Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
International reserves and growth: assessing the mercantilist motive in Latin America

Abstract Official reserves have increased to unprecedented levels since the mid-1990s, particularly in developing economies. One of the reasons ascribed for accumulating official reserves is the so-called mercantilist motive. This motive is seen as a part of an active industrial policy in the sense that these resources allow the monetary authorities to maintain a stable and undervalued real exchange rate, promoting economic growth and development via the tradable goods sector. In this paper we attempt to assess this motive using data for ten selected Latin American economies during the period 1996–2011. Unlike most previous work done on this topic, we consider official reserves as one of the determinants of the real exchange rate. Our econometric findings indicate that international reserves in the region appreciate the real exchange rate. This result suggests that the strategy of hoarding reserves in Latin America has not promoted economic growth and development.
Determining the Success of Economic Sanctions

This article applies the social-network conception of national power, derived from the social-network conception of the international system structure, to economic sanctions, one of the most widely studied empirical phenomena in international relations. The empirical analyses of economic sanctions presented here find that sanctions cases with disproportional structural-network power between sender and target were far less likely to be successful and those with the target state possessing high structural-network power were far more likely to be successful. The evidence from nonparametric model discrimination statistics and information criteria measures shows that the sanctions models with new social-network power measures have greater explanatory power than or statistically outperform those with old attributional power measures, such as the Correlates of War index and GNP. 一些政治学者认为强调农业和农民的“乡村情结”越来越失去其政治和社会意义，但并没有多少实证研究支持这一说法。 为此，作者就人们对农业和农民的态度做了探讨性调查。 调查结果显示，人们的态度符合“乡村情结式微”论，但会因年龄、位置、出生国、投票意向而有差异。 不过，仍存在一种将乡村情结归诸农民的倾向，有对农民生产方式的强烈支持、以及对农业于国家未来重要性的坚信。 令人惊奇的是，与过去三十年的市场自由主义相左，对政府之扶助农业的支持可谓强烈。
Restoration of spinal bone in osteoporotic men by treatment with human parathyroid hormone (1–34) and 1,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D

Daily subcutaneous injection of a synthetic human parathyroid hormone fragment, combined with daily ingestion of 1,25(OH)2 vitamin D, significantly increased trabecular bone density in the spine (p < .01), and improved intestinal calcium and phosphorus absorption and total body retention of dietary calcium and phosphorus in middle‐aged men with idiopathic osteoporosis. The increases in spinal bone mineral were marked and progressive during a year of treatment. These results indicate that increasing intestinal absorption of dietary calcium while simultaneously stimulating new bone formation with small doses of parathyroid hormone can restore spinal bone in osteoporotic men.
Blockade of acetylcholine release at the motor endplate by a polypeptide from the venom of Phoneutria nigriventer

1 The mechanisms underlying the muscle relaxation effect of a fraction (PF3) isolated from the Phoneutria nigriventer spider venom were assessed on mouse diaphragm and chick biventer cervicis muscle preparations. 2 PF3 (0.25‐4 μg ml−1) produced a concentration‐dependent blockade of the nerve‐elicited muscle twitch of the mouse diaphragm (IC50=0.8 μg ml−1) without affecting the directly induced muscle twitch. In similar preparations, the crude venom (1–10 μg ml−1) produced muscle contracture and blocked both the direct and indirectly induced muscle twitches. 3 In the chick biventer cervicis muscle, PF3 (1–5 μg ml−1) blocked the nerve stimulated muscle twitch (IC50=1.26 μg ml−1), but did not alter the postjunctional response to exogenous acetylcholine (ACh, 10 μm‐10mm). 4 PF3 (2–8 μg ml−1) reduced the frequency of miniature endplate potentials (m.e.p.ps) recorded intracellularly from the mouse diaphragm muscle fibres by 58 to 64%, and diminished the amplitude of m.e.p.ps by 20 to 40% of control. The relationship between log m.e.p.p. frequency and log [Ca2+]o was shifted rightwards in the presence of 4 μg ml−1 PF3. 5 Raising the frequency of m.e.p.ps with high K+ medium or theophylline (3 mm) did not prevent the toxin‐induced depression of spontaneous ACh release. 6 The quantal content of e.p.ps (m), determined in cut‐diaphragm muscle fibres, was reduced by 53% and 77% of control by 1 and 4 μg ml−1 PF3, respectively. At 1 μg ml−1 the toxin shifted the relationship between log m and log [Ca2+]o towards higher values without apparent change of the slope. 7 E.p.p. trains elicited at 10 to 50 Hz in the presence of PF3 (1 μg ml−1) exhibited irregular amplitudes and facilitation related to the frequency of nerve stimulation. 8 It is concluded that PF3 blocks neuromuscular transmission by acting prejunctionally and reducing the nerve‐evoked transmitter release. The effect was related to a diminished Ca2+ entry into the nerve terminal associated with inhibition of exocytosis.
Quality management in heavy duty manufacturing industry: TQM vs. Six Sigma

