Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prevalence and morphology of the vastus medialis oblique muscle in human cadavers

The vastus medialis (VM) muscle has been described as being composed of two separate divisions: the vastus medialis longus (VML) proximally and the vastus medialis oblique (VMO) distally. The VML is reported to directly contribute to knee extension, while the VMO provides medial stabilization of the patella during knee extension. Despite the prevalence of literature describing the morphology and function of the VMO as an individual muscle, very little literature exists which actually substantiates the existence of the VMO as a separate, distinct muscle from the VML. The purpose of this study was to examine a sufficiently large sample of human cadavers to quantify and substantiate the existence of the VMO as a separate, distinct muscle from the VML, and to establish a statistical parameter representative of a normal adult population.
General education versus vocational training: How do they affect individuallabour market performance?

Using the Panel Study of Belgian Households (PSBH, waves 4 to 10) we estimate the effects of education (initial and life-long, general and vocational) on incomes, labour supply and unemployment. This allows for a decomposition of the economic returns of education on earnings in two parts; one attributed on wages and one on employment time. The sample includes individuals 18-65 who have completed initial education at school or university, who are at the labour market and receive income from working. Individuals who are currently following a vocational after-school course are also included in the sample. We use Hausman- Taylor estimators, which are consistent in the presence of correlation between the unobserved individual effects and the explanatory variables and at the same time produce estimates for the time- invariant variables. The results show a large positive effect of initial education both on earnings and on employment; however, this positive effect is smaller for those who follow vocational or technical education while at school. On the other hand, continuous vocational training and life-long learning result to extra gains on top of the gains from initial education. There is a similar picture in the effect of education on unemployment time and labour supply.
Understanding non-financial performance measurement practices in Japanese banks: A new institutional sociology perspective

This paper reports the performance measurement practices of four Japanese banks. The research is a field study informed by the new institutional sociology theory. It sought to understand and explain what factors affected the design and use of non‐financial performance measurement systems in the banks studied. The results indicate that several institutional forces influenced the banks to implement a particular performance measurement system. Of these, economic constraints appeared to be the most forceful factor, followed by the central bank’s regulatory control, accounting standards/financial legislation, management’s strategic focus, bank size, competition, and organizational tendency to copy best practices from others.
Optimal Production Scheduling and Employment Smoothing with Deterministic Demands

In this paper we study a model that minimizes the sum of production, employment smoothing, and inventory costs subject to a schedule of known demand requirements over a finite time horizon. The three instrumental variables are work force producing at regular-time, work force producing on overtime, and the total work force. Overtime is limited to be not more than a fixed multiple of regular time. The idle portion of the work force and the levels of inventory are resultant variables. We postulate the following shape characteristics for the cost functions production costs are convex-like, smoothing costs are V-shaped, and holding costs are increasing, both the production and holding cost functions need not be stationary. In this paper, we provide upper and lower bounds on the cumulative regular-time plus overtime work force for any sequence of demand requirements. We also give the form of an optimal policy when demands are monotone (either increasing or decreasing). Finally, we derive the asymptotic behavior of optimal policies when demands are monotone and the planning horizon becomes arbitrarily long. All of these results, which convey information about the numerical values of optimal policies, given specific demands and an initial level of inventory, depend only on the shape characteristics of the cost functions. Algorithmic techniques are discussed elsewhere [Lippman, S. A. , A. J. Rolfe, H. M. Wagner, J. S. C. Yuan. Algorithms for optimal production scheduling and employment smoothing. Opns Res. To appear. ], [Yuan, J. S. C. 1967. Algorithms and multi-product model in production scheduling and employment smoothing. Technical Report 22 (NSF GS-552), Stanford University, August. ].
Dynamic Relationship between House Prices in Malaysia's Major Economic Regions and Singapore House Prices

Fereidouni H. G. , Al-Mulali U. , Lee J. Y. M. and Mohammed A. H. Dynamic relationship between house prices in Malaysia's major economic regions and Singapore house prices, Regional Studies. The purpose of this study is to examine house price diffusion among Malaysia's major economic regions (Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Pulau Pinang and Johor) and between each of these regions and neighbouring Singapore by using the quarterly data from 2000:Q1 to 2011:Q1. By applying multivariate co-integration approach, the results show the existence of ripple effects among Malaysia's major economic regions. Moreover, it is found that house price diffusion observed within a country can be extended across the border. Implications are offered along with the findings of this research.
Interdisciplinary Research Within a Modified Competing Values Model of Organizational Performance

