Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Relationship between Exchange Rate and Key Macroeconomic Indicators. Case Study: Romania

The purpose of this article is to examine the influence of the following key macroeconomic indicators: GDP, inflation rate, money supply, interest rate and balance of payments on exchange rate of the Romanian leu against the most important currencies (EUR, USD) during 2000-2010 period. The main findings of our study are: it is an inverse relationship between exchange rate EUR/RON, Gross Domestic Product, respectively money supply and a direct relationship between exchange rate EUR/RON, inflation and interest rate. We can not validate the correlation between exchange rate and Balance of payment, because the test statistic is not significant.
Efficacy and Safety of Umeclidinium Added to Fluticasone Propionate/Salmeterol in Patients with COPD: Results of Two Randomized, Double-Blind Studies

Abstract Combinations of drugs with distinct and complementary mechanisms of action may offer improved efficacy in the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In two 12-week, double-blind, parallel-group studies, patients with COPD were randomized 1:1:1 to once-daily umeclidinium (UMEC; 62.5 μg and 125 μg) or placebo (PBO), added to twice-daily fluticasone propionate/salmeterol (FP/SAL; 250/50 μg). In both studies, the primary efficacy measure was trough forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) at Day 85. Secondary endpoints were weighted-mean (WM) FEV1 over 0–6 hours post-dose (Day 84) and rescue albuterol use. Health-related quality of life outcomes (St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire [SGRQ] and COPD assessment test [CAT]) were also examined. Safety was assessed throughout. Both UMEC+FP/SAL doses provided statistically significant improvements in trough FEV1 (Day 85: 0.127–0.148 L) versus PBO+FP/SAL. Similarly, both UMEC+FP/SAL doses provided statistically-significant improvements in 0–6 hours post-dose WM FEV1 versus PBO+FP/SAL (Day 84: 0.144–0.165 L). Rescue use over Weeks 1–12 decreased with UMEC+FP/SAL in both studies versus PBO+FP/SAL (Study 1, 0.3 puffs/day [both doses]; Study 2, 0.5 puffs/day [UMEC 125+FP/SAL]). Decreases from baseline in CAT score were generally larger for both doses of UMEC+FP/SAL versus PBO+FP/SAL (except for Day 84 Study 2). In Study 1, no differences in SGRQ score were observed between UMEC+FP/SAL and PBO+FP/SAL; however, in Study 2, statistically significant improvements were observed with UMEC 62.5+FP/SAL (Day 28) and UMEC 125+FP/SAL (Days 28 and 84) versus PBO+FP/SAL. The incidence of on-treatment adverse events across all treatment groups was 37–41% in Study 1 and 36–38% in Study 2. Overall, these data indicate that the combination of UMEC+FP/SAL can provide additional benefits over FP/SAL alone in patients with COPD.
Calling all citizens: The challenges of public consultation

: One way governments have responded to the heightened democratic discontent of recent years is to seek greater input from citizens in the policy-making process in large-scale public consultations. This article provides a case study of one such consultation. In the fall of 2002, the City of Saint John, faced with a sizeable budget deficit, sought public input on important fiscal decisions that had to be made before year's end. Citizens could provide their views in a traditional way - by mailing in a questionnaire to city hall - or they could submit their views electronically via the City of Saint John web site. Drawing on a wide variety of data sources, including interviews with city officials and a follow-up survey of consultation participants, the authors assess the success of this particular exercise in achieving several interrelated objectives: facilitating citizen participation in public affairs, enhancing citizens' sense of their political efficacy, providing public officials with insight into public opinion, and shaping public policy. Taking into account both consultation outcomes and the expectations of citizens and officials, the authors identity key shortfalls of the Saint John consultation, as well as avenues for constructive change in future exercises. Sommaire: L'une des manieres dont les gouvernements ont reagi au meontentement democratique exacerbe. qui s'est manifeste ces dernieres annees a ete d'accroitre la participation des citoyens au processus d'eaboration de politiques en organisant des consultations publiques a grande echelle. Le present article est une etude de cas portant sur une de ces consultations. A L'automne de 2002, la ville de Saint-John, faisant face a un gros deficit budgetairc, a cherchea obtenir L'avis du public sur d'impor-tantes decisions financieres qui devaient etre prises avant la fin de L'annee. Les cito-yens avaient la possibilite de faire connaitre leur opinion d'une facon traditionnelle en renvoyant un questionnaire par la poste a L'Hotel de Ville, ou bien ils pouvaient soumettre leurs commentaires par voie electronique par L'intermediaire du site Web de la Ville de Saint-John. A partir d'une grande variete de sources de donnees, y compris des entrcvues avec des responsables municipaux et un sondage de suivi aupres dcs participants a la consultation, f'etude de cas evalue le succes de cet exer-cice particulier a atteindre plusieurs objectifs interdependants:faciliter la participation des citoyens aux affaires publiques, ameliorer le sentiment d'efficacite politiquc chez les citoyens, permettre aux fonctionnaires de se faire une meilleure idee de L'opinion publiquc et faconner la politique publique. En tenant compte a la fois des resultats des consultations et des attentes des citoyens et des fonctionnaircs, nous identifions les principales lacunes de la consultation de Saint-John ainsi que les moyens d'apporter des changements constructifs aux exercices futurs.
A water resources model to explore the implications of energy alternatives in the southwestern US

