Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Molecules involved in T–B co-stimulation and B cell homeostasis: possible targets for an immunological intervention in autoimmunity

The deepened knowledge of co-stimulatory mechanisms within the immunological synapse and the emerging biological principles governing B cell homeostasis provide a plethora of new possibilities to selectively block or enhance immune responses. These mechanisms are highly relevant to the development of new treatment modalities for autoimmune diseases. Here we review approaches to antagonise members of the CD28-B7 superfamily as well as the TNF receptor ligand superfamily members, BAFF and APRIL, and their corresponding receptors on B cells (BAFF-R, TACI and BCMA). The proof of principle that such manipulations have indeed profound consequences for the human immune response comes from genetically manipulated mouse models, and, more importantly, from human immunodeficiency syndromes. Thus, the recent discovery of deletions in the ICOS, BAFF-R and TACI genes leading to disturbances in late B cell differentiation and hypogammaglobulinaemia underline the potential impact of targeting these molecules for therapeutic strategies in autoimmune disorders.
Inter-City Competition for Foreign Investment: Static and Dynamic Effects of China's Incentive Areas

Abstract China's “Open Door” policy has created a natural experiment for studying agglomeration externalities and the role of incentives designed to attract foreign direct investment. We build a model which predicts that foreign firms will prefer cities where other foreign firms are located. We estimate the model using data on 931 foreign ventures. We then use simulations to explore the effect policies favoring particular cities had on the distribution of investment. We find that “attractive” cities—those with good infrastructure and an established industrial base—gained most and that agglomeration effects greatly magnified the direct impact of policy.
Price Reaction to Information with Heterogeneous Beliefs and Wealth Effects: Underreaction, Momentum, and Reversal†

This paper analyzes how asset prices in a binary market react to information when traders have heterogeneous prior beliefs. We show that the competitive equilibrium price underreacts to information when there is a bound to the amount of money traders are allowed to invest. Underreaction is more pronounced when prior beliefs are more heterogeneous. Even in the absence of exogenous bounds on the amount that traders can invest, prices underreact to information provided that traders become less risk averse as their wealth increases. In a dynamic setting, underreaction results in initial momentum and then reversal in the long run. (JEL D83, D84, G11, G12, G14)
Impact of interest rates on Islamic and conventional banks: the case of Turkey

Identifying the impact of the interest rates upon Islamic banks is a key to understand the contribution of such institutions to the financial stability, designing monetary policies and devising a proper risk management applicable to these institutions. This article analyses and investigates the impact of interest rate shock upon the deposits and loans held by the conventional and Islamic banks with particular reference to the period between December 2005 and July 2009 based on Vector Error Correction (VEC) methodology. It is theoretically expected that the Islamic banks, relying on interest-free banking, shall not be affected by the interest rates; however, in concurrence with the previous studies, the article finds that the Islamic banks in Turkey are visibly influenced by interest rates.
The Impact of Quality Management Practices on Performance and Competitive Advantage

As decision makers become more involved in implementing Total Quality Management, questions are raised about which management practices should be emphasized. In this exploratory investigation of the relationship of specific quality management practices to quality performance, a framework was constructed. It focuses on both core quality management practices and on the infrastructure that creates an environment supportive of their use. In addition, it incorporates two measures of quality performance and their role in establishing and sustaining a competitive advantage. Path analysis was used to test the proposed model, with multiple regression analysis determining the path coefficients, which were decomposed into their various effects. Weak linkages were eliminated. The trimmed model indicated that perceived quality market outcomes were primarily related to statistical control/feedback and the product design process, while the internal measure of percent that passed final inspection without requiring rework was strongly related to process flow management and to statistical control/feedback, to a lesser extent. Both measures of quality performance were related to competitive advantage. Important infrastructure components included top management support and workforce management. Supplier relationships and work attitudes were also related to some of the core quality practices and quality performance measures. The results were interpreted in light of Hill's concept of order winners and order qualifiers and Garvin's eight dimensions of quality. They indicate that different core quality management practices lead to success in different dimensions of quality, and that those dimensions function differently as order winners and order qualifiers.
Export Market Expansion Strategies of Direct-Selling Small and Medium-Sized Firms: Implications for Export Sales Management Activities