‘Is TQM a management fad? ’ This question has been extensively documented in the quality management literature, and is tackled in this research through a critical literature review on the area. The ‘TQM vs. Six Sigma' debate, which has also been a fundamental challenge in this research field, is addressed by a thematic and chronological review of the peer papers. To evaluate this challenge in practice, a primary research in heavy duty machinery production industry has been conducted using a case-study on J C Bamford Excavators Ltd, the largest European construction machinery producer. The result highlights the fact that TQM is a natural foundation upon which to build Six Sigma; and not surprisingly the quality yield in a TQM approach complemented by Six Sigma is far higher and more stable than when TQM with no Six-Sigma focus is put in place, thus presenting the overall finding that TQM and Six Sigma are complements, not substitutes. The study concludes with an overview on quality management approaches in the heavy duty manufacturing industry to highlight the way forward.
Action Research on Occupational Stress: Involving Workers as Researchers

In this article we describe the rationale, design, and selected results of a longitudinal action research project conducted in a component-parts manufacturing plant. This project is aimed at reducing occupational stress and strengthening psychosocial factors (i.e., social support and participation in and influence over decision-making) that may mediate the negative effects of stress on health and quality of worklife. A discussion of the gaps and weaknesses in the existing research and intervention literature on work stress and health is provided, followed by an overview of the theoretical and empirical foundations of the present study. The design of this research addresses previous limitations in three major ways: (1) the project has been implemented within an action research framework that has the potential to enhance both the quality, relevance, and utilization of research findings and the adoption, diffusion, and impact of planned interventions; (2) it combines research and intervention in a single longitudinal study providing data that allow for stronger causal inferences than cross-sectional research, while also ensuring that research findings guide the design and evaluation of the interventions; and (3) it employs multiple methods of research and intervention that enhances the comprehensiveness and validity of the project. We explicate each of these aspects of the design, show how the design has effectively been put in operation, provide evidence of ways in which these features have improved the project over conventional approaches, and address limitations in terms of effectiveness and efficiency.
Confronting Cyber-Bullying: What Schools Need to Know to Control Misconduct and Avoid Legal Consequences

1. Cyber-misconduct: who is lord of the bullies? 2. Profile of traditional and cyber-bullying 3. Cyber-libel or criminal harassment: when do kids cross the line? 4. Student free expression: do the schoolhouse gates extend to cyber-space? 5. Fostering positive school environments: physical and virtual 6. Censoring cyber-space: can kids be controlled? 7. The tragedy of the commons: lessons for cyber-space? 8. Cyber-collaboration: models for critical legal pluralism in teacher education programs 9. Conclusion.
Enterprise Education: Influencing Students’ Perceptions of Entrepreneurship

This research examines the effect of participation in an enterprise education program on perceptions of the desirability and feasibility of starting a business. Changes in the perceptions of a sample of secondary school students enrolled in the Young Achievement Australia (YAA) enterprise program are analysed using a pre–test post–test control group research design. After completing the enterprise program, participants reported significantly higher perceptions of both desirability and feasibility. The degree of change in perceptions is related to the positiveness of prior experience and to the positiveness of the experience in the enterprise education program. Self–efficacy theory is used to explain the impact of the program. Overall, the study provides empirical evidence to support including exposure to entrepreneurship education as an additional exposure variable in entrepreneurial intentions models.
Performance and Verification of a Real-Time PCR Assay Targeting the gyrA Gene for Prediction of Ciprofloxacin Resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae

ABSTRACT In the United States, 19.2% of Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates are resistant to ciprofloxacin. We evaluated a real-time PCR assay to predict ciprofloxacin susceptibility using residual DNA from the Roche Cobas 4800 CT/NG assay. The results of the assay were 100% concordant with agar dilution susceptibility test results for 100 clinical isolates. Among 76 clinical urine and swab specimens positive for N. gonorrhoeae by the Cobas assay, 71% could be genotyped. The test took 1.5 h to perform, allowing the physician to receive results in time to make informed clinical decisions.
COST-EFFECTIVENESS OF ALEMTUZUMAB FOR T-CELL PROLYMPHOCYTIC LEUKEMIA