This letter documents the development and validation of a climate-driven, southwestern-US-wide water resources planning model that is being used to explore the implications of extended drought and climate warming on the allocation of water among competing uses. These model uses include a separate accounting for irrigated agriculture; municipal indoor use based on local population and per-capita consumption; climate-driven municipal outdoor turf and amenity watering; and thermoelectric cooling. The model simulates the natural and managed flows of rivers throughout the southwest, including the South Platte, the Arkansas, the Colorado, the Green, the Salt, the Sacramento, the San Joaquin, the Owens, and more than 50 others. Calibration was performed on parameters of land cover, snow accumulation and melt, and water capacity and hydraulic conductivity of soil horizons. Goodness of fit statistics and other measures of performance are shown for a select number of locations and are used to summarize the model’s ability to represent monthly streamflow, reservoir storages, surface and ground water deliveries, etc, under 1980–2010 levels of sectoral water use.
"…it is not just a game": Connecting with Culture through Traditional Indigenous Games

Traditional Indigenous Games (TIGs) have been played in Indigenous Australian communities as a means of teaching children life skills as well as a general leisure pursuit. This paper presents the findings of a small study in one north Queensland public school, Australia, where school students engaged in TIG through their physical education (HPE) classes. Twelve regional games were introduced to students in years five and six. They were played in HPE classes with a focus on inclusivity and gaining an understanding of culture. A culminating TIG carnival was also conducted. Students reported that playing the games and participating in the carnival was a positive experience. All students described the nature of the games in traditional communities, not only as a means of teaching children life skills but as community social practice. Students' participation resulted in enhanced cultural knowledge and cultural significance.
The Visibility of Trust: Exploring the connection between trust and interaction in a Dutch collaborative governance boardroom

Abstract In multi-stakeholder collaboration settings, trust plays a significant role. We explore the connection between trust and interaction over time in a collaborative governance board. To this end, we conducted a case study of the board of a collaborative governance arrangement in professional education. The results include an increase in trust within the board as well as three changes in the interaction pattern during board meetings: more openness, more responsiveness and more speed. It is argued that the increase in trust and the changes in interaction are related, implying that trust is visible in interaction content, interaction atmosphere and interaction process.
Public Private Partnerships: deciphering meaning message and phenomenon

This chapter elaborates on some of the confusion surrounding the concept of public-private partnerships (PPPs). It is shown that the confusion about meaning has to do with the fact that a PPP is a brand, and brands are necessarily vague. It is also shown that there are so many forms of PPP because of the variety of different situations, but also that the discussion about form is probably not the point. An effort is made to determine what aspects really matter in the PPP discussion forum.
Blazing the trail from stem cell research to regenerative medicine

Stem cell research holds promise for applications in regenerative medicine. However many questions remain. For example, will it be possible to patent therapeutic products in this area? Will the necessary investment be forthcoming? In addition there are still many technical problems to be solved. Technical solutions may involve the use of human embryos and this has created barriers to the use of the technology in a number of countries. There is already a need for the progressive development of appropriate legal and regulatory frameworks to allow both the scientific and clinical research to move forward. Some countries are actively encouraging the developments, for example, the UK. In the USA, although the present government is opposed, State and charitable funding is flowing into this area. In this paper we briefly review the issues surrounding stem cell developments and discuss the possible implications of the trends in media coverage.
Diabetes and vascular disease

Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease are two of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality in the USA and worldwide. The impact of these conditions is even more profound in patients with diabetes. The aims of the Vascular Disease Working Group in the articles that follow are to review the impact of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular disease in the general population, and, specifically, in the patient with diabetes, and to suggest appropriate treatment. Important steps to decreasing the risk of these diseases in diabetic patients are strict glycaemic control, control of hypertension, and modification of dyslipidaemia.
Governance and football: an examination of the relevance of corporate governance regulations for the sports sector

Concerns have been raised about the finance of football clubs in England and elsewhere. With the increasing realisation that football is a business, and therefore should be treated as one, the question of whether issues of corporate governance are applicable and relevant to the sports/football context needs closer scrutiny. This research firstly details current theories of corporate governance and proceeds with an examination of their limitations as approaches in the sports and specifically the football context. This paper delineates the characteristics and specific peculiarities of the sports sector, specifically football, and argues the challenges of corporate governance in sports are substantially different from conventional business as to require different approaches and mechanisms for corporate governance.
“ I don ’ t want this information to be tracked ! ” : Design and Evaluation of Information-Based Blocking of Web Tracking