The authors use punctuated equilibrium theory as a framework to help explain potential differences in the export sales management arrangements between firms that adopt an export market expansion strategy of either market concentration or market spreading. On the basis of a thorough review of the extant literature, the authors identify certain export sales managers’ characteristics and behavior, export sales behavioral control, and satisfaction with export sales territory design as potential discriminators between these two groups of direct exporting firms. Consistent with the hypotheses, in general, the authors find that the tenets of punctuated equilibrium theory hold for the sample of small and medium-sized U.K. exporters. In addition, the results indicate that export market expansion strategy has important implications for a firm's export sales management arrangements. The authors discuss the findings and outline implications for business practitioners and further research.
Minority Representation in Healthcare: Increasing the Number of Professionals Through Focused Recruitment

Abstract Healthcare organizations suffer from a disparate distribution of racial and ethnic minority employees in professional positions. Although the percentage of racial and ethnic minorities in the workforce continues to grow, the percentage of racial and ethnic minorities who compose the professional ranks, nursing and managerial positions, lags far behind the percentage of White individuals in similar positions. This gap has implications for organizational performance as research indicates organizations with more diverse workforces enjoy better outcomes. A more diverse workforce also has broader societal consequences directly tied to healthcare such as positively impacting health disparities. The authors posit that recruitment is critical to developing a diverse workforce.
Environmental policies and the trade of energy technologies in Europe

Environmental regulation may represent a relevant mechanism through which technological change is induced. In this way, countries that are subject to more stringent environmental regulations may become net exporters of environmental technologies. This paper provides new evidence on the evolution of trade flows of specific environmental technologies for the energy sector, related to the production of renewable energies and more efficient standards of energy saving. The European Union (EU) has increasingly focused on the role of energy policies as tools for sustaining the development path, but, at the same time, as instruments for reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions. The Kyoto protocol commitments, together with growing concerns about energy security, have brought attention to the analysis of innovation processes in this specific sector. This paper uses a gravity model in order to test the determinants and the transmission channels through which environmental technologies for renewable energies and energy efficiency are exported from the EU members to advanced and developing countries. Our results are consistent with the Porter and van der Linde hypothesis where environmental regulation represents a significant source of comparative advantages.
Predictability and Reasonableness of Discounts and Premiums on Closed-End Funds

This article presents a mathematical model for explaining the premiums and discounts to net asset value for closed-end funds. The model does not require (1) constraining assumptions about the underlying price, liquidity, and volatility paths of securities held in the funds, or (2) differential market knowledge between fund investors and fund managers. Our empirical tests show that the observed discounts and premiums for seasoned U.S. closed-end funds are consistent with the model’s explicit predictions regarding payout policy and the relative performance of underlying fund holdings. Consistent with the implicit predictions of the model, our results show that fund size, sentiment, and liquidity also affect how a closed-end fund trades.
Stock Market and Economic Growth in the U.S. & France: Evidence from Stock Market Sector Indices

Many scientists have analyzed a relation among economic and financial market variables. One of the purposes of these researches, and probably the most important one, is to find a better prediction of future economic changes. Economic theory suggests a strong link between stock market and economic activity. The question is whether the stock market is a predictor of future economic activity measured as growth of country’s gross domestic product. In this paper we analyze which economic sectors, represented by stock market sector indices, could have most impact on GDP. The aim of this paper is to analyze whether some sectors are more important than others while analyzing GDP change. The study uses data for the period 2000 Q2 – 2012 Q1 of the U.S. seasonally adjusted GDP and Dow Jones indices and data for the period 2001 Q1 – 2012 Q1 of France seasonally adjusted GDP and Euronext CAC indices. In order to find a relation between selected stock market sector indices and GDP, we will use cross correlation analysis. Our findings support the theory that stock market is a leading indicator for economic growth. In France stock market appears to be a stronger indicator for economic growth compared to the U.S. The results revealed that seasonally adjusted GDP growth lagged behind changes in stock market indices four quarters in France and three quarter in the U.S. In the U.S. worst predictive capabilities for GDP growth come from utilities, oil and gas sectors. Industrial and financial sectors gave the best cross correlation results with GDP growth. In France telecommunication, utilities sectors have the worst predictive capabilities, and consumer services and health care sectors gave the best cross correlation results on GDP growth, compared with others. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.5755/j01.ee. 25.1. 1985
Indigenous and democratic decision-making: issues from community-based ecotourism in the Boumā National Heritage Park, Fiji

