Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Residential Preferences for Interregional Migration in Sweden: Demographic, Socioeconomic, and Geographical Determinants

Policy makers are showing increasing interest in factors that make places attractive for prospective new residents. This paper focuses on residential preferences for interregional migration and aims to explore what place attributes people would value highly if they considered migrating. Special attention is given to differences in preferences between population subgroups in terms of demographic, socioeconomic, and geographical determinants. An ambitious prestudy with 390 respondents was carried out to ascertain relevant place attributes for the main study. The main study was carried out via a survey sent to a national sample of 5000 Swedes, of whom approximately 53% took part. The results give valuable information on how demographic, socioeconomic, and geographical aspects determine residential preferences in Sweden, and make some contributions to methodological issues on researching preferences in a migration context.
Lead In‐Use Stock

The 20th century was a time of rapidly escalating use of lead (Pb). As a consequence, the standing stock of lead is now substantial. By linking lead extraction and use to estimates of product lifetimes and recycling, we have derived an estimate of the standing stock of lead throughout the century by top‐down techniques. We find that the stock of in‐use lead is almost entirely made up of batteries (68%), lead sheet (10%), and lead pipe (10%). Globally, about 200 teragrams (Tg) Pb was mined in the 20th century, and about 25 Tg Pb now makes up the in‐use stock, so some 87% has been lost over time. Nonetheless, about 11% of all lead entering use was added to in‐use stock in 2000, so the stock continues to increase each year. Currently, most of the stock is in Europe (32%), North America (32%), and Asia (24%). On a per capita basis, the global stock is about 5.6 kilograms (kg) Pb, and regional in‐use stock ranges from 2.0 kg Pb (Africa) to 19.7 kg Pb (Europe). From a sustainability perspective, we estimate that the global lead resource is around 415 Tg Pb. Were the entire world to receive the services of lead at the level of the developed countries, some 130 Tg Pb would be needed, so there do not appear to be significant long‐term limitations to the lead supply.
Casual Employment, Labour Regulation and Australian Trade Unions

This article explores the implications for trade unions of the rapid expansion in Australia of casual employment—a distinctive form of non-standard employment characterized by a lack of entitlement to most employment benefits and forms of employment protection. The article summarizes the main features of casual em ployment and the evidertce for its growth since 1982. It highlights the role of award regulation in shaping casual employment. Casual employment is identified as unprotected employment, which survived within the award system and indeed flourished in the gaps created by officially sanctioned exemptions from protection and limits in the enforcement and reach of award regulation. Labour market deregulation in the 1990s has in turn widened these gaps and facilitated both an expansion of casual employment and an extension of some casual conditions of employment into sections of the permanent workforce. These developments offer a major challenge to Australian trade unions. They underline the failure of tradi tional trade union policies, oriented to a simple rejection of all forms of non- standard employment. They pose a threat both to the set of employment rights and benefits slowly built up by trade union action in the course of past decades and to the legitimacy of trade unions as representative institutions. Australian trade unions are still struggling to come to grips with this threat. Traditional policies remain dominant, but recent trade union policy and practical efforts point towards a new approach that builds on a less hostile and more discriminating attitude to non-standard employment. In relation to the crucial issue of labour regulation the new approach pivots on the important theme of decasualization. The direction of change is promising. But the article argues that the new approach remains weak and underdeveloped as a result of its narrow orientation to the redesign of agreements within the shrinking sphere of effective regulation, its focus on casual status rather than casual conditions of employment and its inability to find effective levers for implementation
Estimation of Dynamic Sparse Connectivity Patterns From Resting State fMRI

Functional connectivity (FC) estimated from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) time series, especially during resting state periods, provides a powerful tool to assess human brain functional architecture in health, disease, and developmental states. Recently, the focus of connectivity analysis has shifted toward the subnetworks of the brain, which reveals co-activating patterns over time. Most prior works produced a dense set of high-dimensional vectors, which are hard to interpret. In addition, their estimations to a large extent were based on an implicit assumption of spatial and temporal stationarity throughout the fMRI scanning session. In this paper, we propose an approach called dynamic sparse connectivity patterns (dSCPs), which takes advantage of both matrix factorization and time-varying fMRI time series to improve the estimation power of FC. The feasibility of analyzing dynamic FC with our model is first validated through simulated experiments. Then, we use our framework to measure the difference between young adults and children with real fMRI data set from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort (PNC). The results from the PNC data set showed significant FC differences between young adults and children in four different states. For instance, young adults had reduced connectivity between the default mode network and other subnetworks, as well as hyperconnectivity within the visual system in states 1 and 3, and hypoconnectivity in state 2. Meanwhile, they exhibited temporal correlation patterns that changed over time within functional subnetworks. In addition, the dSCPs model indicated that older people tend to spend more time within a relatively connected FC pattern. Overall, the proposed method provides a valid means to assess dynamic FC, which could facilitate the study of brain networks.
New Keynesian Microfoundations Revisited: A Calvo-Taylor-Rule-of-Thumb Model and Optimal Monetary Policy Delegation

