migration

This paper explores the role of internal (within country) and international (bilateral and global) relative and absolute deprivation in international migration. It is argued that these three forms of relative deprivation need to be taken into account simultaneously to advance our theoretical understanding of the complex drivers of migration processes. Empirical analysis based on a large sample of bilateral migrant stock data suggests that absolute deprivation constrains emigration, while international relative deprivation and internal relative deprivation in destination countries may increase migration. The effect of internal relative deprivation in origin countries seems small and somewhat ambiguous. The results highlight the complex and potentially counter-intuitive ways in which relative and absolute deprivation may affect migration. This paper suggests that it would be unfounded to expect that decreases in international and internal relative deprivation combined with reductions in absolute deprivation would lead to a significant decline in the volume of international migration.
Autonomic Dysfunction in Epilepsy: Characterization of Autonomic Cardiac Neural Discharge Associated with Pentylenetetrazol‐Induced Epileptogenic Activity

Summary: The purpose of this study was to determine if epileptogenic activity is associated with changes in autonomic cardiac neural discharge and the development of arrhythmias. Nine cats, anesthetized with a‐chloralose, received pentylenetetrazol (PTZ), 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 2,000 mg/kg, intravenously at 10 min intervals. The following were monitored: neural discharge from 1 to 3 postganglionic cardiac sympathetic branches (8 cats, 17 nerves) and the vagus (7 cats, 8 nerves); the electrocorticogram; blood pressure; heart rate; and lead 11 electrocardiogram. Autonomic dysfunction was manifested by: the observation that autonomic cardiac nerves did not always respond in a predictable manner to changes in blood pressure; the development of a marked increase in variability in mean autonomic cardiac sympathetic and parasympathetic neural discharge; and the fact that the very large increase in the variability of the discharge rate of parasympathetic nerves was seen after PTZ, 50 mg/kg, but did not develop until 100 mg/kg in sympathetic neural discharge. This autonomic imbalance was associated with both interictal and ictal epileptogenic activity. Almost invariably, interictal discharge occurred after PTZ, 10 mg/kg; with higher doses, the duration of ictal activity increased although interictal discharges were present. The altered cardiac autonomic neural discharge was associated with minimal epileptogenic activity in the form of interictal discharges and cardiac arrhythmias which may contribute to sudden unexplained death of the epileptic.
Cellular Oxygen Toxicity

All forms of aerobic life are faced with the threat of oxidation from molecular oxygen (O2) and have evolved antioxidant defenses to cope with this potential problem. However, cellular antioxidants can become overwhelmed by oxidative insults, including supraphysiologic concentrations of O2 (hyperoxia). Oxidative cell injury involves the modification of cellular macromolecules by reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI), often leading to cell death. O2 therapy, which is a widely used component of life-saving intensive care, can cause lung injury. It is generally thought that hyperoxia injures cells by virtue of the accumulation of toxic levels of ROI, including H2O2 and the superoxide anion (O−2), which are not adequately scavenged by endogenous antioxidant defenses. These oxidants are cytotoxic and have been shown to kill cells via apoptosis, or programmed cell death. If hyperoxia-induced cell death is a result of increased ROI, then O2 toxicity should kill cells via apoptosis. We studied cultured epithelial cells in 95% O2 and assayed apoptosis using a DNA-binding fluorescent dye, in situ end-labeling of DNA, and electron microscopy. Using all approaches we found that hyperoxia kills cells via necrosis, not apoptosis. In contrast, lethal concentrations of either H2O2 or O−2 cause apoptosis. Paradoxically, apoptosis is a prominent event in the lungs of animals injured by breathing 100% O2. These data indicate that O2 toxicity is somewhat distinct from other forms of oxidative injury and suggest that apoptosis in vivo is not a direct effect of O2.
Increased multi-drug resistant Escherichia coli from hospitals in Khartoum state, Sudan.

BACKGROUND Multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli (MDR E. coli) has become a major public health concern in Sudan and many countries, causing failure in treatment with consequent huge health burden. OBJECTIVES To determine the prevalence and susceptibility of MDR E. coli isolated from patients in hospitals at Khartoum State. METHODS Between May to August 2011, E. coli (n = 232) isolated from clinical specimens, identified, tested their antimicrobials susceptibility and screened for extend spectrum â-lactamase production as per standard methods. RESULTS Of the 232 E. coli isolates, the majority were from urine (65.1%). MDR E. coli were present in 214 (92.2%). Of these, the resistance rates were recorded to: amoxicillin 97.7%, cefuroxime 92.5%, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole 88.3%, tetracycline 77.1%, nalidixic acid 72%, ceftriaxone 64%, ciprofloxacin 58.4%, ofloxacin 55.1%, amoxicillin-clavulanate 50.4%, ceftazidime, gentamicin 35% each, nitrofurantoin 22.4%, chloramphenicol, tobramicin 18.2% each and amikacin 1.9%. Overall MDR E. coli, 53.3% were resistant to > 7 antimicrobial agents and ESBL was detected in 32.7%. Isolates from males were more resistant than those from females (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS Drug-resistance surveillance and epidemiological analysis of patient data is need periodically and can be informative for appropriate management of antimicrobial resistance.
Hydrogen Peroxide-Induced VCAM-1 Expression in Pancreatic Islets and &bgr;-Cells Through Extracellular Ca2+ Influx