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of alemtuzumab (CAMPATH-1H) compared with conventional chemotherapy in people with T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia (T-PLL). Methods: We developed a decision-analytic model to assess the costs and benefits of alemtuzumab or conventional therapy based on their effects on quality of life of patients. The main outcome was the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio incorporating costs per additional quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gained over lifetime. Due to the limited data available, a large number of assumptions had to be made to construct the cost-utility model. One-way, multi-way, and probabilistic sensitivity analyses (PSA) were conducted to explore the impact of these uncertainties. Expected values of perfect information were also calculated for four specific scenarios. Results: Depending on different key assumptions made, the PSA suggested distinct conclusions using a willingness-to-pay threshold of 30,000 GBP per QALY gained. Using this threshold, the probability that alemtuzumab would be cost-effective varies from 0 percent to 53 percent for the four modeled scenarios. Population expected value of perfect information analysis suggests that resolving the parameter uncertainty in the analysis for people with T-PLL in the United Kingdom would have considerable value—up to 5.3 million euro. Conclusions: Alemtuzumab appears more likely to be cost-effective if used earlier in the course of T-PLL and where it replaces the use of multiple alternative therapies. However, cost-effectiveness is highly uncertain and future research is clearly justified. Nevertheless, our analysis demonstrates the feasibility of considering the cost-effectiveness of an agent despite the presence of significant uncertainty to provide appropriate assessment information to policy makers.
Decline in species richness and cover of exotic plants with increasing altitude depends on life-history strategy and life-forms

Increasing altitude can result in reduced diversity of exotic plants while disturbance usually benefits exotics. Species richness and cover of exotics was examined in paired 120 m2 roadside and adjacent natural vegetation plots at 10 sites along a 1000 m altitudinal gradient from montane to the alpine zone in the Snowy Mountains. Species richness and cover of exotics decreased linearly with increasing altitude in both habitats. The effect of altitude was partly off set by disturbance, with more species and greater cover of exotics on roadside plots. There was high diversity of annual/biennial forbs particularly at low altitude, and few exotic annuals/biennials above 1510 m. The decline in diversity with altitude may be due to differences in disturbance history, with the highest plots having lower levels of use, but the decline in diversity is most likely due to differences in environmental conditions with increasing altitude that limit exotics, particularly annuals/biennials.
‘Full-Cost Recovery’: Producing Differentiated Water Collection Practices and Responses to Centralized Water Networks in Jaipur, India

This paper examines the political ecological effects of the expansion of an urban centralized water-supply network and the transformation of it into a full-cost-recovery system in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. It draws on data collected through a 2007 household survey of six Jaipur neighborhoods stratified by class; follow-up household interviews in 2007 and 2009; and interviews with public water supply managers and private water tanker vendors in both 2007 and 2009. The investigation concludes that the spatially uneven integration of network expansion and the intermittent flow of water circulating through it, combined with historical axes of political economic difference produces uneven adaptive responses to maintain access to water, such as waiting on water, private tubewell construction, and private water tanker operations, while transforming social power relations. It is concluded, first, that these uneven flows and cost-recovery initiatives are exacerbating current disparities in access to drinking water and, second, that the current public water-supply system has only been partially reformed and that these policy changes have rendered the public supplier unable to recover costs. This makes the need for a private sector rescue of an incapacitated and inefficient public institution seem obvious to planners, yet the public utility's inability to set costs or to set infrastructure priorities draws into question the need for the private sector and full-cost-recovery reforms.
Consumption and saving decisions in the face of choices about housing and pensions

This thesis presents analyses of households' decisions regarding housing and pension wealth accumulation, in forward-looking models. The first of three chapters on housing presents a model of housing demand over the life cycle, and examines its sensitivity to prices and borrowing constraints. Demand responses can be unusual: when the price of housing goes up, the demand for starter homes may increase if enough people "downsize" their homes. The next chapter involves carefully matching a life cycle model of consumption and housing choices, to recent episodes in the U.K., and using this structure to understand why house prices and consumption growth are strongly positively correlated. The model provides a good match to data on home ownership and consumption growth. The analysis gives a firmer theoretical footing to the claim that wealth effects from house prices are unlikely to have been the main driver of the correlation with consumption growth. The third housing chapter presents a model in which the prices of two types of home are endogenous. A perfect foresight set up is used, and transitions between steady states following shocks to income and mortgage markets, are studied. The findings suggest that credit shocks are more promising than income shocks as a potential explanation of large house price fluctuations and housing transactions level that covary positively with prices. The final substantive chapter uses a difference-in-differences strategy to evaluate the effect on private pension coverage of a recent U.K. reform to private pensions and pension contribution limits The reform is seen to have had a positive effect on pension coverage for lower earners. This pattern is consistent with forward-looking responses to the financial incentives involved.
Race and gender in the labor market