We analyze the microfoundations of the Phillips curve and the close links between that relationship and results concerning optimal monetary policy, stabilisation bias and monetary policy delegation. Most recent literature has used a New Keynesian Phillips Curve based on Calvo pricing, often with an additional lagged inflation term motivated by rule-of-thumb behaviour. We develop a framework which encompasses this workhorse model while allowing for a richer time dependent pricing rule. This permits a more general analysis while showing that the standard model and policy conclusions derived from it are not robust to relatively minor changes in its microfoundations.
The Economics of Cloud Computing

The paper examines the economic impact of the diffusion of a new technology as cloud computing. This will allow firms to rent computing power and storage from service providers and to pay on demand, with a profound impact on the cost structure of all the industries, turning some of the fixed costs into marginal costs of production. Such a change will have a substantial impact on the incentives to create new business, and through this, on investments and macroeconomic growth, job creation in all industries and job reallocation in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector, and public finance accounts, through the direct impact on the public sector spending and the indirect one on the tax revenues. The paper investigates the consequences of the diffusion of cloud computing on market structures and competition, and tries to disentangle the above-mentioned aspects with a particular focus on a simulation run for the European economy.
The coming of East and South-East Asian welfare states

It has long been assumed among Western commentators that rapid economic growth in East and South-east Asia has been achieved without the development of social policies. It has often been inferred that growth without social welfare is not only possible, but beneficial to further strong economic growth. The article questions these perceptions and beliefs. First, to what extent did East and South-east Asian countries delay the introduction of social insurance schemes compared to European pioneering countries, in the sense of introducing them only at a much higher level of 'modernization'? Second, to what extent was the economic miracle achieved by some of these countries based on (or accompanied by) attempts to forestall or retrench welfare state schemes? Third, to what extent has the recent financial crisis led to attempts at lowering or changing standards of social protection? The study shows that the Asian countries generally introduced social security programmes at a lower level of 'modernization' than Western European countries; that rapid and strong economic growth in the decade 1985–95 has in general been accompanied by welfare expansion; and that even after the financial crisis of 1997, expansion of state welfare responsibility is more evident than efforts to reduce or dismantle state welfare responsibility]
Global Cities on the Web: An Empirical Typology of Municipal Websites

Municipalities across the world are rapidly adopting e-government to improve public service delivery and provide one-stop government access to citizens. Using data from a sample of world cities, we describe the features of municipal websites and employ cluster analysis to create an empirical typology. Our results suggest that world cities can be classified into four types: 1) digitally mature cities, 2) digitally moderate cities, 3) digitally minimal cities, and 4) digitally marginal cities. This classification of cities largely reflects the social, political and economic context of countries and the resulting clusters exhibit closely similar shapes and differ considerably in level, indicating the trend of staged adoption of e-government among world cities. Moreover, the cities in the digitally mature and moderate clusters are associated with a higher GDP per capita, and percentage of Internet users, however they are not necessarily in the most democratic nations. Based on our overall findings, we suggest some hypotheses that derive from our typology and lines of future investigation for e-governance researchers.
Large Metropolises in the Third World: An Explanation

In this paper, we have developed a model that sets out to explain the existence of megacities in developing countries, in the context of a Krugman-type core-periphery model. The paper also suggests that agglomeration can be fostered by manufacturers mainly serving the domestic market. However, the analysis goes further by emphasising that megacities are not only the result of protective trade policies, but also the consequence of the relative position of a country, in terms of industrialisation, with respect to the rest of the world.
Economic development and market potential: European regional income differentials, 1870-1913