Abstract An interdisciplinary model of firm performance based on a modified and extended Competing Values Model of Organizational Culture combines elements drawn from three different research traditions-organizational culture and climate from organizational behavior, innovativeness from economics, and market orientation from marketing. The model has been used to analyze firm performance in business-to-business markets in a number of countries in the industrial and the industrializing worlds. In general, successful firms are found to be innovative, market oriented, and to have organizational cultures and decision-making climates which are externally oriented. In most countries, there are also identifiable national culture-specific patterns. In this paper, we focus on the inter-relationships among the streams of research upon which the model is built. Using Brazil, previously unstudied in this context, we attempt to identify a structure among the model elements to test hypotheses about (1) the inter-relationships of the explanatory variables, and (2) the relationships of the explanatory variables to each other and to firm performance. We find that the contributing disciplines produce interpretable results, and that performance is improved by achieving good results simultaneously along several inter-related dimensions.
Sensorineural hearing loss at 9–13 years of age in children with a history of neonatal extracorporeal membrane oxygenation

Objective To investigate the incidence of late-onset sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) and study the association between neonatal extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and SNHL in survivors of neonatal ECMO between 9 and 13 years of age. Study design Retrospective analysis of medical records of 212 neonatal ECMO survivors treated between 1987 and 1991 to identify children with complete hearing evaluation at 9–13 years of age. Patients were categorised into normal hearing (NH) and SNHL groups. Cox proportional-hazard regression analysis was used to take into account the variable age at follow-up and to assess the independent effect of each risk factor for SNHL. Results Forty-eight of the 212 patients had complete hearing evaluations at 9–13 years of age and eight of 48 patients were diagnosed as having SNHL. In two patients, SNHL was first detected between 9 and 13 years. A significant difference between the SNHL and NH groups was found in median 5 min Apgar scores, mean ECMO support duration, proportion of infants with pre-ECMO Paco2 of <30 mm Hg, and pre-ECMO use of furosemide. No differences were found in the mean cumulative dose or duration of diuretic, muscle relaxant or aminoglycoside treatments. The occurrence of clinical seizures before ECMO and the duration of ECMO therapy were independently associated with SNHL. Conclusion Clinical seizure activity prior to ECMO and the duration of ECMO therapy are independently associated with SNHL. These data confirm that there is an increased incidence of SNHL in neonatal ECMO survivors at 9–13 years of age and suggest that SNHL may also present later in childhood in this patient population. Upon recovery from acute respiratory failure and after discharge from the hospital, longitudinal neurodevelopmental follow-up of infants treated with ECMO during the neonatal period is essential.
Considerations for setting the medium-term inflation target

The medium-term inflation target set in summer 2005 and taking effect in January 2007 brings fundamental changes in the Hungarian inflation targeting mechanism. Whereas formerly the government and the central bank used to set a new inflation target each year, a 3-percent medium-term target will enter into effect from the above date onwards. The transition to the new mechanism was not self-evident, as both the former and the new regimes have their specific drawbacks and benefits. This article discusses these issues, arguing that the advantages of the new regime are far more important than its drawbacks and exceed the benefits of the old regime. In the current state of the Hungarian economy, a 3-percent inflation target can be deemed optimal on the medium term. The reason why it is slightly higher than the inflation targets of the countries with advanced economies is the catching-up nature of the Hungarian economy. The Hungarian inflation target is reviewed every three years, since the optimal level of inflation may change, and will probably decrease in Hungary over time. Another important date, when the inflation target will again be reviewed, will be Hungary’s prospective entry into the common European exchange rate mechanism (ERM-II). The article also explains that the inflation target has been defined as a point target, which, given the situation of Hungary, is more favourable than a target band, which is employed by many other countries.
Child Poverty in Perspective: An overview of child well-being in rich countries

This report builds and expands upon the analyses of Report Card 6 which considered relative income poverty affecting children and policies to mitigate it. Report Card 7 provides a pioneering, comprehensive picture of child well being through the consideration of six dimensions: material well-being, health and safety, education, family and peer relationships, subjective well-being, behaviours and lifestyles informed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and relevant academic literature.
Spatial variability of denitrification potential and related soil properties in created, restored, and paired natural wetlands