Web tracking is pervasive on the Internet and has raised signif­ icant privacy issues. Existing web tracking blockers such as Ghostery operate in a tracker-based model where they usually list the trackers present on a website and allow users to block all or individual trackers. However, prior research has found that users care more about what information is being tracked than who is tracking that information, implying the promise of an information-based blocking model. We designed Privacy Mirror, an information-based tracker blocker, which allows users to block web tracking by the types of information be­ ing tracked. To evaluate and compare our information-based model with the traditional tracker-based model, we conducted a user study with fifteen participants testing these two mod­ els. Our results show that the majority of our participants (12 out of 15) preferred the information-based model for several reasons, such as easier to understand and more user control. ACM Classification
Occupational segregation and selectivity bias in occupational wage equations: an empirical analysis using Irish data

The gender wage effects of occupational segregation are assessed within the framework of occupational attachment and wage equations. This paper exploits the modified ‘index number’ approach suggested by Brown et al.(1980) and used recently by Miller (1987). However, neither of these papers allowed for the potential effects of selectivity bias in occupational wage equations. In this study selectivity bias is corrected for using the method outlined in Lee (1983). This allows for the effects of occupational selectivity buas on the gender wage gap to be assessed. The findings for this sample of young lrish workers suggest that the greater part of the female wage disadvantage lies in intraoccupational wage differences. Furthermore selectivity bias is found to be important for a number of occupational categories.
Beta endorphin release in patients after spontaneous and provoked acute myocardial ischaemia.

BACKGROUND--In animal models of circulatory shock and heart failure concentrations of the endogenous opioid peptide beta endorphin are raised and opioid receptor blockade improves haemodynamic variables and survival. This study was performed to identify whether acute myocardial ischaemia provokes the release of beta endorphin in humans. METHODS--Observational study in a university cardiology centre. Serial measurements of beta endorphin made by specific radioimmunoassay were correlated with other clinical and neuroendocrine variables that were measured prospectively. Fifty five patients with acute myocardial ischaemia and 26 patients undergoing elective coronary angioplasty of the left anterior descending coronary artery were studied. RESULTS--beta endorphin concentrations were raised above the upper limit of normal in 31/42 (74%) patients with confirmed myocardial infarction, 3/13 (23%) patients with unstable angina, and 10/24 (42%) patients after coronary angioplasty. There was no evidence of myocardial release of beta endorphin. There were significant positive correlations between beta endorphin and the concentrations of adrenocorticotrophic hormone, cortisol, and arginine vasopressin. In patients with acute myocardial ischaemia there was a significant positive correlation between the peak concentrations of creatine kinase and beta endorphin but no correlation with visual analogue scores of the intensity of chest pain. The highest beta endorphin concentrations were seen in patients whose clinical course was complicated by the development of heart failure. CONCLUSIONS--beta endorphin release is a component of the neuroendocrine activation associated with myocardial ischaemia/infarction.
Interbank Lending and Systemic Risk

Systemic risk refers to the propagation of a bank's economic distress to other economic agents linked to that bank through financial transactions. Banking authorities often prevent systemic risk through an implicit insurance of interbank claims, or by reducing interbank transactions and centralizing banks' liquidity management. This paper investigates whether the flexability afforded by decentralized bank interactions can be preserved while protecting the central banks from the necessity of conducting undesired rescue operations. It develops a model in which decentralized interbank leading is motivated by peer monitoring. In this context, the paper derives the optimal prudential rules, and, in particular, looks at the impact of interbank monitoring on the solvency and liquidity ratios of borrowing and lending banks. Last, it provides conditions which a Too Big To Fail policy is or is not justified and studies the possibility of propagation of a bank's liquidity shock throughout the financial system. Copyright 1996 by Ohio State University Press.
Small and Medium Enterprises and Human Resource Practices in Pakistan

This paper presented the overview of the human resource practices in small and medium enterprises. The nature and importance of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) sector in Pakistan’s economy is unparallel. Hence this paper discussed the general views of the SMEs operating in Pakistan, the current employment sector and the HR practices in SMEs. The arguments developed in the paper supports the contention that SMEs in Pakistan have great potential for greater economic and social development. Some key issues pertaining to Pakistan’s SMEs are also identified.
Testing for 'Monopoly' Market Power When Products are Differentiated in Quality