Participatory development literature involving community-based ecotourism management (CBEM) has only recently addressed issues pertaining to indigenous governance and decision-making systems. This paper contributes to sustainable tourism by presenting local decision-making practices and issues arising from the perspective of the members of one village in the Boumā National Heritage Park, Fiji. It shows that introduced democratic decision-making systems may not contribute to political empowerment in CBEM and can cause difficult situations. It is argued that greater attention to local systems of governance is required if tourism practitioners are to fully understand decision-making and participation in CBEM. The paper also offers a culturally appropriate methodology that may produce more meaningful outcomes for sustainable tourism research in indigenous Fijian contexts, and in other contexts worldwide. It argues that levels of empowerment should not just be treated as the outcome but as a part of the process of tourism development. It explores the core Fijian cultural concept of vanua as a way of life, involving interrelated social, ecological and spiritual elements. An emic perspective utilising informal talanoa (discussions) is used and examined, along with the roles of kin groups, village spokesmen and clan systems, and their relationship with western business decision-making practices.
Inflation-Protecting Asset Allocation: A Downside Risk Analysis

This article studies the inflation-protection qualities of cash, bonds, stocks, and direct real estate, and the optimal inflation-protecting asset allocations within a downside risk framework. Using a value-at-risk model to capture predictable price dynamics, the authors find that the inflation-hedging properties of assets substantially change over the investment horizon. Cash is clearly the best hedge against inflation in the short run. However, as the investment horizon increases, bonds, stocks, and real estate become the more attractive options, with real estate exhibiting the best inflation-protection qualities on a medium- and long-term basis. While cash plays the most important role in short-term portfolios, the weights of the inflation-protecting portfolios shift to real estate, stocks, and bonds as the investment horizon increases.
Inflation, Mortgage, and Housing

It is hypothesized that constant payment mortgages (imposed, in part, by regulation) lead to distortions in the housing market in the face of anticipated inflation. The nature of this distortion is specified within a model of the housing market. Evidence is presented supporting the existence of the distortion. Moreover, this evidence is found to be robust to various structural and reduced form specifications of the model. A concluding section uses simulation to estimate the total loss to the housing stock up to 1974 attributable to the distortion. It is also shown that the production mix is affected by the inflation-induced distortion.
The 2011 Elections and Prospects for Change in Turkey

While much remains unsettled in Turkish politics, there was little doubt about who the winner of the 12 June 2011 parliamentary elections would be. The Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP), which had ruled the country since first winning elections in 2002, was widely predicted to be re-elected for a third term. On election day, the AKP won half the vote, allowing it to continue to govern as the majority party. The AKP had, however, promised significant changes to the Turkish political system if it won the elections. It remains to be seen if the AKP can deliver on these promises and what the nature of the changes will be.
A HER2-Targeting Antibody–Drug Conjugate, Trastuzumab Deruxtecan (DS-8201a), Enhances Antitumor Immunity in a Mouse Model

Trastuzumab deruxtecan (DS-8201a), a HER2-targeting antibody–drug conjugate with a topoisomerase I inhibitor exatecan derivative (DX-8951 derivative, DXd), has been reported to exert potent antitumor effects in xenograft mouse models and clinical trials. In this study, the immune system–activating ability of DS-8201a was assessed. DS-8201a significantly suppressed tumor growth in an immunocompetent mouse model with human HER2-expressing CT26.WT (CT26.WT-hHER2) cells. Cured immunocompetent mice rejected not only rechallenged CT26.WT-hHER2 cells, but also CT26.WT-mock cells. Splenocytes from the cured mice responded to both CT26.WT-hHER2 and CT26.WT-mock cells. Further analyses revealed that DXd upregulated CD86 expression on bone marrow–derived dendritic cells (DC) in vitro and that DS-8201a increased tumor-infiltrating DCs and upregulated their CD86 expression in vivo. DS-8201a also increased tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells and enhanced PD-L1 and MHC class I expression on tumor cells. Furthermore, combination therapy with DS-8201a and anti–PD-1 antibody was more effective than either monotherapy. In conclusion, DS-8201a enhanced antitumor immunity, as evidenced by the increased expression of DC markers, augmented expression of MHC class I in tumor cells, and rejection of rechallenged tumor cells by adaptive immune cells, suggesting that DS-8201a enhanced tumor recognition by T cells. Furthermore, DS-8201a treatment benefited from combination with anti–PD-1 antibody, possibly due to increased T-cell activity and upregulated PD-L1 expression induced by DS-8201a. Mol Cancer Ther; 17(7); 1494–503. ©2018 AACR.
Intraday Trading Patterns in the Equity Options Markets

Based on the analysis of data for over two million options transactions on the Chicago Board of Options Exchange, we find significant U-shaped intraday patterns in trading volume, transaction size, proportion of trades at the ask or bid, and other variables in the equity options market. These previously undocumented intraday temporal patterns are largely consistent with exogenous temporal influences on transactions volume in anticipation of and following nontrading periods. These patterns are also largely consistent with strategic trading endogenous to the market and are related to interactions between informed and liquidity or noise traders.
On-Chip Deep Neural Network Storage with Multi-Level eNVM