To gain a better understanding of the spatial patterns of denitrification potential and related soil properties in created (CW), restored (RW), and natural wetlands (NWs), four CW/RW-NW pairs in North Carolina, USA were sampled. These site pairs spanned a range of hydrogeomorphic (HGM) settings common in the Coastal Plain. It was hypothesized that denitrification enzyme activities (DEAs) and related soil properties of CW/RWs would have less spatial variability than DEAs and soil properties of NWs, as prior land-use and mitigation activities tend to homogenize soil properties. Cochran’s C tests indicated that variances were significantly lower in CW/RWs than in NWs for most soil properties, and that for nitrate (NO3-N), variances were significantly lower in CW/RWs across all HGM settings. Interpolated maps of the soil properties revealed homogeneous distributions of NO3-N across the CW/ RW plots compared to much more heterogeneous distributions of NO3-N across the NW plots. Multiple stepwise regressions confirmed that either NO3-N or soluble organic carbon were significant predictors of the DEA at each plot. Interpolated maps of predicted DEA generally showed similar patterns to those of NO3-N. While some nitrate and DEA hotspots were observed in the CW/RWs, more were present in the NWs. These results indicated that spatial distributions of soil chemical properties and DEAs were considerably different in CW/RWs than in paired NWs. This is the first study to document such differences, suggesting that CWs and RWs with homogeneous soil chemical distributions may not develop the full range of soil biogeochemical processes that occur in NWs.
Inflation Targeting and Quantitative Tightening: Effects of Reserve Requirements in Peru

This paper provides an overview of the reserve requirement measures undertaken by the Central Bank of Peru. It provides a rationale for the use of these instruments as well as empirical evidence of their effectiveness. In general, the results show that tightening reserve requirements has the desired effects on interest rates and credit levels at both banks and smaller financial institutions (cajas municipales).
Cockroach aggregation: discrimination between strain odours in
 Blattella germanica
 


Behavioural experiments on gregariousness in larval German cockroaches, Blattella germanica (L.), confirmed that this species deposits an aggregation pheromone by body contact. Choice tests with groups of larvae indicated that they were preferentially attracted to papers conditioned by the odour of their conspecifics, although they were able to aggregate on clean paper in the absence of cockroach odour. Individual larvae were able to recognize the odour of their own population or strain in the absence of conspecifics. The odour was produced and perceived by larvae at all developmental stages. We report, for the first time, experiments comparing the relative attractiveness of odours of strains from different locations: larval cockroaches were able to discriminate and recognize the odour of members of their own strain. Our results showed that different strains have variations of a specific odour. All experimental strains had similar discriminatory capacities and all preferred the odour of their own strain. When larvae were presented with a choice between odours from two unfamiliar strains, they appeared to avoid these odours. Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
The role of external factors in advancing non-liberal democratic forms of political rule: a case study of Russia's influence on Central Asian regimes

This article argues that deliberate and unintentional external influences play both direct and indirect roles in advancing non-liberal democratic political rule. Specifically, it identifies four key external factors whereby Russia has strengthened Central Asia's authoritarian rule: the diffusion of ideas and norms; the growing use of economic and cultural power; the minimal but strategic use of hard power; and the development of regional organizations. The article shows how Russia has consolidated and further entrenched authoritarianism by mapping its impact on the strength of Central Asia's regimes−its management of political contestation, use of coercion, containment of civil society, and degree of legitimacy. Through ‘regional authoritarian learning’, Russia has also strengthened its own autocracy. The conditions conducive to the advance of authoritarianism include the ‘receptivity’ of ideas and practices, the provision of benefits (financial or legitimacy), and perceived threats to regime survival.
Service Quality, Administrative Process, and Citizens’ Evaluation of Local Government in the US

It is often assumed that citizens evaluate government based on service quality or outcomes (such as safe neighbourhoods or good schools), but aspects of administrative process (such as fairness and respect) are also important. Using data from two US surveys, this study examines how service quality and administrative process influence citizens' evaluations of government. Results indicate that service quality matters most to ratings of the community; in contrast, administrative process is the dominant driver of trust; and both quality and process have large effects on judgements about government's overall job performance. Implications for public management research and practice are discussed.
The Impact of the Euro Crisis on Citizens’ Support for the European Union