Background. The use of porcine islets as alternatives to transplantable human islets is hampered by xenotransplant rejection. To identify molecular mechanisms that would allow subversion of xenoislet rejection, we investigated the role of H2O2 in vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) expression by porcine and mouse islets and &bgr;-cell lines. Methods. Porcine islets were treated with H2O2, tumor necrosis factor alpha, interferon-&ggr;, interleukin-1&bgr;, and lipopolysaccharide, to assess the effects of inflammatory stimulators on VCAM-1 expression using flow cytometry. The role of Ca2+ in H2O2-induced VCAM-1 expression was investigated in &bgr;-cell lines using an extracellular Ca2+ chelator and Ca2+-depleted media. Furthermore, H2O2-induced VCAM-1 expression was measured in &bgr;-cells, pretreated with inhibitors of protein kinase C, phospholipase D, and phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase/Akt. Finally, H2O2-induced VCAM-1 expression was evaluated in porcine islets and rodent &bgr;-cell lines infected with an adenovirus encoding catalase, a H2O2-removing enzyme. Results. H2O2 was most potent inflammatory stimulator of VCAM-1 expression in porcine islets and had the greatest effect on VCAM-1 expression by &bgr;-cells. Signaling pathway analysis demonstrated that extracellular Ca2+ influx was critical to H2O2-mediated VCAM-1 expression; however, protein kinase C, phospholipase D, and phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase/Akt activation were not required for VCAM-1 expression. Finally, catalase overexpression inhibited H2O2-induced VCAM-1 expression by islets and &bgr;-cell lines. Conclusion. An extracellular calcium-dependent H2O2 pathway is the critical mediator of VCAM-1 expression by pancreatic islets and &bgr;-cells. Inhibition of this pathway by catalase overexpression in donor islets can be exploited to protect against xenoislet immune responses.
The role of varietal traits in the adoption of improved dryland crop varieties: The case of pigeon pea in Kenya

This study uses a multivariate probit model and the Poisson regression to examine the role of varietal attributes in farmers’ adoption of improved pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) varieties in Taita District, Kenya. It is based on data collected from 200 households stratified by adoption of improved pigeon pea varieties between April and May 2009. The study finds correlation in the decisions made by farmers to adopt different varieties, implying that using simple probit analysis could yield biased and inefficient results. The results further indicate that the major pigeon pea varietal traits driving rapid adoption are drought tolerance, pest tolerance, yield, ease of cooking, taste and price. Early maturity, a major focus of recent research, has no effect on farmers’ adoption decisions. These findings imply that developers of improved crop varieties should pay attention to consumption and market characteristics in addition to production traits to increase technology uptake and satisfy farmers’ multiple needs.
Vitamin D Receptor Activation and Left Ventricular Hypertrophy in Advanced Kidney Disease

Background: In chronic kidney disease (CKD), left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is prevalent and is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Vitamin D receptor (VDR) activation attenuates LVH progression in animal models. Methods: PRIMO is a multinational, randomized, double-blinded trial with oral paricalcitol in subjects with stages 3–4 CKD, mild-to-moderate LVH and an LV ejection fraction >50%. The primary endpoint is change in the left ventricular mass index (LVMI) compared with placebo after 48 weeks of treatment. The main secondary endpoints are changes in diastolic function parameters. In this paper, we report baseline characteristics from this study. Results: LVMI was 33.0 ± 7.5 g/m2.7 for males and 30.8 ± 7.2 g/m2.7 for females (p = 0.04). LVMI correlated with systolic blood pressure (r = 0.24), urine albumin creatinine ratio (r = 0.39), troponin T (r = 0.29), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (r = 0.25) and plasma levels of B-type brain natriuretic peptide (r = 0.22); all p < 0.01. In multiple linear regression, each remained independently associated with LVMI. The early diastolic velocity of the lateral mitral annulus (E’) was 8.1 ± 2.4 cm/s. E’ was inversely correlated with age in univariate (r = –0.14, p = 0.04) and multivariable (p = 0.02) analysis. Conclusion: Among 227 multinational subjects with stages 3–4 CKD, baseline LVMI correlates with baseline blood pressure, urine albumin creatinine ratio and cardiac biomarkers, and baseline diastolic function correlates with age. This research was funded by Abbott Laboratories; ClinicalTrials.gov No. NCT00497146.
On Robust Almost Sure Stabilization of Continuous-Time Markov Jump Linear Systems

This paper is concerned with the robust almost sure (AS) stabilization problem for continuous-time Markov jump linear systems (MJLS). Norm-bounded uncertainties affecting the system state and input matrices are considered. A deterministically testable sufficient condition for robust AS stability is provided which relies on some bounds on the 2-norm of the transition matrix over the time interval before the first transition. Such a condition can be profitably employed also to design a robust feedback stabilization strategy. The stabilizing feedback design is based on a formulation of the sufficient condition in terms of an equivalent LMI problem
The Post-Merger Performance of Acquiring Firms: A Re-examination of an Anomaly

The existing literature on the post-merger performance of acquiring firms is divided. The authors reexamine this issue, using a nearly exhaustive sample of mergers between NYSE acquirers and NYSE/AMEX targets. The authors find that stockholders of acquiring firms suffer a statistically significant loss of about 10 percent over the five-year post- merger period, a result robust to various specifications. Their evidence suggests that neither the firm size effect nor beta estimation problems are the cause of the negative post-merger returns. They examine whether this result is caused by a slow adjustment of the market to the merger event. Their results do not seem consistent with this hypothesis. Copyright 1992 by American Finance Association.