One of the biggest performance bottlenecks of today’s neural network (NN) accelerators is off-chip memory accesses [11]. In this paper, we propose a method to use multi-level, embedded nonvolatile memory (eNVM) to eliminate all off-chip weight accesses. The use of multi-level memory cells increases the probability of faults. Therefore, we co-design the weights and memories such that their properties complement each other and the faults result in no noticeable NN accuracy loss. In the extreme case, the weights in fully connected layers can be stored using a single transistor. With weight pruning and clustering, we show our technique reduces the memory area by over an order of magnitude compared to an SRAM baseline. In the case of VGG16 (130M weights), we are able to store all the weights in 4.9 mm2, well within the area allocated to SRAM in modern NN accelerators [6].
Mechanics of Pickering Drops Probed by Electric Field–Induced Stress

Fluid drops coated with particles, so-called Pickering drops, play an important role in emulsion and capsule applications. In this context, knowledge of mechanical properties and stability of Pickering drops are essential. Here we prepare Pickering drops via electric field-driven self-assembly. We use direct current (DC) electric fields to induce mechanical stress on these drops, as a possible alternative to the use of, for example, fluid flow fields. Drop deformation is monitored as a function of the applied electric field strength. The deformation of pure silicone oil drops is enhanced when covered by insulating polyethylene (PE) particles, whereas drops covered by conductive clay particles can also change shape from oblate to prolate. We attribute these results to changes in the electric conductivity of the drop interface after adding particles, and have developed a fluid shell description to estimate the conductivity of Pickering particle layers that are assumed to be non-jammed and fluid-like. Retraction experiments in the absence of electric fields are also performed. Particle-covered drops retract slower than particle-free drops, caused by increased viscous dissipation due to the presence of the Pickering particle layer.
Constructing a green revolution: a socio-technical analysis of input-support programmes for smallholder farmers in Western Kenya

This thesis presents a critical reflection on what is meant by a „Green Revolution‟ within the current, narrow „productivity-technology fix‟ paradigm. It shows the current focus on productivity is creating a limited view of technology as the principal means to address food insecurity in Africa, as opposed to a more comprehensive view that takes into account economic, social and political factors. The research combines a socio-technical systems approach with an actor-oriented analysis to examine two input-support programmes in Kenya. It focuses on input-support programmes due to the current interest in subsidies as the mechanism to address food insecurity and deliver agricultural technologies to smallholder farmers. It examines the political, social and institutional factors that influence the creation, design and implementation of these programmes. A multi-level approach (global, national and local) is used to map out the key narratives and actor networks operating in and across the different levels to highlight the dynamic interactions as they come together through these programmes. The thesis demonstrates how intermediary factors (institutions, policy and social networks) significantly affect programme outcomes. The two case studies show that policy and practice often diverge through changing actors, networks and funding flows. Each programme implementation is mediated through socially differentiated beneficiaries, creating interactions that unfold in numerous ways due to distinct social, political and economic factors, as well as to unique institutional and delivery mechanisms. The evidence suggests that technology-based programmes that fail to take account of these critical factors will encounter difficulties in uptake. Therefore, policymakers must consider context-specific approaches that appreciate the diversity of local conditions and the importance of socio-economic, institutional and political factors. The underlying message is that the impact of agricultural technologies on the practices and perceptions of smallholder farmers cannot be understood in isolation; end users constantly adapt technologies through complex social interpretations, local institutions and political processes.
Intracellular Transport of Silver and Gold Nanoparticles and Biological Responses: An Update

Medicine, food, and cosmetics represent the new promising applications for silver (Ag) and gold (Au) nanoparticles (NPs). AgNPs are most commonly used in food and cosmetics; conversely, the main applications of gold NPs (AuNPs) are in the medical field. Thus, in view of the risk of accidentally or non-intended uptake of NPs deriving from the use of cosmetics, drugs, and food, the study of NPs–cell interactions represents a key question that puzzles researchers in both the nanomedicine and nanotoxicology fields. The response of cells starts when the NPs bind to the cell surface or when they are internalized. The amount and modality of their uptake depend on many and diverse parameters, such as NPs and cell types. Here, we discuss the state of the art of the knowledge and the uncertainties regarding the biological consequences of AgNPs and AuNPs, focusing on NPs cell uptake, location, and translocation. Finally, a section will be dedicated to the most currently available methods for qualitative and quantitative analysis of intracellular transport of metal NPs.