Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Trade liberalization, production organization and informal sector of the developing countries

The paper provides an explanation of recent empirical evidence on fragmentation and the expansion of the informal sector in India. We argue that as the prospect of getting a better price in the international market increases, the producers in the formal sector act more like merchants and subcontract production activities to the producers in the informal sectors. Expanding production in the informal sector allows the firm to take advantage of a growing export market. Our theoretical model explains such organizational change in terms of allocation of monitoring effort between marketing and production. The existence of a low-wage informal sector facilitates division of labor and specialization in the formal segment.
Impact of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine on otitis media

Context. The heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) is recommended for infants to protect against invasive disease, but its impact on otitis might also have public health importance. Objective. To examine the impact of PCV on the incidence of otitis media, frequent otitis media and tympanostomy tube procedures and to assess whether the effectiveness of the vaccine wanes after age 24 months and varies by race, sex or season. Design, setting and patients. From 1995 to 1998, 37 868 children at Kaiser Permanente in Northern California were randomized to receive PCV or a control vaccine in a double blind trial and were followed through April 1999. Interventions. Children received a primary series at 2, 4 and 6 months of age and a booster at 12 to 15 months. Main outcome measures. Visits for otitis, frequent visits for otitis and tympanostomy tube procedures. Otitis was ascertained from diagnosis checklists routinely marked by physicians. Results. Control children averaged 1.8 otitis visits per year. Children given PCV had fewer otitis visits than control children in every age group, sex, race and season examined. Intention-to-treat analysis permitted rejection of the null hypothesis that PCV is ineffective against otitis media (P < 0.0001). In children who completed the primary series per protocol, PCV reduced otitis visits by 7.8% [95% confidence interval (CI), 5.4 to 10.2%] and antibiotic prescriptions by 5.7% (CI 4.2 to 7.2%). Frequent otitis was reduced by amounts that increased with otitis frequency, from a 10% reduction in the risk of 3 visits to a 26% reduction in the risk of 10 visits within a 6-month period. Tube placements were reduced by 24% (CI 12 to 35%). Conclusion. In children followed up to 3.5 years, PCV provided a moderate amount of protection against ear infections while reducing frequent otitis media and tube procedures by greater amounts.
What is Governance?

This paper points to the poor state of empirical measures of the quality of states, that is, executive branches and their bureaucracies. Much of the problem is conceptual, since there is very little agreement on what constitutes high-quality government. The paper suggests four approaches: (1) procedural measures, such as the Weberian criteria of bureaucratic modernity; (2) capacity measures, which include both resources and degree of professionalization; (3) output measures; and (4) measures of bureaucratic autonomy. The paper rejects output measures, and suggests a two-dimensional framework of using capacity and autonomy as a measure of executive branch quality. This framework explains the conundrum of why low-income countries are advised to reduce bureaucratic autonomy while high-income ones seek to increase it.
Sincronización de ciclos económicos en el Mercosur: 1960-2008

Este trabajo estudia la relacion existente en el ciclo economico de 10 paises de Sur America participantes del MERCOSUR en el periodo 1960-2008, con el proposito de verificar la existencia de un ciclo comun entre los mismos. Se utiliza el flitro de Hodrick y Prescott (1997) como metodologia para obtener el componente ciclico, y se comparan las correlaciones cruzadas con la metodologia propuesta por Dolado et al. (1993) para identificar las diferentes relaciones entre el ciclo de los paises. Se encontro que existen relaciones importantes entre algunas parejas de paises, pero no existe evidencia que sugiera la existencia de un ciclo comun en la region.
Gastrostomy feeding in cerebral palsy: a systematic review

Aims: To determine benefits and risks for gastrostomy or jejunostomy feeding compared with oral feeding for children with cerebral palsy. Methods: Systematic review. Search strategy: electronic databases—Cochrane Library, Medline, Embase, Cinahl, Lilacs, databases of theses, grey literature. Included: relevant systematic reviews, randomised controlled trials, observational studies, case reports. Excluded: non-systematic reviews and qualitative research. Participants: children with cerebral palsy. Intervention: use of gastrostomy or jejunostomy tube to provide nutrition. Outcome: evaluated outcome measures included death, growth, gastro-oesophageal reflux, other complications, psychosocial aspects, and caregiver wellbeing. Results: No relevant systematic reviews or randomised controlled trials were found. Two cohort studies, 15 case series, and eight case reports met the inclusion criteria. Eight studies specifically described percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy as the intervention. Weight gain resulted from gastrostomy feeding in most cases. There was an approximately fourfold increased risk of death reported in one cohort study for the gastrostomy fed children. Many complications were reported, including potential for increased gastro-oesophageal reflux and fluid aspiration into the lungs. Conclusions: Benefits associated with gastrostomy or jejunostomy feeding are difficult to assess from the available evidence. Risks of gastrostomy, particularly in relation to surgical complications, have been described but the size of the risk could not be quantified. The finding of a higher death rate for children fed by gastrostomy may merely reflect the greater disability of these compared with orally fed children. Lack of available evidence and the substantial risk of bias in observational studies suggests that a well conducted randomised controlled trial of sufficient size will be needed to answer these problems.
A survey of recycling behaviour in households in Dhaka, Bangladesh