This chapter summarizes recent research in economics that investigates differentials by race and gender in the labor market. We start with a statistical overview of the trends in labor market outcomes by race, gender and Hispanic origin, including some simple regressions on the determinants of wages and employment. This is followed in Section 3 by an extended review of current theories about discrimination in the labor market, including recent extensions of taste-based theories, theories of occupational exclusion, and theories of statistical discrimination. Section 4 discusses empirical research that provides direct evidence of discrimination in the labor market, beyond "unexplained gaps" in wage or employment regressions. The remainder of the chapter reviews the evidence on race and gender gaps, particularly wage gaps. Section 5 reviews research on the impact of pre-market human capital differences in education and family background that differ by race and gender. Section 6 reviews the impact of differences in both the levels and the returns to experience and seniority, with discussion of the role of training and labor market search and turnover on race and gender differentials. Section 7 reviews the role of job characteristics (particularly occupational characteristics) in the gender wage gap. Section 8 reviews the smaller literature on differences in fringe benefits by gender. Section 9 is an extensive discussion of the empirical work that accounts for changes in the trends in race and gender differentials over time. Of particular interest is the new research literature that investigates the impact of widening wage inequality on race and gender wage gaps. Section 10 reviews research that relates policy changes to race and gender differentials, including anti-discrimination policy. The chapter concludes with comments about a future research agenda.
Testing for the existence of the ‘January effect’ in transition economies

This paper tests the efficient market hypothesis (in terms of the presence or not of the ‘January effect’) for eight transition economies, namely the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Our analysis utilizes a monthly dataset that spans from 1991 till the early months of 2003 using monthly time series data of the stock markets of each country. The main results support the existence of seasonal effects and particularly of the January effect for most of the countries in our sample. Stronger evidence (in terms of statistical significance) is evident for the cases of Hungary, Poland and Romania; while for Hungary and Romania the results also suggest evidence in favour of the tax-loss selling hypothesis.
*Who Competes with Whom? The Case of Depository Institutions

Little empirical work exists on the substitutability of depository institutions. In particular, the willingness of consumers to substitute banks for thrifts and to switch between multimarket and single-market institutions (i.e., institutions with large vs. small branch networks) has been of strong interest to policymakers. We estimate a structural model of consumer choice of depository institutions using a panel data set that includes most depository institutions and market areas in the United States over the period 1990-2001. Using a flexible framework, we uncover utility parameters that affect a consumer's choice of institution and measure the degree of market segmentation for two institution subgroups. We use our estimates to calculate elasticities and perform policy experiments that measure the substitutability of firms within and across groupings. We find both dimensions --thrifts and banks, and single- and multimarket institutions-- to be important market segments to consumer choice and, ultimately, to competition in both urban and rural markets.
The Market Pricing of Special Items that are Included Versus Excluded From 'Street' Earnings

We re-investigate the market pricing of special items, with particular emphasis on how managers “frame” them via their inclusion or exclusion from “street” earnings. When managers include the special items in “street” earnings (i.e., “street” = GAAP), the market overprices them, believing the special items to be more persistent than they actually are. As a result, there is a negative relationship between the special items and future stock returns in the following year. However, when managers exclude special items from “street” earnings (i.e., “street” ≠ GAAP), the market recognizes their transitory characteristic and the relationship between special items and returns is insignificant in the following year. We also demonstrate that the decision to include (exclude) special items with (from) “street” earnings is associated with whether inclusion or exclusion of special items a) increases earnings numbers, b) smoothes the earnings series, or c) helps managers to meet earnings benchmarks.
Learning entrepreneurship in higher education

Purpose – There is a constant need to produce more entrepreneurial graduates from higher education institutions. This paper aims to present and discuss several successful cases of entrepreneurial learning environments in order to suggest some important aspects that higher education institutions should consider.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a literature review and four previously published case studies. These are used for suggesting a hypothesis for further study.Findings – The pedagogical challenge is that entrepreneurial competencies are more holistic and psychologically oriented than traditional subject‐matter skills. Entrepreneurial skills are learned via pragmatic real life development projects. The paper presents several successful cases of entrepreneurial education programmes in higher education institutions. It proposes an entrepreneurial learning cycle that supports the development of entrepreneurial competencies.Research limitations/implications – The evidence presented is case.