This dissertation examines the extent to which proximity to markets - as measured by market potential, the trade cost-weighted sum of surrounding regions’ GDP - can explain late-nineteenth century Europe’s regional per capita income differentials. The research questions are: (1) was the spatial distribution of regional income random; (2) how helpful are traditional explanations - coal and institutions - of regional income; (3) how helpful is market potential when controlling for traditional explanations; and (4) did market potential have an effect on other determinants of income? This dissertation finds that: (1) the distribution of regional per capita income increasingly concentrated in the northwest; that there was little tendency to income convergence; and regional inequalities were higher within than between countries; (2) while a measure of regional institutions is correlated with income, simple distance-to-coal and a cost-to-coal measures are not; (3) market potential has a significant effect on income; foreign market potential more so than domestic; and increasing core relative to peripheral market potential results in perpherial income losses; and (4) changes in literacy rates, a proxy for human capital, responded to changes in market potential. In conclusion, a new economic geography framework with market potential at its core fits the historical experience well. Certain regions performed better than others generally because they had cheaper access to markets. At the start of the period, trade costs were high, and so economic activity - long concentrated in Britain - was spread out more or less evenly across the Continent. By the end of the period, when trade costs dropped dramatically, economic activity concentrated in the northwest of Europe at the cost of the periphery.
The influence of suckling interval on milk production of sows.

The objective of this study was to determine whether sow milk yield per gland could be increased by reducing the interval between suckles (suckling interval). Eighteen sows were allocated at their first farrowing to three treatments comprising litter sizes of 6 or 12 piglets or a cross-suckling treatment that was imposed to increase suckling frequency. The cross-suckled treatment comprised two groups of six piglets each. Each suckling group was allowed to suckle the sow during 30-min intervals each day between d 6 and d 28 of lactation. The suckling interval was shorter (P < .05) for cross-suckled sows than for sows suckling single litters of 6 or 12 piglets during early lactation (d 10 to 14) and late lactation (d 24 to 28). Average piglet growth rate between birth and 28 d of age was greatest (P < .05) for piglets in the single litters of six and lowest for piglets in the cross-suckled treatments. Single litters of 12 piglets had the highest (P < .05) litter growth rates, followed by the cross-suckled litters and then the single litters of six piglets. The concentration of lactose and fat in milk from sows remained relatively stable, although milk from the cross-suckled sows contained more protein in early lactation (P < .05). Milk yield of sows was not significantly increased (P > .05) by the cross-suckle treatment, although during early lactation, milk yield tended to be greater from sows in the cross-suckle treatment than from sows suckling single litters of six (8,920 g/d vs 7,819 g/d, P < .1). The concentration of DNA and total RNA and the RNA:DNA ratio in mammary glands was unaffected by treatment (P > .05). Sows with single litters of 12 piglets had the greatest total DNA in their udders (P < .05). However, individual gland weights were heavier (P < .05) in cross-suckled sows than in sows with single litters of 6 or 12 piglets. Increased suckling frequency seemed to play a role in increased mammary gland weight and milk production during lactation.
Intrahepatic insulin exposure, intrahepatocellular lipid and regional body fat in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

CONTEXT Insulin is pivotal in regulating hepatic lipid synthesis, metabolism, and export. OBJECTIVE We tested the hypothesis that intrahepatic insulin exposure is an important determinant of intrahepatocellular lipid (IHCL), taking into account regional adiposity and both glucoregulatory and antilipolytic insulin sensitivity. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We compared 21 European males with known nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) with 19 healthy male controls. Insulin sensitivity, secretion, and percentage hepatic extraction were derived from iv glucose tolerance test (IVGTT) glucose, insulin, and C-peptide concentrations. Intrahepatic insulin exposure was calculated as percentage hepatic insulin extraction multiplied by basal or IVGTT insulin secretion. IHCL was quantified by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Total and regional adipose tissue was measured using whole body magnetic resonance imaging. RESULTS Percentage hepatic extraction of newly secreted insulin differed between cases with NAFLD and controls at borderline significance (median, 76 vs. 83%; P = 0.07). Cases had higher intrahepatic insulin exposure than controls, both in the basal (34 vs. 18 pmol; P = 0.0002) and glucose-stimulated states (58 vs. 24 pmol; P = 0.01). IHCL was significantly related to both basal (r(s) = 0.62; P < 0.0001) and IVGTT intrahepatic insulin exposure (r(s) = 0.47; P = 0.002). As predictors of IHCL, both basal and IVGTT intrahepatic insulin exposure were dependent on the waist-to-hip ratio and homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance, but not on magnetic resonance imaging fat measures or IVGTT insulin sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS Men with NAFLD have higher intrahepatic insulin exposure than controls. This correlates with IHCL, but the principal determinants of IHCL were fat distribution and hepatic rather than peripheral insulin resistance.
Liver transplantation in the management of porphyria