This paper examines the factors that might influence recycling behaviour of the households in Dhaka city, Bangladesh. Information on recycling activity, socio-economic characteristics, and attitudes of the households towards recycling were obtained from interviews with 456 households in Dhaka. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the dominant factors that might influence the recycling behaviour of the households. The results showed that environmental consciousness, the availability of storage space, and age (25—35 years) are significant positive predictors of recycling behaviour (at the 1% level). Another variable Income 2 (TK3,000—15,000) is also positively correlated with recycling (at the 5% level). Establishment of a recycling programme could be an effective strategy in implementing sustainable waste management in Bangladesh. For this strategy to succeed, however, active partnership between households and the waste management service department is required. The households’ attitudes toward recycling should, therefore, be taken into consideration as should the results of this study, which are important indicators of households’ positive attitudes toward sustainable waste management in Dhaka.
A Cumulative Effect of Physical Training on Bone Strength in Males

Weight-bearing, high-impact exercise, as opposed to nonimpact exercise, has been demonstrated to increase bone mineral density. This was traditionally demonstrated with dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. Our objective was to assess the differences in bone properties, using quantitative ultrasound (QUS, Sunlight Omnisense, Sunlight Medical, Ltd., Tel Aviv, Israel), in male athletes involved in a weight-bearing, impact sport (soccer, SC) or a nonimpact sport (swimming and water polo, AQ), compared with nonathletic control (C) males. A total of 266 boys and men, aged 8 - 23 years, were divided into children (11.1 +/- 1.0 years; 34 SC, 34 AQ, 25 C), adolescents (14.7 +/- 1.2 years; 32 SC, 31 AQ, 31 C), and young adults (19.8 +/- 1.1 years; 31 SC, 24 AQ, 24 C) . Training experience varied between 1.5 years in the children to 15 years in the adults. Bone speed of sound (SOS) was measured bilaterally at the distal radius and the mid-tibia. Body fat was significantly lower in athletes compared with C. AQ were generally heavier and had a higher fat-free mass compared with SC and C, with no significant differences in height between groups. Radial SOS increased with age, but no differences were observed between activity groups or between the dominant (D) and nondominant (ND) arm. Tibial SOS also increased with age. In the children and adolescents, no differences were observed between activity groups. However, among adults, both SC and AQ had higher tibial SOS compared with C. These differences were mainly explained by differences in fat-free mass. Among young adults but not among children and adolescent males, both soccer and aquatic sports appear to be associated with higher bone SOS in the lower, but not the upper, extremities. Further studies are needed to assess possible sport-specific mechanisms which affect bone properties and to determine the minimal cumulative effect which is needed to influence bone properties.
Fixed-term contracts

Fixed-term contracts have become a major form of employment in Europe. Available evidence about whether temporary jobs are a stepping stone to a permanent employment or are a dead end is mixed. The usefulness of these jobs depends on the institutional and economic environment. Fixed-term contracts can be a pathway from unemployment to employment, but their potential as a stepping stone to permanent employment is undercut if there is a strong degree of segmentation in labor markets. If that is the case, the labor flexibility motive of employers ends up dominating the screening function in offering a fixed-term contract.
MACROECONOMICS AND REALITY