ABSTRACT Our paper investigates the impact of the global and the Euro crisis on citizens’ attitudes towards the European Union (EU). We measure the impact of the Euro crisis on two different levels: First, the crisis itself at the contextual level and second, and more importantly, at the individual level, referring to citizens’ perceptions of the crisis. Our main assumption is that during the crisis, economic explanations find their way back into the study of EU support. We test our hypotheses with 27 EU member states using different Eurobarometer surveys and apply descriptive statistics as well as multi-level regression analyses. Three conclusions emerge from the analysis: First, the impact of the Euro crisis is stronger than in the case of the global financial crisis. Second, support for the EU depends on both the contextual and the individual level although effects of the latter are more prevalent. Third, the effect of the individual perception of the crisis on EU support is stronger in Euro countries as well as in economically powerful countries. Altogether and contrary to major assumptions following post-functional arguments, our findings show that in times of the crisis economic factors again play a major role in the explanation of support for the EU. This leads to a rather critical evaluation for the future of the European integration process.
Sharing Risks of Labour Market Transitions: Towards a System of Employment Insurance

The increasing polarization of the labour market is closely related to the spread of non-standard employment relationships that largely results from poor risk management of critical transitions over the life course. The question, therefore, arises whether labour market regulation, in particular unemployment insurance, is still properly designed for the new world of work. This article argues for an extension of unemployment insurance towards a system of employment insurance by summarizing the concept of transitional labour markets, indicating the risks that challenge current and future labour markets, laying the theoretical groundwork, and discussing the main features of an employment insurance system.
What Caused the Korean Currency Crisis in 1997?*: Weak Fundamentals or Self‐fulfilling Expectations*

The present paper investigates which factor is primarily responsible for the sharp depreciation of the Korean won against the US dollar in 1997, using a bivariate vector autoregressive model of real and nominal exchange rates. In the present study, we directly identify the relative importance of fundamental and non-fundamental factors from the raw data series on exchange rates. This approach is different from most previous studies on the Korean currency crisis, which use proxy variables to represent the two factors. The empirical results show that the collapse of the Korean currency in 1997 appears to be mostly a result of the weakened macroeconomic fundamentals of the economy with, to a limited extent, some non-fundamental factors. Copyright 2007 The Authors Journal compilation 2007 East Asian Economic Association and Blackwell Publishing Ltd .
Bis(3-azaniumylpyridin-1-ium) hexachloridostannate(IV) dichloride

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, (C5H8N2)2[SnCl6]Cl2, consists of one 3-azaniumylpyridin-1-ium dication and one chloride ion in a general position and a hexachloridostannate(IV) dianion lying about a centre of inversion. The [SnCl6]2− anion exhibits almost perfect octahedral geometry. The 3-azaniumylpyridin-1-ium and chloride ions are connected via medium–strong charge-supported N—H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds, forming undulating layers in the (110) plane. The [SnCl6]2− ions are located between these layers and occupy cavities formed by two facing layer puckers.
The Monetary Approach to Exchange Rate in an Efficient Foreign Exchange Market: Tests Based on Volatility

The variance bounds on exchange rate movements implied by the monetary approach to exchange rate in an efficient foreign exchange market is shown to be violated by sample data. The paper also presents evidence showing that the forecast errors implied by the monetary model can be forecasted using historical data. The results are interpreted to suggest either the incompatibility of the monetary approach with sample data, or an inefficient foreign exchange market or both. MODELS OF EXCHANGE RATE determination based on the monetary approach to the balance of payments imply, when coupled with an interest rate parity relation and the assumption of an efficient foreign exchange market, that exchange rates are related to a long average of money stocks differentials.1'2 The long average is analogous to the difference across countries of the long average of expected future money stocks which was supposed to characterize the price level of a single country (see, e.g., Sargent and Wallace [20]). Since long averages are known to have certain smoothing properties, it appears that the observed volatility of exchange rates may be inconsistent with these models. Thus, alternative tests of the models may be produced which rely on those properties. The aim of this paper is to determine if the observed volatility is consistent with those properties. The paper is the first to use tests based on the volatility of the exchange rate in an efficient market model of the monetary approach. The first set of tests is based on the property of implied variance bounds for exchange rate movements, and the second set consists of the more familiar efficient market tests of forecastability. The empirical results violate these two sets of tests of the model, thus casting doubt on the model. Even though the claim that exchange rates are "too" volatile has been commonly made, few direct attempts have been made in the past to determine the validity of the claim. Some studies have presented estimates of variances of spot and forward rates but, lacking an objective criterion to determine what constitutes