Porphyrias are a group of eight metabolic disorders, each resulting from a mutation that affects an enzyme of the heme biosynthetic pathway. Porphyrias are classified as hepatic or erythropoietic, depending upon the site where the gene defect is predominantly expressed. Clinical phenotypes are classified as follows: (1) acute porphyrias with neurovisceral symptoms: acute intermittent porphyria; delta amino‐levulinic acid hydratase deficiency porphyria; hereditary coproporphyria; and variegate porphyria and (2) cutaneous porphyrias with skin blistering and photosensitivity: porphyria cutanea tarda; congenital erythropoietic porphyria; hepatoerythropoietic porphyria and both erythropoietic protoporphyrias: autosomal dominant and X‐linked. Liver transplantation (LT) may be needed for recurrent and/or life‐threatening acute attack in acute intermittent porphyria or acute liver failure or end‐stage chronic liver disease in erythropoietic protoporphyria. LT in acute intermittent porphyria is curative. Erythropoietic protoporphyria patients needing LT should be considered for bone marrow transplantation to achieve cure. Conclusion: This article provides an overview of porphyria with diagnostic approaches and management strategies for specific porphyrias and recommendations for LT with indications, pretransplant evaluation, and posttransplant management. (Hepatology 2014;60:1082–1089)
Self-Employment in Britain: Recent Trends and Current Issues

This paper reviews trends in self-employment up to the 1980s and beyond, and looks at the composition and characteristics of the self-employed workforce. It examines the causes of the current rise in self-employment - in particular employers' strategy of transferring jobs and functions from their `core' workforce of full-time permanent employees to a `peripheral' workforce which includes self-employed labour-only subcontractors as well as part-time workers and people with limited duration contracts of employment. It looks at the recent inflow to self-employment - in particular the importance of involuntary entrants. It examines the ideology of self-employment, and whether it differs substantively from the work orientations of employees. Problems of definition and measurement are summarised. The review concludes with pointers for further research - both qualitative and quantitative.
Analysis of Power in Fisheries Co-Management: Experiences from Malawi

In this article we analyze co-management arrangements in Malawi through the lenses of the concept of power. We focus the analysis at the local level where most of the more important actors operate. These include the fishing communities and the Department of Fisheries, but also the traditional leaders and the new local management entities created through co-management reforms—the so-called beach village committees. Our analysis, based on decentralization and power frameworks, shows that co-management arrangements are characterized by unequal power distribution among these different actors, often resulting in the marginalization of the fishers themselves. In this new institutional landscape the role of the perceived key partners including the traditional leaders and the Department of Fisheries remains unclear, with a combination of both positive and negative outcomes.
Governança corporativa, eficiência, produtividade e desempenho

There are a large number of research which main purpose is the search for a empirical relationship between corporative governance and the performance. Studies which seeks to demonstrate this relationship characterized by the use of financial indicators and indicators of stock analysis, combined with the use of econometric methods. However, there are suggestions so that be established alternative measures of performance, such as use of non-parametric analysis. Measuring the performance using other analysis techniques to assess the relationship between corporate governance and performance represents a relevant contribution to this study field. By using the nonparametric technique of Data Envelopment Analysis, the main objective of this paper is to verify whether there are significant differences between technical efficiency and productivity of companies in the segments of corporate governance with the technical efficiency and productivity of companies in other segments of Bovespa. The technical efficiency scores showed no significant differences between groups of companies with and without governance. However, in the years of 2008 and 2009 companies with shares traded on other segments of Bovespa showed a higher level of technical efficiency. Similar results were observed with the Malmquist productivity index. In order to establish parameters in the comparison of the performance achieved by the efficiency scores were analyzed the traditional metrics for measuring the value, Tobin's Q and Firm Value. It was observed in the three years analyzed that the market value of companies in the segments of corporate governance is lower than the companies of other segments of stock trading. This research advances over previous contributions have focused on determining the performance, too, by measuring technical efficiency and productivity growth. The results allow a new angle of analysis in the evaluation of companies in a specific way for the adoption of good corporate governance practices.
AN OVERVIEW OF FISCAL CONSOLIDATION PROCESS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

This paper aims to explore, based on theoretical and empirical research in the field and on data available on Eurostat and European Commission, in the context of financial significant imbalances and thus of the financial stress in the EU countries and especially in the Euro area, the main developments in the fiscal consolidation process given the fiscal effort of each country towards fiscal union. Since the financial crisis started in 2008, many EU Member States demonstrates an obvious macroeconomic imbalance which requires increased responsibility regarding fiscal developments. The impact of the crisis and the causes of sovereign debt high levels trends varied between EU countries as well as the budget deficit levels. Thus, the main priority for EU members must be the continuation of differentiated fiscal consolidation, given the specificities of each economy, favoring growth. The medium-term fiscal policy needs to focus on consolidating public finances along with restoring long-term sustainability.