Existing strategies for econometric analysis related to macroeconomics are subject to a number of serious objections, some recently formulated, some old. These objections are summarized in this paper, and it is argued that taken together they make it unlikely that macroeconomic models are in fact over identified, as the existing statistical theory usually assumes. The implications of this conclusion are explored, and an example of econometric work in a non-standard style, taking account of the objections to the standard style, is presented. THE STUDY OF THE BUSINESS cycle, fluctuations in aggregate measures of economic activity and prices over periods from one to ten years or so, constitutes or motivates a large part of what we call macroeconomics. Most economists would agree that there are many macroeconomic variables whose cyclical fluctuations are of interest, and would agree further that fluctuations in these series are interrelated. It would seem to follow almost tautologically that statistical models involving large numbers of macroeconomic variables ought to be the arena within which macroeconomic theories confront reality and thereby each other. Instead, though large-scale statistical macroeconomic models exist and are by some criteria successful, a deep vein of skepticism about the value of these models runs through that part of the economics profession not actively engaged in constructing or using them. It is still rare for empirical research in macroeconomics to be planned and executed within the framework of one of the large models. In this lecture I intend to discuss some aspects of this situation, attempting both to offer some explanations and to suggest some means for improvement. I will argue that the style in which their builders construct claims for a connection between these models and reality-the style in which "identification" is achieved for these models-is inappropriate, to the point at which claims for identification in these models cannot be taken seriously. This is a venerable assertion; and there are some good old reasons for believing it;2 but there are also some reasons which have been more recently put forth. After developing the conclusion that the identification claimed for existing large-scale models is incredible, I will discuss what ought to be done in consequence. The line of argument is: large-scale models do perform useful forecasting and policy-analysis functions despite their incredible identification; the restrictions imposed in the usual style of identification are neither essential to constructing a model which can perform these functions nor innocuous; an alternative style of identification is available and practical. Finally we will look at some empirical work based on an alternative style of macroeconometrics. A six-variable dynamic system is estimated without using 1 Research for this paper was supported by NSF Grant Soc-76-02482. Lars Hansen executed the computations. The paper has benefited from comments by many people, especially Thomas J. Sargent
Cointegration: An Introduction to the Literature

An overview of the cointegration approach to econometric specification and estimation is provided. A non-technical approach is adopted, and is intended to serve as an entry into this important new literature for the reader with no background knowledge of the subject but with some limited knowledge of econometrics. Particular emphases are given to the rationale for using cointegration techniques in the estimation of economic relationships, to providing intuitive explanations of the concepts and techniques, and to demonstrating their applications in practice. Reference is made throughout to other articles which explain particular methods or recent developments more formally and fully than is possible here. Finally, a simple application of cointegration techniques to the estimation of the consumption function is provided.
The Impact of Networking on Bank Financing: The Case of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Vietnam

It is argued that networking is crucial for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly in emerging economies as they seek to access resources for development. One key resource in emerging economies is bank financing. In this paper, we develop a model that examines the net effect of different network ties on bank financing to private SMEs. The results support our hypothesis that different network ties influence SMEs' use of bank loans in different ways. Specifically, networking with customers and government officials promotes the use of bank loans, while networking with suppliers and social ties reduces the need for bank loans. This study provides a number of research and managerial implications, which are discussed at the end of the paper.
University of Birmingham Sedentary behaviour in rheumatoid arthritis: definition, measurement and implications for health

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterised by high grade-inflammation, and associated with elevated cardiovascular risk, rheumatoid-cachexia and functional impairment. Sedentary behaviour is linked to heightened inflammation, and is highly pervasive in RA -likely as a result of compromised physical function and persistent fatigue. This high sedentarity may exacerbate the inflammatory process in RA, and hold relevance for disease-related outcomes. The aim of this narrative review is to provide an overview of the definition, measurement and health relevance of sedentary behaviour in the context of RA. Contradictions are highlighted with regards to the manner in which sedentary behaviour is operationalized, and the significance of sedentary behaviour physiology for disease-outcomes in RA is outlined. The advantages and disadvantages of sedentary behaviour measurement approaches are also discussed. Against this background, we summarise studies that have reported sedentary behaviour and its health correlates in RA, and propose directions for future research.
Partnering as a Focused Market Strategy

Partnership-building efforts, even when sought by a customer firm, may not be in the best interests of a supplier firm. This article presents a comprehensive, strategic approach that offers managers guidance on decisions about which market segments and individual customer firms to target for close, collaborative relationships. Firms can gain competitive advantage by augmenting a supplier's product offering for transactional customers.
Does Ownership Structure Affecting IPO Underpricing: A Case of Indian Stock Market?

INTRODUCTION: The initial public offering (IPO) is an important life cycle of a firm and has significant effects on the firm’s ownership structure. Ownership structure plays a dominant role in shareholding pattern in initial public offerings. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: This paper investigates the association between ownership structure and level of underpricing at Indian stock market. We make use of a large sample of 319 firms for listed on Bombay stock exchange during 2000-2011. It is argued that higher underpricing induces investor’s participation. Shareholding patterns divided into four categories i.e. Indian promoters, foreign promoters, institutional non-promoters and non institutional non-promoters. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: Using a sample of Indian IPOs of 319, we provide evidence of statistically significant relationship between ownership structures i.e. Indian promoters, foreign promoters, institutional non-promoters and non institutional non-promoters and level of underpricing. FINDINGS: Overall, our analysis suggests that only Indian promoter’s and non institutional non-promoters has significant affected the level of underpricing. There is negative relationship between Indian promoters holding and level of underpricing. There is positive relationship between non institutional non-promoters and level of underpricing. There is no significant relationship between foreign promoter and institutional non-promoters holding and level of underpricing.
Recommendations for Blood Pressure Measurement in Humans: An AHA Scientific Statement from the Council on High Blood Pressure Research Professional and Public Education Subcommittee