This paper proposes a reduced form approach toempirically identify the presence of monopoly power in oligopolies characterized by vertical product di erentia-tion. In a fairly general model I derive the reduced form pricing equation under the hypothesis that rms collude by maximizing their joint pro t. A central comparative statics result states that a product's price depends only on its own quality and not on the quality ofits competitors. I propose simple tests implied by this result, requiring data only on the prices and the physical characteristics of the products. The tests are applied to the market for spreadsheets inthe US (1986-1991) and to the market for `engine variants' in the 1990 French car market. The empirical results are promising, but also indicate the need for further generalizations of the model.
Regulation of the furA and catC Operon, Encoding a Ferric Uptake Regulator Homologue and Catalase-Peroxidase, Respectively, in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2)

ABSTRACT We isolated the catC gene, encoding catalase-peroxidase in Streptomyces coelicolor, using sequence homology with the katG gene from Escherichia coli. Upstream of the catC gene, an open reading frame (furA) encoding a homologue of ferric uptake regulator (Fur) was identified. S1 mapping analysis indicated that the furA gene was cotranscribed with the catC gene. The transcriptional start site of the furA-catC mRNA was mapped to the translation start codon ATG of the furA gene. The putative promoter contains consensus −10 and −35 elements similar to those recognized by ςHrdB, the major sigma factor of S. coelicolor. The transcripts were produced maximally at late-exponential phase and decreased at the stationary phase in liquid culture. The change in the amount of mRNA was consistent with that of CatC protein and enzyme activity. When the furA gene was introduced into S. lividans on a multicopy plasmid, the increased production of catC transcripts and protein product at late growth phase was inhibited, implying a role for FurA as the negative regulator of the furA-catC operon. FurA protein bound to its own promoter region between −59 and −39 nucleotides from the transcription start site. The binding affinity of FurA increased under reducing conditions and in the presence of metals such as Ni2+, Mn2+, Zn2+, or Fe2+. Addition of these metals to the growth medium decreased the production of CatC protein, consistent with the role of FurA as a metal-dependent repressor.
The cooperative venture formation process: a latent variable structural modeling approach

This article addresses management process issues for forming cooperative ventures with an increased likelihood of subsequent success. Based on Roos 1989 the cooperative venture formation process is conceptualized in terms of three theoretical constructs: the extent of sufficient "internal push" for the project, the breadth and depth of "analytical scope," and the strength of key "stakeholder support. " These constructs are related to subsequent perceived performance. Data from sixty seven firms were collected and analyzed via latent variable structural modeling a partial least square PLS. One key contribution of this article is the modeling approach to strategic formation process. It contributes to an existing, but not very well developed, theory regarding strategy formation processes. The PLS method used in this study is quite unique within strategy research. As such, it contributes to methodology development in the strategy research field. The main managerial implication is that the process by which a cooperative venture is formed should largely be seen as a step-by-step approach-not a discrete decision. If the three fundamentals discussed in the article are thoroughly addressed, we can up the ante for success during implementation and, therefore, subsequent performance.
Cdc42 Is a Rho GTPase Family Member That Can Mediate Insulin Signaling to Glucose Transport in 3T3-L1 Adipocytes*

We investigated the role of cdc42, a Rho GTPase family member, in insulin-induced glucose transport in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Microinjection of anti-cdc42 antibody or cdc42 siRNA led to decreased insulin-induced and constitutively active Gq (CA-Gq; Q209L)-induced GLUT4 translocation. Adenovirus-mediated expression of constitutively active cdc42 (CA-cdc42; V12) stimulated 2-deoxyglucose uptake to 56% of the maximal insulin response, and this was blocked by treatment with the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-kinase) inhibitor, wortmannin, or LY294002. Both insulin and CA-Gq expression caused an increase in cdc42 activity, showing that cdc42 is activated by insulin and is downstream of Gαq/11 in this activation pathway. Immunoprecipitation experiments showed that insulin enhanced a direct association of cdc42 and p85, and both insulin treatment and CA-cdc42 expression stimulated PI3-kinase activity in immunoprecipitates with anti-cdc42 antibody. Furthermore, the effects of insulin, CA-Gq, and CA-cdc42 on GLUT4 translocation or 2-deoxyglucose uptake were inhibited by microinjection of anti-protein kinase Cλ (PKCλ) antibody or overexpression of a kinase-deficient PKCλ construct. In summary, activated cdc42 can mediate 1) insulin-stimulated GLUT4 translocation and 2) glucose transport in a PI3-kinase-dependent manner. 3) Insulin treatment and constitutively active Gq expression can enhance the cdc42 activity state as well as the association of cdc42 with activated PI3-kinase. 4) PKCλ inhibition blocks CA-cdc42, CA-Gq, and insulin-stimulated GLUT4 translocation. Taken together, these data indicate that cdc42 can mediate insulin signaling to GLUT4 translocation and lies downstream of Gαq/11 and upstream of PI3-kinase and PKCλ in this stimulatory pathway.