VOL. 7 NO. 2 FEBRUARY 2005 102 Ten years have passed since the last version of the American Heart Association (AHA) blood pressure (BP) measurement recommendations,1 during which time there have been major changes in the ways in which BP is measured in clinical practice and research; hence this document represents a major revision of previous versions.2 BP determination continues to be one of the most important measurements in clinical medicine, and still one of the most inaccurately performed. The gold standard for clinical BP measurement has always been readings taken by a trained health care provider using a mercury sphygmomanometer and the Korotkoff sound technique. There is increasing evidence, however, that this procedure may lead to the misclassification of large numbers of individuals as hypertensive, and fail to diagnose other individuals whose BP may be normal in the clinic setting but elevated at other times. There are three reasons for this: 1) inaccuracies in the methods, some of which are avoidable; 2) the inherent variability of BP; and 3) the tendency for BP to increase in the presence of a physician (the so-called “white coat effect”). Numerous surveys have shown that physicians and other health care providers rarely follow established guidelines for BP measurement, but when they do, the readings they get correlate more closely with more objective measures of BP than the usual clinic readings. It is generally agreed that conventional clinic readings, when made correctly, are a surrogate marker for a patient’s true BP, which is conceived as the average level over prolonged periods of time, and which is thought to be the most important component of BP in determining its adverse effects. Usual clinic readings give a poor estimate of this, not only because of poor technique, but also because they typically consist only of one or two individual measurements, and the beat-to-beat BP variability is such that a small number of readings may only give a crude estimate of the average level. The recognition of these limitations of traditional clinic readings has led to two parallel developments: first, increasing use of measurements out of the clinic, Recommendations for Blood Pressure Measurement in Humans: An AHA Scientific Statement from the Council on High Blood Pressure Research Professional and Public Education Subcommittee
Automatic Classification of Requirements Based on Convolutional Neural Networks

The results of the requirements engineering process are predominantly documented in natural language requirements specifications. Besides the actual requirements, these documents contain additional content such as explanations, summaries, and figures. For the later use of requirements specifications, it is important to be able to differentiate between legally relevant requirements and other auxiliary content. Therefore, one of our industry partners demands the requirements engineers to manually label each content element of a requirements specification as "requirement" or "information". However, this manual labeling task is time-consuming and error-prone. In this paper, we present an approach to automatically classify content elements of a natural language requirements specification as "requirement" or "information". Our approach uses convolutional neural networks. In an initial evaluation on a real-world automotive requirements specification, our approach was able to detect requirements with a precision of 0.73 and a recall of 0.89. The approach increases the quality of requirements specifications in the sense that it discriminates important content for following activities (e.g., which parts of the specification do I need to test? ).
Interdependency management of projects: survey comparison between Estonia and Finland

Purpose – Typically, organizations tumble with project management, and failure rates are high. Usually, one key factor in establishing a manageable and successful project portfolio is to take into account interdependencies between different projects (resources, technology and market). With an increasing amount of international cross‐border project activity, it is vital to know how different countries manage interdependencies, and how management practices differ between countries.Design/methodology/approach – This research bases its empirical findings on a large‐scale questionnaire completed during 2007‐2008 in Estonia and Finland. Altogether, 288 responses were gained, and roughly two‐thirds of the answers originated from Finland and one‐thirds from Estonia. Respondents were industrial and service companies.Findings – The results of the survey indicate similarities and some significant differences between Estonian and Finnish responses. Some country size and context‐dependent hypotheses were not supported.
College Students’ Perceptions of Tourism Careers in China: Implications for the Industry and Education Providers

Career perception literature is dominated by discussions on students’ general perceptions of the tourism and hospitality industry; little, however, seems to have been addressed in terms of how tourism and hospitality undergraduate students’ career perceptions differ and what dimensions are reliable in measuring and determining students’ overall career perceptions. This study is designed to address these issues. Four underlying dimensions are identified; of which, “Intrinsic” was found to be the most powerful predictor of students’ overall career perceptions. This study verifies that students’ perceptions vary according to their differing characteristics. Implications to both the industry and education providers are discussed.